With the countdown to Christmas well on it's way, our pile of "to read" Christmas books is growing quite high! I wrapped up 25 of our most classic picture books to open one a day until Christmas- this is really one of the boys most favorite traditions. I also have a collection of longer books we are going to work our way thru for read aloud time each day. Currently, we are reading The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen and Finnish illustrator, Sanna Annukka.
I was so excited to find this beautiful edition of this classic fairy tale. For one thing, I have a goal to own all titles by Andersen and for another, The now Disney classic-Frozen- is based upon The Snow Queen. My boys (and I'll admit, myself as well) are big fans of Frozen and I've been anxious to read the original tale. The book is actually broken up into seven short stories that all tie together and are based around the account of two childhood friends-Gerda and Kay- and their sad separation and then reunion. My boys have been enthralled hearing how Kay's little heart is turned icy and how the Snow Queen whisks him away and how sweet Gerda goes on a daring adventure to find and rescue her dearest friend. This book may be about a queen but there is plenty of action to keep little boys engaged!
Annukka, who also illustrated Andersen's The Fir Tree, did a splendid job bringing the magic of this story to life with whimsical, modern illustrations. The decadent cloth bound cover is embossed with beautiful, metallic images.
The story's illustrations are done in rich, vibrant color befitting a fairy tale.
I am having so much fun reading this book with my children as one of our special holiday read alouds and am sure it will be treasured for years to come.
I received this book from the Blogging for Books program.
No comments:
Post a Comment