The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen, Illustrated by Sanna Annukka

I’ve always loved fairy tales, although there are quite a few that I have yet to read.  The Snow Queen is an example of one such fairy tale – I have heard a lot of interesting things about it, and I know there are plenty of books and movies based off of this classic tale, but I have never read the original.  When I finally got a chance to pick it up (and in this case, it’s a beautiful illustrated edition), I jumped on it.

The length of The Snow Queen is quite short, and I read it over the course of about an hour.  The illustrations in this edition are simply beautiful, and they do add a bit of life to this tale.  If you haven’t read this fairy tale yet, and you are thinking of picking up a book that has it in, I would highly recommend choosing this one, as the illustrations and the beautiful cover alone make it a delightful book to have on your shelf.

So why the 3 star rating then?  Well, for some reason, I just couldn’t click with the book.  I found myself not really being able to be pulled into the fairy tale the way I had hoped. In general, even though this is a classic tale, I couldn’t enjoy it much for some reason – perhaps it was the style of writing or the weirdness of the tale, I’m not sure.

If you do like fairy tales, I would say to give this one a shot.  If you’ve already read the fairy tale and are a fan, definitely don’t miss this pretty edition of it, because it really would make a fabulous gift or just a nice addition to your shelves.  While I guess I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped, I know I’ll definitely be reading this with my daughters when they both get a little older.