Uploaded November 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Buy now: blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/The-Ice-Children-by-M-G-Leonard-author-Penny-Neville-Lee-illustrator/9781035005949
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"My books are about the wonder of the natural world and because of this children often share their fears about climate change with me. It’s an overwhelming and tricky subject, so I thought I would explore it by writing a fairy tale about it. The result is The Ice Children.
A fairy tale can deal with big subjects and darkness because it takes place ‘once upon a time’ and we know it will end ‘happily ever after’. Fairy tales are fantastic containers for troubling topics because they take them out of the real world by employing mythical creatures and magical settings. They are also designed for reinvention and reinterpretation because their origins are in oral telling and retellings.
The Ice Children is inspired by Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen and Oscar Wilde’s The Secret Giant, but I have questioned the traditional trope of winter being heartless and bad. The story is stuffed with talking animals, a fairytale castle, and seasonal magic - all the elements you’d expect from a fairy tale – but it is set now, and the heroes are the children."
– M. G. Leonard
Buy now: blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/The-Ice-Children-by-M-G-Leonard-author-Penny-Neville-Lee-illustrator/9781035005949
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"My books are about the wonder of the natural world and because of this children often share their fears about climate change with me. It’s an overwhelming and tricky subject, so I thought I would explore it by writing a fairy tale about it. The result is The Ice Children.
A fairy tale can deal with big subjects and darkness because it takes place ‘once upon a time’ and we know it will end ‘happily ever after’. Fairy tales are fantastic containers for troubling topics because they take them out of the real world by employing mythical creatures and magical settings. They are also designed for reinvention and reinterpretation because their origins are in oral telling and retellings.
The Ice Children is inspired by Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen and Oscar Wilde’s The Secret Giant, but I have questioned the traditional trope of winter being heartless and bad. The story is stuffed with talking animals, a fairytale castle, and seasonal magic - all the elements you’d expect from a fairy tale – but it is set now, and the heroes are the children."
– M. G. Leonard
