The Little Match Girl Strikes Back

I’d been saving this for my holiday and the train journey to and from Hull, well it lasted the train journey to Hull…

Another brilliant book from Emma Carroll and Lauren Child, looking forward to seeing the finished illustrations as the copy I had was a bound proof and they were all greyscale, but still stunningly beautiful.

This takes the story of the little match girl and gives her agency, rather than letting her die she is allowed to live and change things for the better along with others in similar circumstances.

Very apt at the moment when more and more workers are seeing that collective action is the only way to make a lasting and real change in the world.

There are tones of Christmas Carol, especially the idea of three revelatory scenes that change the protagonist and the outcome of the story.

Well written at a cracking pace (I finished it on a single train journey) the illustrations and word play add a strength to the book that words alone wouldn’t convey.

I’m always happy to get an Emma Carroll or Lauren Child book to read and this is just wonderful having the two together