5 stars
This is an absolutely beautiful book. I picked this up at the library because I am obsessed with fairy tale and nursery rhyme retellings. This is by far one of the best ones I have read. I loved the simplicity of the story, but the complex mental struggle Humpty Dumpty goes through. This is a book about facing your fears. It is about literally getting back up on the wall after you have fallen down. I really enjoyed the ending. After reading some other reviews, it looks like some people were confused about the ending. My interpretation is
SPOILER ALERT!
that he was able to face his fears so he “hatched” into a bird (the thing he idolized throughout the book). This may have been a metaphorical transformation or a literal one, either way it is beautiful and wonderful and I just love the message. If I squint, I guess I can see how some people may have interpreted it as a bird running into him and knocking him off of the wall again. But before the transformation (or the collision if you will) you can see the shell start to break and feathers come in. Seems pretty obvious that he is hatching into a bird. END SPOILER Anyway, gorgeous book. I loved the contrast of light and dark in the illustrations. Beautiful pictures. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to all of my fellow nursery rhyme lovers.
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