Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Language: About 50 combined instances of common swear words and  religious exclamations.

Violence: Jack shoots a moose and butchers it for food. Faina kills and skins a swan. Some animal kingdom violence (a fox eats a bird, for example).

Sexual Content: On two occasions a married couple makes love but no details are given. It is implied that a young, unmarried couple has sex, but no details are given.

Adult Themes: A woman contemplates suicide. A couple experiences marital difficulties based on unrealized expectations and a lack of communication. A young, unmarried girl becomes pregnant.

Synopsis

In the early 1920s, Jack and Mabel leave a comfortable life in the eastern U.S. to homestead in the punishing Alaskan wilderness. They hope that in this far away place they will be able to avoid the strange looks and unasked questions that accompany an older couple with no children. They build a life for themselves in Alaska, but it isn’t the life that either one of them expected. On a whim one evening they play together in the snow and build a small snow girl; the child they always wished for, but were never blessed with. The next morning the snow girl is gone, but they discover a child’s footprints leading away from it. Then, every once in awhile, Jack or Mabel catches a glimpse of blonde hair or red mittens darting in and out of the trees. Eventually the young girl becomes a part of their life, but her sudden and strange appearance reminds Mabel of a fairy tale from her youth. It is the story of an old couple who fashions a child from snow and the child comes to life, but when winter ends and spring comes, the child they have loved melts. Torn between reason and longing, Mabel convinces herself that this young girl is their creation, that they made her from snow and that she is theirs. Is it possible? Can the young girl who calls herself Faina be the daughter they have always wanted?

Beautifully written and bittersweet, The Snow Child is one of my recent favorites.

I loved Eowyn Ivey’s poetic writing style.

“She told no one of the otter. Garrett would want to trap it; Faina would ask her to draw it. She refused to confine it by any means because, in some strange way, she knew it was her heart. Living, twisting muscle beneath bristly damp fur. Breaking through the thin ice, splashing in cold creek water, sliding belly-down across snow. Joyful, though it should have known better.”

Although not a Young Adult book, I think it is appropriate for older high school students. An unforgettably sweet story of longing, disappointment and fulfillment.