Snow & Rose

“Snow and Rose didn’t know they were living in a fairytale… people never do.”
This blurbs perfectly sets up the magic realism of this middle school tale, presented as an old fashioned gift book with gentle watercolour illustrations by the author that perfectly match the tone of the novel. When Snow and Rose’s father disappears, they move from a comfortable city home to a cottage in the woods - and what woods these are, with mysterious trees and waterfalls, underground houses, and a library of objects bearing ‘stories’. As they search for their father, steadfast Snow and brave Rose’s adventures unfold with a loving, gentle tone, and Martin’s style captures in vivid detail their curiosity and wonder at the forest and its show more inhabitants. There are phrases that make me see the world anew (“The look on [the gardener’s] face split the uneasy difference between a smile and a frown… [and his] crepe-papery eyes crinkled…”), or paint my imagination with whimsy (the elderly librarian moves with “catawampus steps caused by her wooden leg”), and the forest itself is a character, commenting eerily on the action (He should be in the earth, ground underfoot for the worms to feast”), yet Martin never lets go of the fact that this is essentially a family story about two sisters and their parents, and the way the challenges of forest living reinforce their trust and affection for one another.
I loved Snow and Rose, reading as slowly as possible to spin it out longer, but there were some class assumptions I found difficult to reconcile with the overall gentleness of the tale: even in the forest, Rose and Snow live a gentile life with ornaments and books and regular trips to the market, whereas their forest-friend, Iva, lives in an underground house made from roots and rough-hewn planks, and forages and grows mushrooms for a living. Despite their hospitality, Rose realises that “Ivo’s family doesn’t read. People that don’t read books believe in superstition.” So they are placed in a lower position than the ever-kind heroines and only just above the villain-brigands, particularly when they begin to hunt the gigantic bear the girls befriended. I guess these class distinctions are right out of the original Grimm’s tale, but, for me, they sat oddly against the overall moral of kindness to other creatures. Younger, less political readers, however will not notice them at all.
The recommendation on the back suggests readers 8-12 and I agree, but Matin’s beautifully –paced episodic structure makes it a great readaloud for smaller children, and a comfort read for the teens or adults reading to them. It is, perhaps, the book you read just before you’re old enough to read Katherine Rundell, whose writing is just that little more evocative and holds that little more darkness.“To find out what a story’s really about”, the librarian said, “you don’t ask the writer. You ask the reader.” So go ahead, read the novel, and find out what Snow and Rose is really about!
Highly recommended to every family or school library, and anyone who loves fairy tales. show less

I’ve always been a fan of fairytale retellings and this middle-grade didn’t disappoint. I was briefly reminded of Margo Lanagan’s Tender Morsels, but only because the stores are loosely (very loosely) similar. Fortunately, this book wasn't bizarre and off-putting and boring.

Martin wrote and illustrated a delightful little fairytale. Two sisters (one light-haired, the other dark, as is traditional) explore the forest around them as they reluctantly try to adjust to life without their father and the home they grew up in. Naturally, they come across some strange happenings.

Like many fairytales, descriptions are used sparingly, but in all the right places. The beautiful, watercolor (or, at least they look that way, maybe she used show more markers) illustrations help fill in some of the details too. The girls were spunky and smart and their world had just enough magic – giving me that nostalgic feeling of possibility that I, too, could have stumbled upon a magic forest, without feeling too saturated or bizarre.

The girls and their mother do befriend a strangely tame bear and he lives with them during the winter – hence the Tender Morsels vibe. I’m sure both books have roots in the same tale. This one is obviously geared towards younger readers and I vastly preferred it to the aforementioned story. I did think this was going to be a bit darker – though it’s ok that it’s not – but there is a detail that’s revealed later in the story and not addressed after the ending that left me thinking there is a bit of darkness here, it’s just not as obvious. I dig it.

If you’re a fan of tales where children explore a magical forest, meet bespelled creatures, discover friends in strange places and take charge of their own fate, you’ll probably enjoy this. I can’t recall if I’ve read older versions of Snow and Rose, so I’m not sure how faithfully it sticks to its origins (and I don’t care), but if you also enjoy fairytale retellings and middle-grade, you’ll probably enjoy this. show less

This was a fairly slow retelling of the Grimm Brothers folktale "Snow White and Rose Red". However, the illustrations were charming and certainly gave the book visual appeal.

Snow and Rose, despite being sisters, had vastly different personalities and many young readers will see themselves in one of the girls. There was enough adventure and suspense to keep me reading, but the ending felt a bit rushed.

A review I wrote in 2020:

Snow and Rose by Emily Winfield Martin (4 stars)

I seem to be drawn to fairy tales,
fairies and ethereal, otherworldly stories at the moment, so when I saw a review of Snow & Rose it
tickled my fancy and I ordered myself a copy straight away.

A reimagination of the fairytale Snow White and Rose Red. Rose and Snow, 11 and 9, grew up in
a large mansion with beautiful gardens, servants, a wonderful library, dolls and dresses, and
bountiful love from their two adoring parents.

Then their father disappears in the woods and their mother disappears inside her grief. Mother
and daughters are banished to a little cottage in the woods where they eke out a living from the
forest and the sisters spend their days learning forest show more ways. They stumble across bizarre
happenings and some interesting forest folk, and over-sized animals…. perhaps these woods are
as enchanted as people fear… can the enchantment ever be broken?

Not only is this beautifully told but is also brought out of the page by lovely colour illustrations
throughout by the author. Aimed at 8-12s but also a delightful read for all who love fairy tales. show less

Snow & Rose is such a heartbreaking, sweet fairy tale that I don’t even know where to begin. It seems to have hints of many other fairy tales–some haunted woods, a father that never returns, a rich family down on their luck and living in poverty. However, what I loved most about this story is the focus on the sisters and their relationship; they are the best of friends, continuously taking turns comforting and challenging each other, and helping each other to become stronger.

The sisters (and their mother) are forced to move into a cottage in the woods that claimed their father; Snow is convinced that they can find their father and have him return to them. Rose fears the worst for her dad and tries to moderate Snow’s hopefulness. show more Though they fear the woods, they adventure out and explore them, meeting all kinds of people and creatures along the way, slowly discovering the mystery of the woods and why so many have become lost within it.

Enchanted woods stories are always must-reads for me, and the characters the sisters meet on their adventures are delightful. There’s a quirky librarian who has a library of stories in the middle of the forest and encourages the sisters to borrow a story each; the huntsman who tracks down the most dangerous creatures living in the forest; a boy whose family sells mushrooms, and with whom they become friends. They’re all wonderfully realized, and this story is a delight from beginning to end.

The illustrations are so fitting for this story. Simple, cute, sweet. They added a lot to keep the atmosphere just the right amounts of creepy and magical. I enjoyed them a lot and think that Martin is very talented.

I definitely recommend this for young people who love fairy tales and are just starting to delve into reading. This would be a great bridge between kids books and middle grade books. It isn’t overly complex or scary, and the illustrations are a nice touch. I’m looking forward to reading more from this author.

Also posted on Purple People Readers. show less

Sisters Snow and Rose go with their mother to live in a cottage in the forest after the disappearance of their father into the same woods. The sisters' personalities are quite different, but they understand each other well and are close. There is something dark and dangerous in the woods - but it isn't what others think. A marvelous fairytale retelling, full of mushrooms and bears and foxes, an unusual library, and a terrible secret.

Quotes

"To find out what a story's really about," the Librarian said, "you don't ask the writer. You ask the reader." (95)

157

This is a retelling of the short tale "Snow-White and Rose-Red" in the classic Grimm's Fairy Tales and as I happen to have a copy of it, I'm interested in comparing this with the original.

In the original Snow and Rose's roles are reversed, where Snow is shy and Rose brash. The mom is not unhappy and plays a much more direct role in everything. They don't descend from an aristocratic family or possess a mansion—they start out at the cottage in the woods, and their background is not elaborated upon.

The bear is a prince and the reward at the end is marriage with this prince. The bear can speak. The father, Ivo the mushroom boy, and the cat Earl Gray are never mentioned.

The original is also much more violent. For example, Rose and White show more "tugged his [the bear's] hair with their hands, put their feet upon his back and rolled him about, or they took a hazel-switch and beat him, and when he growled they laughed." I wasn't aware people whipped bears for fun.

And just a thought near the ending of this book: Since some of the animals in the forest are people, does this mean Ivo's uncle—the famed hunter—has killed hundreds of human beings? Seems a little dark. show less