The winter child;

by Lee Wyndham, Yaroslava (Retold by)

A Russian couple wanted a child so much that they made one out of snow.

Genres: Picture Books

40 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Jane Andrews Lee Hyndman (December 16, 1912-March 18, 1978) was born in Russia and came to the United States in 1923 where she became a U.S. Citizen. She was the daughter of Andrew and Alexandra Levchenko. In 1933 she married Robert Hyndman (pseudonym Robert Wyndham) and they had two children. Lee Hyndman was educated in both the United States and in Turkey where she studied singing and painting. She was a member of the Author’s Guild of the Author’s League of America and Women’s National Book Association (New York).

During her career Hyndman worked as a children’s book editor for the Morristown Daily Record in Morristown, New Jersey from 1949-1958 and at the Philadelphia Inquirer from 1950-1963. Beginning in 1958 Hyndman began lecturing on writing for teens and children at New York University. She also held several other jobs such as author of a syndicated children’s book column in five New Jersey newspapers beginning in 1963, lecturer, book critic, free-lance editor and project consultant. She also conducted several writing seminars and conferences. She was also a professional fashion model in New York.

Reviews

[Stormy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a children’s book published in 1970. It retells a Russian folktale about a childless couple who are happy, but want a child enough to make one out of snow. It magically turns into a little girl who can live with them each winter.
The book is beautifully illustrated by Yaroslava.

[Asho · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a retelling of a Russian folktale. It was interesting because it really doesn't have that much conflict. A childless couple wants a child, so they make one out of snow and it comes to life, but she can only stay through the winter. She basically melts and goes away in the spring but comes back each year with the first snow. This was basically (to combine two myths/stories with which I am more familiar) Frosty the Snowman meets Persephone. I clocked this as a 15 minute read, so probably not the best choice for bedtime. The illustrations are cool, though, very Russian folk art.

[Leila T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The thing with this book, is that it almost feels like it's written more for adults than children. The illustrations are close to perfect (i love this folk style). Not only is the story more than a bit odd for kids, but i would have loved for there to be some kind of psychological/sociological interpretation of the meaning of this story in the psyche of the culture that it is derived from. And it was a wee bit long for my almost-three-year old.