Magical Norwegian forests and mysterious winter nights provide the settings for these picture books, whose stories come from classic Norse fairy tales and folktales.
Sister Bear: A Norse Tale
When Halva, a little girl growing up in Finnmark, finds a white bear cub alone in the woods, she decides to raise the bear as part of her family, despite her parents’ misgivings. Soon, however, “Sister Bear” proves to be a devoted friend who protects Halva and hunts for her family.
When Sister Bear reveals she enjoys dancing to Halva’s flute music, Halva decides to show off her dancing bear to the king of Denmark as a Christmas surprise. But when their long journey forces them to spend Christmas Eve in a cottage besieged by ugly and ill-mannered trolls, can Sister Bear protect Halva from the troublemaking monsters?
Adapted from Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jorgen Moe’s Popular Tales from the Norse, this Norse fairytale (which is traditionally told with a boy or man raising the bear) has everything one would expect from a good Christmas story – from an engaging heroine to a cute-but-powerful animal protector, to foul tempered (but largely bumbling) villains.
Prolific children’s author Jane Yolen supplies her usual flowing prose, but it’s the richly detailed illustrations by Linda Graves that children will remember. Graves delights in filling page after page with colorful tapestries of woodland animals, whimsically ugly monsters, and intricately designed costumes – and readers will love re-experiencing the book again and again just to soak in all of Graves’ visual surprises.
A great picture book to share with kids during Christmastime, Sister Bear also offers a great way to introduce kids to classic Norwegian tales.
Seven Fathers
A cold winter’s night offers no refuge for the weary traveler of this story – until he spies a warm house in the distance. There, he meets an old man and asks for permission from the father of the house to spend the night – only to be sent to another part of the house to seek that old man’s father… and another part to find that man’s father… and that old man’s father – until he finally encounters the true father of the house and receives the rewards for his patience.
Another folktale from from Asbjørnsen and Moe’s collection of Norse tales, this picture book is less straightforward and more metaphorical than Sister Bear. The illustrations, by award-winning artist Ed Young, reflect this as the traveler’s almost dreamlike journey is revealed through a collection of paper collages, charcoal line drawings, and colorful chalk paintings. It’s a haunting, often abstract tale of perseverance – yet for those who enjoy metaphorical tales this eerie Norse folktale will definitely linger in many readers’ memories.
Find more classic fairytales and Christmas stories to share with kids at The Legend of Holly Claus, Great Children’s Audio Books: The Patchwork Girl of Oz, and Great Picture and Audio Books for Kids About Toy Animals.
Sources:
Ramsden, Ashley and Ed Young. Seven Fathers. New York: A Neal Porter Book/Roaring Brook Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-1-59643-544-5
Yolen, Jane and Linda Graves. Sister Bear: A Norse Tale. Tarrytown: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2011. ISBN: 978-0-7614-5958-3
Michael Jung - Michael Jung is a professional writer, children’s literature specialist, and online book dealer whose articles, reviews, interviews, ...
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