jacqueline banerjee views the tale as a story about failure. “not surprisingly,“ she writes, “”thumbelina“ is now often read as a story of specifically female empowerment.“ susie stephens believes thumbelina herself is a grotesque. she observes that “the grotesque in children’s literature is [...] a necessary and beneficial component that enhances the psychological welfare of the young reader“. children are attracted to the cathartic qualities of the grotesque, she suggests.