The Snow Queen [Hardcover]

This new book of the time-old classic fairytale is written in beautiful flowing prose, fitting into that crossover niche between young child's picture book and paperback chapter book. This is a beautifully produced book in larger then A4 format, with multiple paragraphs of text and illustrations on every page. There are lots of full page and double page imagery (pastels I think?) and they are timeless and evocative sweeping you into stunningly atmospheric winter in the main though there is also a more gloriously rich summer interlude. The jacket of the hardback is a lovely touch - clear acetate with snowflake through which the Snow Queen gazes from the hard cover.
Inside the crisp white and soft misty colours provide an enchanting accompaniment to this age-old tale written in the mid-19th century. This version seems true to the original with seven sections unlike the much abbreviated forms you usually find in picture book format these days. These are
Part 1 Which tells of the Looking-Glass and its Splinters,
Part 2 A Little Boy and a Little Girl,
Part 3 The Enchanted Flower Garden of the Old Woman Who Understood Magic,
Part 4 Prince and Princess,
Part 5 The Little Robber Girl,
Part 6 The Lapland Woman and the Finmark Woman,
Part 7 What Happened at the Snow Queen's Palace and What Took Place After That.
In a nutshell a child called Kaye's heart is pierced by a fragment of the devil's mirror which turns good to evil, beautiful to ugly. The Snow queen takes him away in her sledge, stunningly beautiful like the Narnian white witch, and keeps him in her freezing power. Kaye's close friend Gerda sets out to find him, journeying through her own varied adventures, and save him.
As with the CS Lewis series, there's an Christian element intertwined into the story though it's not too explicit. There's the struggle between good and evil, God and the angels versus the devil and his evil mirror, with a couple of references to the Christ-child and the Lord's prayer. If you look deeper there's the also perhaps a strength of faith helping Gerda win through to rescue Kaye.
This book is beautiful to look at and this longer length and truer version of the classic story is perfect for a 6+ girl. I don't hesitate recommend it: a perfect Christmas present!

I was moved by the story of the Snow Queen after reading it from a non illustrated Hans Andersen Tales collection. This inspired me to purchase my own illustrated version so that I can share the story with my children whose attention spans are short without pictures to break up the text.

As an earlier reviewer has already outlined the chapters of the story, I'll keep the plot brief. The story tells of a little girl's long journey to rescue her beloved friend from the palace of the Snow Queen and release him from the spell that has turned his heart into a lump of ice and alter his personality.

The high point of this particular version of the story is the stunning illustrations by Christian Birmingham. Of all the illustrations that I have seen of the Snow Queen herself, which tend to portray her as scary and evil, I think that he captures her extremely well, beautiful and haunting but not necessarily wicked. On the front cover of the hardback version, the jacket is covered in silvery snowflakes with a circle -representing the hot coin on the window, peering at the Snow Queen who is

"dressed in a gown of white gauze, which looked like millions of starry snow-flakes linked together. She was fair and beautiful, but made of ice--shining and glittering ice. Still she was alive and her eyes sparkled like bright stars, but there was neither peace nor rest in their glance."

You can see more of the illustrations if you google Christian Birmingham books illustrated.

Finally, this is not an abridged version like you would get with many children's books and as a result you will not be able to finish it in one sitting if reading to a small child. I would also like to mention that because it is translated by Naomi Lewis, you can rest assured that you are getting a faithful translation of the original story.

This is a beautiful, enchanting story following the traditional Hans Christian Andersen story line. The language is clear with enough detail to give descriptions, and yet not too complex for younger listeners, but what really makes this book so magical are the realistic yet dreamlike illustrations. The Snow Queen is not evil, she is very beautiful, she looks at Gerd with great tenderness, an artistic interpretation which gives all the characters validity. Christian Birmingham has done a superb job with his illustrations.
This book is suitable for ages 4/5 ( to be read to ) up to around 10 encouraging the imagination of all children to learn and wonder.