Starred review from November 11, 2013
In this appropriately frosty take on The Snow Queen, Foxlee (The Midnight Dress) introduces 11-year-old Ophelia Jane Worthington-Whittard, who’s asthmatic, pragmatic, curious, and braver than she realizes. Ophelia’s family, shattered after her mother’s death, is visiting an unnamed snowy city so her father can curate an exhibition of swords. Exploring the strange, icy, and nearly empty museum, Ophelia discovers the long-imprisoned Marvelous Boy, who recruits her to help him save the world from the Snow Queen; she also turns up a cluster of deadly “misery birds” and a roomful of the ghosts of numerous girls. Foxlee’s writing is elegant and accessible, with a pervading melancholy; this is as much a story of loss as it is an adventure. Certain elements, such as the identity of the Snow Queen, aren’t really surprises, but it’s in Foxlee’s evocation of the museum’s unsettling dangers, as well as Ophelia’s eventual willingness to reconcile what she knows in her mind with what she feels in her heart, that this story shines. Ages 8–12. Author’s agent: Catherine Drayton, Inkwell Management. Illustrator’s agent: Steven Malk, Writers House.
Starred review from November 1, 2013
Eleven-year-old Ophelia faces her fears to help a nameless boy imprisoned in a surreal museum by the evil Snow Queen in this contemporary fairy tale. An asthmatic girl who believes in science and eschews fantasy, Ophelia's curious but admittedly not very brave. Grieving her mother's recent death, Ophelia arrives in a snowy "foreign city" with her father and sister. While her curator father organizes an exhibition of swords, Ophelia wanders the vast museum until she discovers "The Marvelous Boy," trapped by the Snow Queen for three centuries in a hidden room. A spell preventing the Snow Queen from killing the boy expires in three days, when he will die and the world will freeze unless Ophelia can free him, locate his magical sword and identify the "One Other" to defeat the Snow Queen. Though she's unsure she believes the boy's fantastical story, Ophelia gradually heeds an inner voice urging her to follow her heart. Alternating between Ophelia's bizarre quest to save the boy and the retelling of his story, the intense plot moves Ophelia beyond grief to fulfill what she realizes is her destiny. Armed with her inhaler, practical Ophelia proves a formidable heroine in a frozen landscape. A well-wrought, poignant and original reworking of Andersen's "The Snow Queen." (Fantasy. 8-12)
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Starred review from March 1, 2014
Gr 4-6-This inventive and engaging fantasy, based on the story of the Snow Queen, will be a welcome addition to middle grade collections. Solidly scientific-minded Ophelia, whose mother has recently died, moves with her older sister and father to a snowy and wintry city, where her father is busy working on a museum exhibition of historical swords. Wandering through the museum, Ophelia discovers a boy who has been locked in a room for years, and who needs her help. Much to her own surprise Ophelia takes greater and greater risks in order to win his freedom, and, in the process, forges a strong connection with the memory and spirit of her mother. It is Ophelia's sister who plays the role of Kay, bewitched by the gifts given to her by the evil Miss Kaminski, the head of the museum. Foxlee's characters come alive immediately. While Ophelia is contemporary in her ordinariness, her courage and determination to save the people she cares about harkens back to archetypal fairy tale heroes and heroines. Foxlee skillfully reveals the story of the boy as the plot unfolds. The setting is carefully and at times spookily drawn, as Ophelia faces terrifying dangers in deserted museum corridors. The writing sparkles and the pleasing restraint of the style is happily reflected in the short length of the book. Foxlee's fresh and imaginative take on this classic tale will be snapped up by fantasy and adventure lovers alike.-Sue Giffard, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York City
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Starred review from December 15, 2013
Grades 4-6 *Starred Review* Ophelia is a grieving 11-year-old who only believes in things that science can explain. Following her beloved mother's death, her father takes a job at an enormous museum in a city where it constantly snows. There Ophelia discovers the imprisoned Marvelous Boy, who discloses to her that in three days the Snow Queen will discharge her wretchedness upon mankind. He further reveals that he must save the world before that happens and that only Ophelia can help him. As the boy tells his story, Ophelia accepts the challenges required to release him from his three-hundred-year captivity. She faces magical snow leopards, child ghosts, a Spanish conquistador, and a monstrous misery birdnone of which, like the boy, can be scientifically explained. Nevertheless, Ophelia learns there are truths she never dreamed of and that courage is less about bravery than about the decision to help people in need. Loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen, this clever story-within-a-story reads easily yet offers deep lessons about trust, responsibility, and friendship.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)
February 24, 2014
In Foxlee’s take on “The Snow Queen,” 11-year-old Ophelia Jane Worthington-Whittard, who is still grieving her mother’s death, travels to an unnamed snowy city where her father has taken a job at a strange museum. There, Ophelia meets a boy in a locked room. The Marvelous Boy has been a prisoner of the Snow Queen for years, and he asks Ophelia to help him save the world. Narrator Entwistle shines in this entertaining audio edition. With an accented voice, steady pacing, and a crisp delivery, Entwistle ably captures the magic and fun of Foxlee’s tale. The voices Entwistle lends Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy are spot-on, while she also produces a host of distinct and appropriate voices for the book’s other characters. Ages 8-12. A Knopf hardcover.
July 1, 2014
Ophelia discovers a boy who's imprisoned...by the Snow Queen; to rescue him, Ophelia must find the boys missing sword. This is a fable of psychic healing, in which Ophelia, mourning her mother, must battle the Queen armed only with her powers as "defender of goodness and happiness and hope." Foxlee's deftness with characterization and setting makes this a satisfying fantasy.
(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
January 1, 2014
Exploring the museum where her father is a guest curator, Ophelia discovers a small room in which, looking through a cleverly hidden keyhole, she spies the bright eye of a boy. He tells her that he's a prisoner of the Snow Queen, who, Ophelia discovers, is none other than Miss Kaminski, the museum's head curator. To defeat her, someone must find the boy's missing sword--and that someone is clearly Ophelia. Despite her conviction that "anything is possible if you have a plan," she learns that to succeed she must repress her scientific reasoning and use her heart. This is a fable of psychic healing, in which grieving Ophelia, mourning her mother only three months dead, must battle the Queen's sword (named the Great Sorrow) armed only with her powers as "defender of goodness and happiness and hope." The fable's moral and allegorical elements are thus readily apparent, but Foxlee's deftness with characterization and setting also makes this a satisfying fantasy. There's many a children's novel set in a museum, but Foxlee's is noteworthy for its creative abundance of exhibits (including sewing baskets and teaspoons, "A Millennium of Religious Hats," "Culture of the Cossacks," "History of Silhouettes," and many more). deirdre f. baker
(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)