Ice Palace

by Robert Swindells

Ivan lives in a land where the winter is dark and fearful. Starjik, King of Winter, steals Ivan's little brother and Ivan braves the bitter cold to find him.

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Adventure, School, Novels

96 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1992

About the author

Robert Swindells was born in Bradford in 1939, the eldest of five children. He left the local Secondary Modern School at fifteen to work as a copy holder on the local newspaper. At seventeen he enlisted in the RAF and served for three years, two in Germany. On being discharged he worked as a clerk, engineer and printer until 1969 when he entered college to train as a teacher having obtained five 'O' levels at night-school. His first book 'When Darkness Comes' was written as a college thesis and published by Hodder and Stoughton in 1972. In 1980 he gave up teaching to write full time. He likes travelling and visits many schools each year, talking and reading stories to children. He is the secutatry of his local Peace Movement group. Brother in the Land is his first book for Oxford University Press. He is married with two grown-up daughters and lives in Bradford.

Author description taken from Brother in the Land.

Reviews

[Alisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading this book in 4th grade for class and loved it. At the time this book was my favourite. The ending was so good and felt real. I WANT TO READ IT AGAIN, but don't own it anymore! ;(

[Yashpreet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe this is an interesting book for all children, the book is quiet long therefore I believe its reading age is suitable for 8-11 year olds. It’s about a child who has been kidnapped in the night by Starjik and his brother, Ivan, decides to look for his brother in the snowy weather. With many obstacles Ivan had to face he finally was able to rescue his brother and Starjik’s other victims. I believe this is a good book as it keeps the reader engaged throughout the story, leaving the reader constantly wanting to know more. As this story is in the genre of science fiction it opens the minds of children enabling them to think more creatively. I think the morale of ‘The Ice Palace’ was although there may be obstacles in the way and things may seem hard, keep trying to get what you planned, which I believe is a very good lesson to be taught. I would recommend this story as it is magical.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adored it as a child.

"Turn your face into the east wind and if you could see forever you'd see Ivan's land."

*obliges*

[Laura Jordan-Patrikios · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute kids book. I definitely think my class will like it as its a manageable read with tense moments throughout

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8

[Talal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read this for my year 4 class.

[Robert Crapper · Rating 3 out of 5]

ICE PALACE by Robert Swindells
This book is a set in a country with long dark and cold winters and Starjik The Winter King travels across the land during winter taking children from their beds at night. No one who has set out on a rescue before has ever been seen alive again. Here we follow the adventure of the boy Ivan as he attempts to rescue his younger brother who has been kidnapped by Starjik.
Ivan travels by day and tries to sleep in hollowed out snow drifts at night but this when Starjik is at his strongest and again and again tries to stop Ivan from reaching his home The Ice Palace. When Ivan and Starjik do meet face to face there is a show down, old and bitter man against the young and loving boy.
Although short, allot happens in this book in nice short digestible chunks making it really good for new fluent readers or reading in sections in class, which is where I first encountered it in year 3. This is a good book to use to introduce children to the fact that not every story is happy and fluffy, there are parts that are a little dark but are rewarded with a happy ending. Unfortunately the pictures are not very clear and hence don’t add allot to the story.

[Chris Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short children's book was recommended to me by one of my children. She thought that I’d like it and she was spot on. Despite being aimed at younger readers it never feels childish or ‘beneath’ an adult's reading ability. It's a very well written tale of brotherly love and doing whatever you have to do to rescue a loved one. It’s fantasy and has a few darker moments that very young readers might not like but generally this is a great read for kids and adults alike. I noticed that it was first published in 1977 and it has a feel of that time, an older world charm maybe, but that doesn’t mean it is dated and it certainly doesn’t detract from the folk tale story. I really enjoyed it and think it a good quick choice for reading with children.

[RK · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic

The first time I read this book, I was a child correct took me some time. And I really enjoyed it.

And now, I’ve reread it again, and it was much quicker this time, and I’m really glad I did.

A beautiful retelling drawing upon themes from classic Russian Myths and fairytales. The evil well, and the transformative power of love. The storytelling, the sentences, the choices of words are beautiful and beautifully chosen. The adventures of Ivan… The magical evil well, the Wolves and the Bear, the old lady, and the frozen tears…

Pure magical storytelling. And it’s a brilliant children’s story because adults can enjoy it as well.

[Stanlee Uy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for this term, whether as Guided reading or story time! Fantasy/Adventure genre, I think all children will appreciate the story, especially the ending! Examples of what you can do for literacy, write a letter and descriptive writing. Then cross-curricular it with Science (states of matter/properties) and Art (posters, landscapes and character portraits).

[Teach 005]

KS2:

Whole class text- reading and comprehension. Rich descriptions and evocative language used to create atmosphere/tension. Fairytale feeling. News reportage/police announcements: 'wanted' poster for Starjik with physical descriptions, details of why he is wanted.

Art- creating images of characters/landscape.

[Nicola Clements · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent and exciting children's book! Has a very exciting setting which immediately encapsulates the reader. A very creative plot which really captures the reader's attention and builds suspense!

[Miss Parsons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luca said this was a book he wanted to read more of. It was quite dramatic. It was about a little boy and a wicked witch who stole children out of their beds. It is a dramatic adventure story. Luca would recommend it to those looking for a dramatic adventure story.

[Jo Kitchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will read to my class. Powerful wintery language.

[Jane Scholey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Swindells and his ability to scare you whilst forcing you to keep reading. This is one of my faves of his. Read it with Y4,5,6. Too scary for Y4. Y6 loved it!

[Tori Armour · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read

Descriptive, nice to read. Will be used as a whole class text for a year 3 class. There is a good variety of interesting language to explore for this age range.

[Katie Aff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ks2 adventure

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just as a remembered as a child.

[Tighst · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hi

[Saif]

gggf

[Sanikoroufuoma]

Interesting book for children. Keeps you glued to the end with language choice!

[Polly Sands · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great kids book. Read for year 3 English lesson. Lovely descriptive language, a story of determination and peril.

[Tina Silveira · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was quite the adventure.

#middlegrademarch2023
#theunreadshelfproject2023

[Cas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grade: B

Will be using as inspiration for a Year 4 English unit.

[Anna Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

a great story with a lovely twist at the end

[Jessica Duncan · Rating 1 out of 5]

First read of the year before teaching this book this term. Scarier than I imagined it would be but with some good descriptions.

[Jennifer Gustafson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this with a mixed Y3/4 reading group. This is great if you are teaching creative writing and would like to use a text that has a lot of metaphors and similes as an example. The author uses words to create wonderful wintery imagery. The main character is very brave and determined and has to overcome some very difficult and frightening situations. Some parts of the story are quite dark, so some children might find this book a little scary. The pictures are sketchy and not very detailed but this was actually quite nice because they gave just enough information to get the children's imaginations working.

[Lauren Cotterell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Ice Palace is a fantastic story about Ivan's land, a land where children are taken by 'Starjik' the wizard. The story begins with Ivan, a brave young boy, who heads into the forest to find his missing brother. On his journey he is faced with an array of events. In the end Ivan warmed Starjik's heart and all of the missing children returned home.

The book is quite dark in parts, however it is extremely descriptive and creates great imagery for children. After reading the story with year 3 children they produced some brilliant descriptive story writing with a focus on interesting adjectives and adverbs.

Lesson ideas (for 1 week):

-Create character profiles using interesting adjectives (create a new mysterious character who Ivan will meet in the forest)
-Create a plot using drama (record plot ideas with partner and act out the scenario using new character)
-Describe a setting (use sentence openers and string of adjectives using commas)
-Plan an alternative ending (use subheadings and bullet points to plan alternative ending)
-Write a story with alternative ending (follow plan for yesterday and use VCOP to write alternative ending)

[Sarfraz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starjik, a child taker, would always came to the village to take away the children during winter. One night, Starjik came and took away Ivan's little brother. Ivan loved his brother and so he went on a journey to find Starjik's land where he was in great danger many...

It provides excellent descriptive imagery - including similes to describe the setting and a plot that keeps children on the edge of their seats. We used it to talk about how the author wants us to feel and how he achieves it. The book was a great tool in identifying new vocabulary for children who then use this to describe the setting in the book in greater detail. It was interesting to see how their detail varied. I used this book with a year 3 class and with older children there would be more possibilities such as creative and independent writing.

[Clair J · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this as the teacher is reading it in class to my daughter, age 7. Yes it is descriptive which hightens your emotions. The fear is relentless - snatched from your bedroom in the night, nearly eaten by wolves, a bear, bats with needle teeth and nearly falling down a crevice to your death. Appropriate for a sensitive 7 year?! No I don't think so. What's more this cruel horrible nasty man that is going to kill you ends up turning into Father Christmas. I only have another year or so (hopefully) left of my daughter believing in father Christmas - I certainly don't want those last couple of years ruined for her. Horrible book to be teaching young children! Far better books out there if they want to show description. Steven Kings The Girl who loved Tom Gordon is wonderfully written and nowhere near as harrowing.