The problem with reviewing books months after I've read them is I can't remember anything. I think there was a weird thing with Hazel's adoption (or another adopted kid) in this book, but I can't remember what.
The story itself was just kind of eh. It didn't feel that innovative, but it also wasn't terribly derivative. The writing is good, the book never captured my attention or imagination.
Her class at her old school looked out on a small patch of woods, and Hazel had always thought that there was something magical about them, that it was the sort of place she and Jack were supposed to go into together. They would bring breadcrumbs, and they would cross through the line of trees to see what awaited them.
- Chapter 1
Jack was the only person she knew with an imagination, at least a real one.
- Chapter 2
For the mirror took beautiful things and made them ugly, and it took ugly things and made them hideous.
- Chapter 5
A boy got a splinter in his eye, and his heart turned cold. Only two people noticed. One was a witch, and she took him for her own. The other was his best friend. And she went after him in ill-considered shoes, brave and completely unprepared.
- Chapter 13
This book is amazing. Hazel is brave and terrified, certain and unsure, and most of all loyal to her best friend Jack. At first, when he stops speaking to her, she is hurt, but when he disappears, she knows that she alone can save him.
A delightful retelling of the Hans Christian Anderson story, The Snow Queen. I enjoyed every minute of this book. My goal at school next year is to help the students discover books in the library that have very few checkouts but are great books. This is definitely one of those books!
Recommended to:
Fans of fantasy adventures in grades 5 and up.
This sort of re-telling isn't my jam, but I suspect it will be one of those amazing books for my niece to read.
Okay, let's try this again. I'm hoping I'll actually make it through most of this month, but my track record hasn't been good.
If I'm going to curl up in front of a fire, I'm going to choose a book that makes me cold reading it. Two books that send a shiver through me just thinking about them and that I have to read wrapped up in a blanket are Laurie R. King's The Moor and Anne Ursu's Breadcrumbs.
In The Moor, Russell spends most of the book traveling back and forth across the moor in November (I think) in constant rain and part of the time the house they stay in has no heat. I try to read that one in summer.
Breadcrumbs is a retelling of Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen, so for a large chunk of the story the main character is tromping around in the snow with few stops and little warmth. I felt like I could see my breath in front of my face.
Now I'm off to read a book about a desert. I'm shivering just thinking about these books.
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