1943
First Published
3.99
Average Rating
32
Number of Pages
Reality gives way to enchantment in the mountains of Bohemia one blustery January night when a little girl is ordered to find snowdrops by her cruel stepmother. The child knows that these delicate spring flowers do not grow in the middle of the winter, but what else can she do but obey? In the frozen woods she comes upon twelve magical brothers who make the impossible happen. This charming story about a little girl who sees all the twelve months of the year at once is a retelling of a traditional Czechoslovakian folktale by Samuel Marshak, one of Russia's greatest folklorists. The lyricism of Marshak's language is retained in this sensitive rendering by the distinguished translator Thomas P. Whitney. Diane Stanley's dazzling watercolor illustrations enhance the telling. The opulence of her patterned textures, the intricacy of her decorative details capture the flavor of long-ago Bohemia while at the same time transforming the landscape into a world of fantasy in which flowers can indeed bloom in wintertime. This exquisite picture book will enchant readers for many years to come.
Avg Rating
3.99
Number of Ratings
97
5 STARS
38%
4 STARS
29%
3 STARS
28%
2 STARS
4%
1 STARS
1%
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Author
Samuil Marshak
Author · 12 books
Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak (Russian: Самуил Маршак; 3 November 1887 – 4 June 1964) was a Russian and Soviet writer, translator and children's poet. Among his Russian translations are William Shakespeare's sonnets, poems by William Blake and Robert Burns, and Rudyard Kipling's stories. Maxim Gorky proclaimed Marshak to be "the founder of Russia's (Soviet) children's literature."
