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    The Snow Queen
    The Snow Queen
    The Snow Queen
    Ebook44 pages54 minutes

    The Snow Queen

    By Hans Christian Andersen

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    This classic story by Hans Christian Andersen follows two young children who are best friends and neighbors. When a troll wants to mirror the uglieness in all things, he creates a mirror to do so. But when it breaks, the boy named Kai gets flecks of glass in his eyes and heart, which harden his heart. He leaves his friend Gerda and his family, and goes off with the Snow Queen, whose two kisses make Kai forget about Gerda and numbs him to the cold. Gerda searches for Kai, but when she finds him, will their friendship be enough to thaw his frozen heart?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDreamscape Media
    Release dateOct 3, 2017
    ISBN9781974995431
    Author

    Hans Christian Andersen

    Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark, in 1805. He endured a lonely, impoverished childhood consoled by little more than his own imagination. He escaped to a theatre life in Copenhagen aged 14 where the support of a powerful patron enabled him to complete his scant education, and to write. His poetry, novels and travel books became hugely popular. But it was his Fairy Tales, the first children's stories of their kind, published in instalments from 1835 until the time of his death in 1875, that have immortalised him. Translated into more than 100 languages and adapted to every kind of media, they have made Andersen the most important children's writer in history.

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    Reviews for The Snow Queen

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      This is one of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales that I was not very familiar with. In this story Gerda and Kay are best friends who do everything together. When a piece of a cursed mirror falls into Kay's eye and another settles in his heart, he becomes a different person. He is mean to Gerda and does not play with her anymore. When he is sledding with his friends, he grabs onto a white sleigh and is taken off by the Snow Queen. When he does not return home that night, Gerda sets off to find him. She has many adventures and meets both people and animals that help her in her quest. One quote I love from this story is:

      "I can't give the girl more power than she already has! Can't you see how powerful she is? Can't you see how people and animals all serve her? And how far she's got in the world just on her own two feet?"

      This is a story of friendship, perseverance and doing what feels right. I just wish that there had been more information about what happened when Kay went to live with the snow queen and what happened to him there.

      I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      I had never read The Snow Queen before this, but the cover just drew me in and I HAD to do it.. The story was fantastical and at parts heartbreaking, with another good theme to it. I enjoyed this novella very much and now I understand all the remakes and shows and movies that have borrowed from this story. Absolutely brilliant. I would recommend this book. 4 out of 5 stars.
    • 5/5
      Beautifully illustrated.
    • 4/5
      I shouldn't have read this as an audiobook - the illustration potential must be astounding. Even still, it's a great story about love and the beauty of life. Having read about Anderson's personal life, it's interesting to see the incredible beauty he was able to see the everyday and the magic he was able to pull from thin-air.
    • 4/5
      The Snow Queen is about a set of friends named, Kai and Gerda, who do everything together before the snow queen blows ice glass into kai's eyes and heart. Gerda goes on a dangerous journey to the snow queen's palace to save Kai despite his change in behavior and saves him with her warm hearted love. This is a good fantasy because there are trolls and evil snow queens involved also a young child goes on a journey by herself through many dangerous places without proper tools and clothing. would use this in intermediate grades may be too intense and scary for younger kids despite its happy ending. illustrations: fine-line pen with ink and dyes applied over a detailed pencil drawing that was then erased.
    • 4/5
      This is a lovely reading of Andersen's story of Gerda and her friend Kai, who becomes contaminated by the shards of a demon-made magic mirror, and succumbs to the lure of the Snow Queen.

      Gerda sees the change in her friend when he is affected by the shards, and when he vanishes, she will not believe that he is dead. She sets off on quest to find him, armed chiefly with her courage, loyalty, and good heart.

      Something that may seem unexpected to those who grew up on Disney versions of fairy tales is that nearly all the strong characters here, both good and ill, at least the human ones, are women and girls.

      Julia Whelan is an excellent narrator, with a delightful voice, and she strikes exactly the right tone in reading this.

      Recommended.

      This book is free on Audible until January 31, 2015.
    • 3/5
      I got this book for free from Audible. Not my favorite Andersen tale, but it wasn't so bad, specially for a "Christmas tale". It's a cute story, though I think it's better suited for younger people. You can take a couple of interesting aspects from this book though. First of all, the lack of a damsel in distress. The main character is a girl that tries to find her best friend after he has been hit with a glass shard that turned his heart cold. She does get her share of help, but she is in no way a damsel in distress. I also enjoyed the entities she found on her way, her determination and strength. And, of course, there is the weight of friendship instead of the whole "true love" thing, which is absolutely lovely.
      Anyway, it's worth checking it out.
    • 5/5
      This is very special book for me. The story is wonderful and the illustrations are full of living art and beauty.The art in this book is truly breathtaking, the details are amazing! I just agreed with many readers about it. For example: "This is perhaps the most extraordinary children's book that I have ever seen.' - Paulo Coelho, Internationally selebrated writer. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil" Or: "The full page illustrations by the award winning Ukrainian artist, Vladyslav Yerko, are alone worth the price of the book. I recommend it to all ages." Robert Goldsborough, Writer and former Chicago Tribune Magazine editor* I found special edition of The Snow Queen book on the site snowqueen.us
    • 4/5
      Really enjoyed the book reading by Julia Whelan and really enjoyed the book. Will be recommending it to all my friends and family.
    • 5/5
      The only reason I got myself a copy of The Snow Queen - and then I mean this particular edition, is cos I love Sanna Annukka (her illustrations, that is). Though now I've gotta admit I had forgotten how lovely this tale is! Really enjoyed it!
    • 5/5
      The book is a fast-paced, adventure-laden story of the contrasting lives of two 19th century girls, one raised in the "civilized" portion of Scandinavia, the other the daughter of a shaman and a robber-baron of Lapland. Together they must confront the Ice Queen, sorceress of the icy Northern wastes. When Gerda leaves home to track down Kai, the boy she wishes would return her love and who has gone North with a mysterious countess to study arcane subjects, she little expects to become the captive of a robber baron of Northern Finland and his daughter's pet plaything. Ritva, the shaman's headstrong daughter comes to realize that Gerda is not just a human pet, fit only to amuse her. Together they seek the Snow Queen's castle in the Northern fastness. Gerda's rational and common sense approach, along with Ritva's innate fey nature and her reindeer, Ba, allow them to release Kai and escape. Ultimately though, Gerda can see that Kai will never truly be interested in her. As a book for young adults The Snow Queen is just fine, proceeding quickly but in an exciting and page-turning manner. However, the best of childrens' literature reads well for both youngsters and adults, though obviously on different levels. For an older reader The Snow Queen lacks somewhat in depth and, in several instances, I would have liked a particular scene or narrative to continue longer and in more detail. The narrative often skipped forward several weeks or months. This to a certain extent is probably due to the fairy tale source/style, a genre which frequently uses such leaps in time or space, but in The Snow Queen this often precluded anything but the sketchiest details of the society and landscapes around the two young women.
    • 4/5
      The story of a little girl, and a little boy, and how they were separated and brought back together. This is a quaint story told in fairy tale fashion. The reader, Julia Whelan does a fine job. There were a few bits I found tedious, but that may be my impatient spirit at the moment. Brutal in some parts, a reminder that people didn't used to hide the evil or bad parts of life from children. I liked the allusion to the fragments of mirror distorting one's view of the world and all things good in the world, but I really didn't get the ending with the song of baby Jesus and the roses. An enjoyable story though, and just over an hour long.

    Book preview

    The Snow Queen - Hans Christian Andersen

    cover.jpg

    THE SNOW QUEEN

    By

    HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

    This edition published by Dreamscape Media LLC, 2017

    www.dreamscapeab.com * info@dreamscapeab.com

    1417 Timberwolf Drive, Holland, OH 43528

    877.983.7326

    dreamscape

    THE SNOW QUEEN

    FIRST STORY. Which Treats of a Mirror and of the Splinters

    Now then, let us begin. When we are at the end of the story, we shall know more than we know now: but to begin.

    Once upon a time there was a wicked sprite, indeed he was the most mischievous of all sprites. One day he was in a very good humor, for he had made a mirror with the power of causing all that was good and beautiful when it was reflected therein, to look poor and mean; but that which was good-for-nothing and looked ugly was shown magnified and increased in ugliness. In this mirror the most beautiful landscapes looked like boiled spinach, and the best persons were turned into frights, or appeared to stand on their heads; their faces were so distorted that they were not to be recognised; and if anyone had a mole, you might be sure that it would be magnified and spread over both nose and mouth.

    That's glorious fun! said the sprite. If a good thought passed through a man's mind, then a grin was seen in the mirror, and the sprite laughed heartily at his clever discovery. All the little sprites who went to his school—for he kept a sprite school—told each other that a miracle had happened; and that now only, as they thought, it would be possible to see how the world really looked. They ran about with the mirror; and at last there was not a land or a person who was not represented distorted in the mirror. So then they thought they would fly up to the sky, and have a joke there. The higher they flew with the mirror, the more terribly it grinned: they could hardly hold it fast. Higher and higher still they flew, nearer and nearer to the stars, when suddenly the mirror shook so terribly with grinning, that it flew out of their hands and fell to the earth, where it was dashed in a hundred million and more pieces. And now it worked much more evil than before; for some of these pieces were hardly so large as a grain of sand, and they flew about in the wide world, and when they got into people's eyes, there they stayed; and then people saw everything perverted, or only had an eye for that which was evil. This happened because the very smallest bit had the same power which the whole mirror had possessed. Some persons even got a splinter in their heart, and then it made one shudder, for their heart became like a lump of ice. Some of the broken pieces were so large that they were used for windowpanes, through which one could not see one's friends. Other pieces were put in spectacles; and that was a sad affair when people put on their glasses to see well and rightly. Then the wicked sprite laughed till he almost choked, for all this tickled his fancy. The fine splinters still flew about in the air: and now we shall hear what happened next.

    SECOND STORY. A Little Boy and a Little Girl

    In a large town, where there are so many houses, and so many people, that there is no roof left for everybody to have a little garden; and where, on this account,

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