The Snow Queen

October 4, 1993
Lewis's commanding translation of this Andersen classic rings with nobility even as it maintains a colloquial jauntiness. The famously gripping narrative, of tender-hearted Gerda's epic quest to rescue her friend Kay from the frozen realm of the Snow Queen, is respectfully and insightfully introduced by Lewis. She points out, for example, that, of all of Andersen's major tales, The Snow Queen is ``the most free from ill fortune, sorrow, unkind chance'' and that its protagonists ``make their own luck, good or bad, as they go''; and that it is the ``only great classic fairy tale in which every positive character is a girl or woman . . . while the victim to be rescued is a boy.'' Barrett (see review of Beware Beware , above) contributes gentle watercolor and pencil illustrations, evoking an ageless fairy-tale realm while a frisson of danger lingers beneath her flower-filled images. Pictures of icy wastes--a flurry of blue, white and violet--are especially striking. Inset illustrations and incidental art as well as full- and double-page pictures are interspersed throughout the very substantial text in an agreeable book design that accommodates the youngest members of the target audience. Ages 4-up.

September 1, 1987
In one of Andersen's most beautiful stories, the boy Kay leaves his companion Gerda to go far north with the evil, cold-hearted Snow Queen. Gerda goes in search of Kay, encountering many adventures, but eventually finds the boy and melts the ice in his heart with her tears. Watts' illustrationsdespite her lovely, unpretentious characters, detailed renderings of simple interiors and pastoral exteriorsfail to capture the spirit of this dark, mysterious story; the powerful telling loses impact in the sweet, unthreatening pictureseven those of ominous events. Ages 5-8.

August 26, 2013
This Andersen tale, one of the few with a genuinely happy ending, provides a showcase for Ibatoulline’s dazzling gifts. The story of Kai’s enchantment and Gerda’s long search to rescue him offers the artist a bouquet of exotic scenes to bring to life. In one, a robber girl brings Gerda to her hideout; Ibatoulline (The Matchbox Diary) paints a dimly lit stable where a lion, flock of doves, reindeer, and other animals are held captive. In another, flickering firelight illuminates the interior of a Lapp woman’s tent. Dramatic special effects—a talking crow, a skyful of Northern Lights, and the eerily icy Snow Queen herself—are rendered in thrilling detail. Only the characters’ faces, which have the static look of portraits painted from photographs, ruffle the perfection of the spreads. The uncredited retelling (“Don’t you see she has the power within her?... Look at all the animals and people who have served her.... That is her true power”) draws little attention; it’s the magnificent artwork that will keep readers poring over the pages. Ages 4–8. Illustrator’s agent: Nancy Gallt, Nancy Gallt Literary Agency.

October 6, 2014
Italian illustrator Baroni’s background in character design brings a fantasy aesthetic to Godeau’s retelling of this Andersen fairy tale. Kay and Gerda are drawn as older children with lean features and blousy peasant clothing; Gerda’s hair often blows dramatically in the wind. Godeau follows Andersen’s original closely, though the translation is graceless in places: “But, the weight of the mirror caused his arms to fiercely shake.” Godeau recounts Kay’s enchantment as he is pierced and frozen by shards of a magic mirror and then captured by the Snow Queen. Gerda’s journey to the North to find Kay is told as a series of episodic encounters with colorful characters: a sorceress, a talking reindeer, and many more. Baroni’s most remarkable creation is the Snow Queen’s black castle, shown on the endpapers; soaring up from two mountain peaks, it features a dizzying aerial bridge and dozens of lit windows. For an older audience, this is a version of the tale that offers a bit of an edge, visually bridging the worlds of classic fairy tales and game culture. Ages 7–up.

October 3, 1994
Lynch (Melisande; The Steadfast Tin Soldier) brings exquisite grace and elegance to his illustrations of Andersen's classic story of the power of love to heal even the most hardened and icy heart. The design is impressive: delicate black lines frame the four columns on each spread while the art varies not only in placement and size but also in style. A Victorian garland of flowers circling the text of Gerda's prayer is juxtaposed with an Andrew Wyeth-like panel depicting the snow falling on Kay's sleeve, while the wicked goblins and their distorting mirror recall Rackham or even Hogarth. Lynch sometimes departs from the text with intriguing results. For example, the Snow Queen's guards, described by Andersen as ``great ugly porcupines, others like snakes rolled into knots with their heads peering out, and others like little fat bears with bristling hair,'' are pictured as splintered icy dragons or gargoyles under attack from triumphant golden angels in Roman armor. Retold from the original English version by Caroline Peachy, this narrative omits some of the excursions found in the original, but Lynch's Snow Queen remains a dazzling and irresistible enchantress. Ages 6-10.