The Snow Queen and Other Winter Stories

By Maxine Barry

This collection of illustrated stories is perfect for reading together. Whether you are looking for familiar classics or new discoveries, these tales will charm and delight children of all ages.

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Boost Vocabulary
Reading for a short period every day exposes your child to almost 1 million words per year, which helps to foster communication and understanding.

Encourage Learning
Reading at home is linked to better performance in spelling, comprehension and general knowledge, helping to develop important learning skills.

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Reading a book gives your child the quiet time they need each day to relax, and is a great way for you to spend quality time together.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
• Release date: Nov 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9781789504941

Maxine Barry

After many years of working in publishing, keen to encourage even more children to fall in love with reading, Maxine Barry was one of the founders of Storytime - a magazine which celebrates all kinds of stories from all around the world. Maxine has a real talent for making traditional tales relevant to today's children. She lives on an island in the River Thames in a small house with a lot of bookshelves, where she spends her days collecting, reading and writing short stories.

Book preview

The Snow Queen

Once upon a time, there was a wicked hobgoblin who made a magic mirror. The magic mirror made anything that was beautiful or kind look ugly and mean, and it put misery in the hearts of anyone who looked at it.

One day, the mirror smashed into a million tiny pieces and scattered all over the world. Some pieces flew into people’s eyes, which made them see the bad in everything, and some flew into people’s hearts, freezing them to ice. Far from where the mirror smashed, there lived a little boy called Kay and a little girl called Gerda.

They were best friends and often played together on the balcony that joined their apartments. Their parents had planted beautiful roses there, and the children loved to play among them.

They were playing one day when two tiny splinters of the hobgoblin’s mirror came flying through the air. One flew into Kay’s eye and the other sliced into his heart. Kay felt pain for a few seconds, but his personality changed instantly. He was cold and unkind to Gerda, and no longer wanted to play—her poor little heart felt broken.

Soon, winter came and a thick dusting of snow turned everything white. Kay abandoned Gerda to go sledding in the town square. After a while, a splendid carriage appeared with a driver wrapped in a white fur cloak.

Feeling bold, Kay tied his sled to the back of the carriage so