Hans Christian Andersen Stories Inspire Google

Google has gone gaga for Hans Christian Andersen stories including one of his most enduring works, "Thumbelina."

On the anniversary of the Danish author's 205th birthday, the search engine replaced its traditional logo with a series of drawings depicting scenes from "Thumbelina."

Andersen, who lived from 1805 to 1875, was a noted author and poet of his time, but achieved much of his fame for writing popular children's stories. Many of them, like "The Little Mermaid," "The Princess and the Pea," "The Snow Queen," and, of course, "Thumbelina," endure today, in part, because of the vivid images they engendered.

"Thumbelina" focuses on a thumb-sized girl who has wild adventures in order to avoid a marriage and finally finds love with a prince of her choosing.

Interested in reading or listening to his work? Much of it is available online and free of charge.

FIND HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S WORK
Listen to audio books here.
Download short stories at Project Guttenberg.
Read short stories online here.