An Ariel book ( )

Ok, here's the deal. My family owned very few books when I was a child. (The library was a short walk away, and the school library was pretty good too.) But we did own this. And yet, because of the cover, I never read it. I knew, in NW rural WI, about the danger of snowstorms and how awful it would be to get stranded in one.

So anyway, I finally am prompted by GR acquaintances to read Fry, and this is the first one I can get my hands on. And as a child I was right - I would not have liked it. Even now I think the set-up is implausible and the children's resourcefulness and cheerfulness totally unrealistic. I can definitely see some children loving this quick adventure, and objectively it probably rates 3 stars, maybe 3.5 - but I am not impressed.

And yet - I do sense a voice, a grace - I will do my darndest to find more by the author. ( )

Snowed Up, an engaging adventure story for middle-grade readers, follows the story of three cousins - Anna, Brian and Verity - who find themselves stranded at an isolated cottage in the Welsh countryside during a blizzard. Their adventure, while never approaching too close to hardship, does teach each of the three children something about their unexpected and untapped inner resources. There is a particularly lovely "Christmas" scene towards the end of the novel.

I was delighted to discover that Snowed Up had been illustrated by Robin Jacques, perhaps best known for his collaboration on Ruth Manning-Sanders' folklore collections. He also illustrated the original editions of Joan Aiken's Black Hearts in Battersea and Nightbirds on Nantucket. His work is unmistakable, and my first glimpse of this title provided that rush of pleasure one feels at meeting an old friend in an unexpected place...

I'll conclude by noting that Rosalie K. Fry, like Ruth M. Arthur, seems to be one of those authors whose work has slipped into an undeserved obscurity. In a publishing world that always seems to be scrambling for "fresh" and "new" material, you'd think that someone would think about republishing a few of these out-of-print gems. It worked with L.M. Boston's Green Knowe Chronicles after all... ( )