In this abridged story from Ransome's (1884–1967) 1916 collection Old Peter's Russian Tales
, an old man and woman create a "little snow girl" to assuage their loneliness. The girl, promises to "laugh and sing and play/ By frosty night and frosty day" but warns the couple "whenever I do know/ That you love me little, then/ I shall melt away again." Thus, the narrative die is cast: When a fox rescues the snow girl from depths of the forest, the couple refuses to reward the animal with the hen he requests, and the snow girl promptly "leapt into the arms of Frost, her father, and Snow, her mother," leaving the human couple behind. The heightened, often incantatory language casts a spell, transporting readers to a long ago, faraway place where wishes come true, animals talk and punishments are draconian. But the story's power is somewhat diluted by Bower's (Albert Blows a Fuse
) canvas-textured paintings. The inherent cheeriness of his naïf styling works well when everything is hunky-dory (e.g., when the snow girl teaches the old woman how to make ice porridge, or frolics with the human children in the village square), but the pictures fall short when it comes to communicating a sense of the snow girl's other-worldly imperiousness and charisma. Ages 5-8. (Nov.)
