The Winter Child

The Winter Child

Lee Wyndham

illustrated by Yaroslava 1970

We have a couple versions of this Russian folk tale, sometimes called The Snow Child.  This one has particularly striking illustrations by Yaroslava.

An old man and woman have everything they need on their cozy farm, except for a child.  One Winter day after watching the village children build snowmen, they decide to make a little girl out of snow.  Magically she comes alive and becomes their very own child.   But because she is a snow child, she must sleep outside in the cool weather and can't have anything warm to eat or drink.  And of course as the season changes, she must go away but promises to come back every winter. 

(I love books that show pictures of samovars!)

For some reason the picture of the girl-shaped puddle is particularly sad to me!