Art was lovely to look at, but the story plodded along. ( )

This book was about a boy and a girl who were friends. They boy got a piece of a magic mirror in it, which made him mean. I would use this book to talk about friendship and good vs evil. I think this book can be read at all grades. ( )

The Snow Queen, illustrated by Susan Jeffers.

Retold by Amy Ehrlich and illustrated by Susan Jeffers, this version of Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen was originally published in 1982, and recently reprinted in a new edition. Ideal for younger children, who might not be able to sit still through the entire seven-chapter original, it is significantly abridged. The basic shape of the story is the same, with all the important episodes of Gerda's journey retained, but many of the details, and descriptive passages, are omitted.

As someone who loves the original tale, I can't say that I am particularly pleased with the narrative results, although I understand why some parents might feel differently. Susan Jeffers, who has also illustrated Andersen's The Wild Swans and Thumbelina, creates an appealing world of enchantment, with her pen and ink artwork. All in all, a pleasant adaptation, and, if one is determined to read an abridged edition, probably one of the better options available. ( )

Genre: Folktales/Fairytales

This is a fairytale because it deals with the battle between good and evil; the demons and the Snow Queen, and the angels that are on Gerda’s side. This tale seems to be told in the older European countries, such as Finland and Sweden and Norway. I thought this was also a fairytale because the characters are easy to point out. The villains are easy to spot, and for children it would be easy to tell who was on whose side in the story. At the end of the story, Kai is finally found by Gerda, and the story seems to move a lot faster. At the end of the story, there is no conflict after the climax of the book. The resolution and ending comes directly after it. I found this to be a very interesting book because it plays on Christian values directly going into the beginning of the book, and it would be easy for children to determine between the sense of moral value in Gerda and the villainous characters.

Media: The media in this book, after looking in the front of the book, is said to be fine line pen with ink and dyes that was applied over fine detailed pencil drawings. I find this to be true once I looked back into the book. The illustrator really did a very nice job. The pencil drawings look to have been extremely detailed, and the pictures really add to the plot of the story. I know that this would have taken a large amount of time, and I really appreciated the storyline more as I had the pictures to help my imagination. ( )