Le Sapin

"In English it’s The Little Fir Tree , I chose this particular edition because it is illustrated by Marc Boutavant, who is just an amazing, remarkable illustrator. When I first came across his work I immediately began collecting all the books I could find, and this is one of them. It’s a beautiful piece of art. And, since my French isn’t that good, I’m assuming it’s quite a literal translation of Hans Christian Andersen’s tale. It’s a funny old story. Like many of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales it’s a little bit bleak. It’s about a little fir tree growing up in the forest, and he is unhappy because he’s so little. He wants to be big! Eventually he gets chopped down, taken into a house at Christmas time, dressed, and becomes the centre of attention and has a marvellous time. But then, of course, Christmas ends, and he’s taken out and put into the attic, where he relives his joyous time. It has such a sad ending that we never read it at Christmas! But I think it’s great to see a contemporary illustrator take on this story, and make such a wonderful job of it. When you look at Hans Christian Andersen’s stories, quite a few of them are rather bleak. Yes, The Steadfast Tin Soldier gets me. I think another reason I’ve always liked Le Sapin is because it’s written as if the tree is a little personality, which I find a strange and enjoyable way to write a book—from the perspective of a tree."