Hans Christian Andersen "The Snow Queen"

We are accustomed to the fact that in fairy tales it is usually knights who save princesses. 

Opposite happens such as in the tale called "Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen. Here Kay represents death. The broken pieces of the magic glass lulled him. He likes regular geometric shapes in which there is no life, he finds roses ugly, his heart grows cold. 

Gerda is love itself , she goes unarmed around the world to save Kay.

Every person has Kay and Gerda inside himself/herself. The question is "Who is stronger?"

"But can you give little Gerda nothing to take which will endue her with power over the whole?", asked 

the Lapland Reindeer the witch.

"I can give her no more power than what she has already. Don't you see how great it is? Don't you see how

men and animals are forced to serve her; how well she gets through the world barefoot? 

She must not hear of her power from us; that power lies in her heart, because she is a sweet and innocent

child! If she cannot get to the Snow Queen by herself, and rid little Kay of the glass, we cannot help her", the witch replied.

As I said earlier we have both Kay and Gerda inside ourselves. Often when we see a worm-eaten apple we prefer to it a smooth, refined, full of insecticide fruit from the supermarket. Remember our pathologic fear of microbes, the French regular gardens etc? In fact, we have a lot from Kay.

Is your Gerda strong enough? Mine is hesitant and fragile. 

I wish your Gerda always saves your Kay. This beautiful fairy tale will help you.:)

Wolfgang and Heike Hohlbein "Mirror time"

Books for girls - age 12-16

"Mirror Time" is a fantasy novel by Austrian writer, Wolfgang Hohlbein, written in collaboration with his wife, Heike. The plot revolves around a boy, Julian, who by chance came to be in the entertainment fair and survived a truly horrific adventure. Hohlbein differentiates by the ability to scare his readers, and, in this sense, "Mirror time" is not an exception. A dynamic development of the plot combined with a constant tension launches you headlong into the book.

It is clear that the authors were inspired by "Alice in Wonderland". However, this does not mean that they simply borrowed the idea from Carroll, not at all. The novel is a true science fiction where genres such as mystery, thriller, fantasy, time travel and drama are oddly mixed. The only parallel between the work of Carroll and the "Mirror time" is a character named Alice.

Alice is a girl appearing at first in the mirrors to warn Julian and save him from a deadly peril. Hohlbein alluded to the character of Alice in passing, you can learn about it only from a few of the dialogues and you need to be a very careful reader. Only her desire to help Julian in every possible way and her strange relationship with him strikes the eyes.

Alice is probably the most mysterious character of the book; her role is unclear almost until the very end. Alice’s incomprehensible behavior and unusual way to appear along with an amazing feeling, which Julian has for her, force you to think all kind of things. The girl’s character is so hidden from the reader and that prompts a great interest. Subsequently, her role in the plot becomes clearer and her personality becomes more defined.

Apparently the character's name is not accidental, this inevitable association with the book of Carroll gives a special meaning to the work, some vivid flavor.

Astrid Lingren "Seacrow Island"

Buy Seacrow Island

Good books for girls age 7-14.


This is a beautiful book. This is Lingren and that expresses all…

”Seacrow Island” written by Astrid Lindgren first as TV series and later on issued as a novel is one of the most famous of her books.

It is a story of how one Swedish family spends its summer holidays on the Seacrow Island. The family consists of the dad, Melker Melkersson, his eldest daughter, Malin, and three sons: Johan, Niklas and Pelle. Melkerssons got acquainted with many people in the island and most of which eventually become their good friends.

"Seacrow Island” is so full of very well described heroes and characters that you begin to think they exist in reality.

As for the female characters in the book, they are so bright that it is not possible to stay silent. You should start, of course with Tjorven since she is one of the main personages. Tjorven is like a fairy of the Seacrow island, she meets and sees off the ferry with the passengers in all weather conditions, and a huge dog Boatswain makes her image even slightly mystical. Tjorven is the favorite of the whole island, she is welcomed by everyone and she comes and goes whenever he wants. Without Tjorven the Seacrow island would not have been the place that everyone loves. A girl is, in a sense, a symbol of the island.

Roald Dahl "The Witches"

Roald Dahl-The Witches

Good books for girls age 10.

Here's what Dahl said about witches: "A witch is always a woman. I do not want to speak badly about women. Most women are lovely. But the fact remains that all witches are women. There is no such thing as a male witch. On the other hand, a ghouls is always a male. So indeed is a barghest. Both are dangerous. But neither of them is half as dangerous as a REAL WITCH. As far as children are concerned, a REAL WITCH is easily the most dangerous of all the living creatures on earth".

I'm not eight years old, but this wonderful children's thriller gave me the heebie-jeebies Dahl is a brilliant writer, one of those that make fall in love with reading. The story is so charmingly horrible that it was impossible to break away. It turns out that witches live among us; we must be vigilant and learn to recognize them knowing three things about their looks.There is also a positive female character in the book - an old granny of a young boy. She smokes cigars and she reveales the secrets of the witches to her grand son, as she is a retired witchophile.

Will they track down The Grand High Witch? Read and discover. I, personally, was a little bit upset by the end.

Annie Jay