Scoop of the e-e-evening: Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow
By Jessica Day George


I’d heard a lot about George’s debut novel, Dragon Slippers, but I’m not really into books with good dragons for … philosophical reasons. However, Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow sounded like my type of story—a fairy tale retold in lyrical prose. George certainly delivered.

“The lass” is a nameless ninth child of a poor Northern family who one day receives the gift of understanding animals. This ability serves her well several years later, when a giant, enchanted white bear, an isbjorn, charges into her home, demanding that she come with him to his palace for a year and a day.

The novel had the feel of McKinley’s Beauty—slow-paced, in a good way, taking time to enjoy the journey, without charging ahead toward a climax. George’s prose was lovely, just as a fairy tale’s should be—running smooth, like a stair banister, from years of use. The plot wisped elements of several tales … Beauty and the Beast, Cupid and Psyche, as well as the main archetype, East of the Sun, West of the Moon. An enjoyable read for cold, snowy days by the fire!

2 comments:

Nicole said...

I believe I have read this story in a picture book format, it was really good; so this should be too.

I have a question for you that I have been wondering for a LONG time: How do you find all these good books?????

Noël De Vries said...

:) By visiting lots of blogs! And by working at a library and reading all the time. Not every book I read is a winner, you know.

Miss Erin always has good recommendations, and she gets them from other bloggers, who get them from other bloggers... I just go around to all my regular stops and see what they're reading! Also, check out the books being honored, like Cybils, etc.