The Snow Merchant

by Sam Gayton, Tomislav Tomić (Illustrator)

Lettie Peppercorn lives in a house on stilts near the wind-swept coast of Albion. Nothing incredible has ever happened to her, until one winter's night. The night the Snow Merchant comes. He claims to be an alchemist -- the greatest that ever lived -- and in a mahogany suitcase, he carries his newest invention. It is an invention that will change Lettie's life -- and the world -- forever. It is an invention called snow.

Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Childrens, Adventure, Magic, Fiction, Young Adult

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Sam Gayton lives and writes in a basement, where the spiders are big and hungry. He works at a primary school in Kent. The Snow Merchant is his first book. Now it’s finished he’ll go and write another one. He can’t tell you anything except for the first line: I can’t outrun the horses.

Reviews

[Tijana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vrlo simpatična bajka za decu (malo veću, npr. 10-12 godina). Za prvenac je više nego uspela, zaokružene radnje, nigde se ne preliva, likovi su najčešće simpatični ili uspešno negativni, uticaji iako vidljivi ne i ropski (Dajana Vin Džouns ali i npr. Kornelija Funke i Mihael Ende, ili se to meni samo čini), alhemija koja se opisuje vrcava i originalna (dečak sa drvetom koje mu raste iz ramena! Zla baba sa glavom-čajnikom!) Pa još predivne ilustracije i vrlo dobar prevod.
E, ali, ima jedan problem. Seća li se neko Ozme iz Oza? Kako smo proveli celu knjigu sa simpatičnim i hrabrim dečakom Tipom da bi se na kraju ispostavilo da je on celog života bio začarana Ozma, samo to nije znao, i op, sad ćemo da ga pretvorimo natrag u smaračku uštogljenu princezu? >:( Trgovac snegom ne ide baš toliko daleko ali recimo da kad preobrazite lik u... nešto, ja očekujem da se do kraja knjige vrati na staro ili da bude IZUZETNO srećan u svom novom obliku, a još više ako se pritom ne radi o prvom delu trilogije (ne radi se).

Naravno, ovde je u pitanju lična preferenca, sasvim je moguće da su deca fleksibilniji čitaoci otvoreniji za mutne krajeve od matorih kokošaka... saznaću uskoro. (Muahaha.)

[Jaanaki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well ,it is time to make way for Lettie peppercorn ,an impulsive ,independent teenager who is capable of taking care of herself and her father.I love fairytales and magical realism and fantasy and I still collect young adult and kids fiction which takes my fancy.This was a wonderful read ,humorous ,adventurous and never a boring moment throughout the ride.It is about Lettie 's search for her mama and the characters she meets along the way ,all of them crazy and messed up😂.,except of course Noah because you see ,Noah is Lettie's first friend and the only person in the whole world who understands and believes in her and that is a very important fact and indeed it is.So does Lettie find her mother and who is this snow merchant after all? Well if you love magic and believe in the power of love and friendship ,do read the book and find out.

[Klinta · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a fairy tale about how snow was made, why does it fall and what is it's purpose on Earth.

It is a funny story about a little girl Lettie and how she tries to find her Ma - lost alchemist, in order to restore her family.
At first I liked the story quite a bit and it was a page turner, but the longer it took, the more I found it to be far too long, which obviously made it become a bit boring. It was full of magic and things that one wouldn't imagine and it was interesting and lovely. There were some things I really wouldn't have predicted.

There was one character though, who was saved so many times, although he acted like quite the asshole and I didn't really feel fulfilled by how the story ended for him.

I disliked that this book was quite traditional about the bad characters, they were all ugly, stinky and bloody. I don't like that so many books concentrate on showing inside ugliness and evil from the outside two. Shouldn't they be teaching that anyone can be good and anyone can be evil? But that is really a stone to throw in most of the kids stories, not only this one.

[Jenn · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 40% was too odd and not in a good way to bother continuing with

[Anfenwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked The Snow Merchant a lot but I think the real test of a children's book is whether a child likes it. It's not often they can be persuaded to write reviews so here's one on a 12-year-old's behalf.

My daughter took the book out of my hands the minute I finished reading it (having glanced at a few paragraphs over my shoulder). She liked the concept. All I've been able to get out of her since is that she likes it, meanwhile I find it lying around the house face down with an ever increasing number of pages towards the front.

Then she wanted to know what reading level it has because she thinks she has to read books at a certain level for school. It's quite a long book which has taken her over a week to read, for which she thinks she'll get no credit. I thought that was a bit sad. Very sad, actually.

I don't know what reading level it has. I thought it tackled quite a lot of thorny issues of identity, family and instability. There were times when it blew me away - but that's a mother's role - this will be clear to those who read the book ;)

[becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to my young cousin who was trying to improve her english. For some reason, while I was helping her read this and me reading it to her for her bedtime story, I've kinda grown addicted to it... It's a serious easy book to read that I flew through it. I sometimes ''accidentally'' gave spoilers to my cousin since I was ahead of her (she was annoyed at me for that). It's been, I don't know, ages since I read a book to her, but I enjoyed reading it with my cousin :) It was a fun reading, even if this was a child book.

[belisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

merak uyandıran, yaratıcı ve eğlenceli bir çocuk kitabı...

[Tatjana Markovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesantna i neobicna prica o devojcici koja se zove Leti Biberko, koja zivi u kuci na stubovima i koja jedne noci upoznaje trgovca snegom. Ona, kao i svi drugi, nikada nije videla sneg, niti ima predstavu sta je to zapravo. Od momenta od kada Leti upoznaje trgovca snegom neke stvari ce se odgonetnuti, a istovremeno devojcica ce biti suocena sa brojnim problemima i preprekama. Prica je vrlo originalna, dinamicna i likovi su sve u svemu vrlo smesni i dopadljivi. Cak i oni koji su zli, ne stvaraju neku preveliku odbojnost. Mislim da je ova knjiga odlicna sad za ove hladne dane, bas zbog celokupne atmosfere, a i generalno bih je preporucila, cisto da citaoci vide dokle doseze Sam Gayton-ova masta (narocito su interesantni delovi koji prikazuju sta se sve alhemijom moze postici).

[Brandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was such a fun little adventure!

[La Caguama · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro es algo maravilloso, ideal para chicos y grandes, se puede resumir como algo divertido , interesante e imaginativo

[Duncan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice little children's book of fantastical characters, alchemy and magic. The cover is a bit misleading as it's mainly about a little girl called Lettie Peppercorn... Can you see her... Yes just there... Tucked up in the top left corner peeking out if the window... :D
That said Noah the boy with the tree growing out of him is as much part of the story so it means that there are strong female/male protagonists to enjoy. Add some Roald Dahl style bad ladies and a quest and you have a very engaging read. It's quite long for a children's book and broken up into three parts. It does take some nice twists and turns and I was happy with how things resolved themselves.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted something for my December Chatterbooks session that was vaguely Christmas/wintery. This was the closest I could find.
It took me a while to get 'into' it, and I really wasn't sure if I was going to stick with it, but I'm glad I did. Not what I'd normally choose to read for myself, but it was certainly different, and on the whole enjoyable. Not to give too much in the way of spoilers, but I did feel there was ONE loose end not tied up that I'd have liked to see resolved.
I wonder what the group will make of it?

[Fi's Journey · Rating 3 out of 5]

"But... it's one of those laws of the universe, isn't it? Nothing stays the same. Things change."

This was a delightful, imaginative and sweet story. it's about... you guessed! It's about snow!
But not just that it's also about friendship and love and no matter what you are - you can do anything If you put your mind to it.

'Imagination has no place in the mind of an alchemist,' Guestav declared.
Teresa sighed. 'But Master, alchemy happens in your head before it happens anywhere else.'

[Sanja_Sanjalica · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 The ideas in this book were great, the writing itself could use a bit of polishing. The pace goes up and down, but I really like the ideas, very innovative and an interesting twist on alchemy. A respectable first novel.

[Haniyh Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

خیلی کتاب خوب و بغل کردنی‌ای بود همه شو یه نفس خوندم،و خیلی آموزنده بود به نظرم هم برای بزرگترها و هم بچه ها و خیلی لذت بردم واقعا از خوندنش:)

[Sian Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lily (age 7)
I like Periwinkle. Periwinkle is the bird in the story. Lettie, a human, lives in the White Horse Inn. Lettie's friend who was called Noah has a stalk on his right shoulder. I felt happy and excited and scared. Blustav was the cheater and the liar and the worsest person in the world. There was a person on the Bloodbucket called Blubber Johnson. I hated him because he broke the hand of Leutha's Wood. Periwinkle and Lettie have a secret, read the book to find out.

Theo (age 7)
Lettie Peppercon lives in a house on stilts called the White Horse Inn. Her Mum disappeared out of the window, she left a note for Lettie. Her Dad goes out gambling every night and doesn't come home and Lettie has to stay in the White Horse Inn. The story was exciting. There's a ship after them called the Bloodbucket. There's a harpoon on the front. The name of the Captain is captain McNulty. Lettie didn't have any friends until Noah came.He has a stalk coming out of his right shoulder. You will find this book in the collection of Sam Gayton books.

Sian (age 45)
This book is really amazing and magical. There are some funny, scary and exciting moments. The characters are interesting and the books flows very well. Lettie Peppercorn lives in a strange place indeed and has a big secret that she doesn't know herself!

[Ramona Cantaragiu · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story is about how a mother used alchemy (let's just call it magic) to create snow to protect her alchemy-made daughter from turning into stone (the primary material she was made of). This could have been a good story, not a great one about a mother's love for her daughter as well as about a young girl's discovery of her own strength and power, but there were many elements that just did not combine well. There are many characters whose appear without explanation only to create tension or to give a helping hand and I did not find them coherent with the environment. There are the two ladies who really want the snow because they think it makes diamonds and they are already residing at the inn where the primary character lives before the snow merchant comes along. As a result, it is a bit weird that they become so adamant at having the snow for themselves, but alas... the story needed some tension. The tree boy who helps the girl is also a weird appearance because I have no idea how he came along and why he could not be a normal boy :)). There are also some issues with the way in which the narrator talks and the action unfolds and these really put me off. Overall, weird little book.

[Auba · Rating 3 out of 5]

I totally agree with the blurb that this is a hugely imaginative tale! If I had to compare "The Snow Merchant" to other children's books I've read, those would be Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events", for Sam Gayton's book has a similar quirkiness and tackles similar themes. Still, I didn't feel that this was a story I had read before, and I kept finding myself all wowed by the images the book evokes, which I really appreciate given how hard it is to find modern children's books that are not too derivative from other classic stories. That being said, I wish the author had gotten rid of several pointless dialogues and action scenes that didn't really contribute much to the plot or the characters and really made me lose interest in the story at some points, especially the scenes with the villains that were just too weird and undeveloped for the reader to care. I also feel that so much more could've been made of characters like Lettie Peppercorn, Noah or Lettie's mum. I'd say Sam Gayton has a great imagination and writes beautifully, but it sometimes seemed that he was struggling to turn "The Snow Merchant" into a meaningful story.

[Clara Thea · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a very interesting book!
I liked how many different characters there were, and also illustrations so I could see what they looked like! My favourite part was in part 1 when they were making snow in the inn. Very cool!! Would definitely recommend to anyone who likes mystery books as well as fantasy!

[Boogi Lu · Rating 3 out of 5]

تاجر برف با یه ایده جذاب و آغازی درخشان شروع می شه ولی هر چی جلوتر می ره انگار مشت نویسنده بیشتر باز می شه و کار سمت سوی دیگه ای پیدا می کنه یه جورایی با جلوتر رفتن داستان انگار رده سنی کتاب پایین تر میاد. البته شیرینی قلم سام گیتون و تصویر گری عالی کریس ریدل دو تا مسئله ای هستن که باعث میشه کتاب رو تا آخر بخونیم و از اینکه توقعاتمون رو اجابت نکرده نا امید نشیم.

[Mohammad Mahdi · Rating 5 out of 5]

یه فضای جادویی که با تصویر سازی خوب و متن داستانی روونش می تونی سرمای زمستون و برف رو احساس کنی
خوندن این کتاب رو زیر آفتاب گرم و دلنشین پاییز پیشنهاد می کنم تا لذتی دو چندان از لمس گرمای خورشید رو زیر پوستتون داشته باشید

[Ahlem · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was such a gripping story. I didn't want it to end. The characters were so intriguing. Such a good read.

[Zoe Antoniades · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a unique concept for a story, brilliantly concocted by master alchemist of children's story-mixing, Sam Gayton

[alaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

the drawings are so cute

[Sara Milosavljević · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a beautiful book. It makes you feel like you're a child playing pretend again. I love it so much, I'll definitely read it again and I recommend it.

[Diana Jiganie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A modern fairytale mixed with alchemy and adventures, so beautiful. Perfect.

[Hannah Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great kid’s book - very clever!

[Derin Acarser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okuması keyifli ve sürükleyici bir kitap. Tavsiye ederim.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Utterly delightful.

[Jasminecannotread]

These books where my childhood, they're what made me fall In love with reading and stories tysm Sam Gayton ❤