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Sep 08, 2011

Wendy Darling rated it:

If you gently shook a snow globe, you might find that the snowflakes come down on an enchanting story much like this one. Hazel’s best friend Jack has disappeared, and the quiet, scrappy fifth grader must overcome her fears—not to mention a mysterious witch and numerous other challenges—in order to save him.

This lovely story, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, unfolds slowly and beautifully. As an adult who still reads or rereads a lot of children’s books and an avi More...

42 comments like (63 people liked it)

Sep 12, 2011

karen rated it:

growing up is so damn hard.

when this book comes out, i guarantee it will win all the awards and land itself on all the school reading lists. this book couches some pretty devastating life lessons in an alternate realm of dangerous magical fantasy, but it does so without ever once being cutesy.

hazel and jack have been neighbors and best friends forever. hazel was adopted from india as a baby by white american parents who have since separated, jack is the son of a woman who ha More...

15 comments like (54 people liked it)

Jun 19, 2011

Thomas rated it:

Breadcrumbs was beautiful. The writing was delightful. It twinkled. After I read the first page, I had to stop and hug the book to my chest. And the characters. Oh, boy. Hazel is the perfect heroine. She’s a smart, imaginative kid who is misunderstood and struggles to fit in, because she’s a round peg, she doesn’t know the right things to say or wear or do, and school can be a nightmare. A short digression: we were supposed to love poor Hazel, and I did. I think she is wonderful; courageous and More...

13 comments like (41 people liked it)

Dec 15, 2011

Emilie rated it:

I feel conflicted about this book. I really liked the themes, and the atmosphere. I really liked the sense of walking through a fairy tale storybook following the breadcrumbs of past stories, holding onto them for guidance and reference.

I was very interested in the ways that Breadcrumbs is about identity; who we are, how we get lost, and how we get found. Jack is made of castles, fairy tales, books…but, in his pain, he has hidden himself away to avoid pain, and he has lost himself. h More...

15 comments like (16 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2012

Terri rated it:

Am I the only one who didn't like this book? "Breadcrumbs" was on a mock awards list for the book club I am in. I had a really hard time getting through it. I always try to read a book through the lens of the intended reader. That generally, though not always, is someone the approximate age of the protagonist, in this case a fifth grader named Hazel. I am afraid that, though the story is at times exquisite in terms of writing, much of the language, the use of metaphor, and the prolifer More...

8 comments like (9 people liked it)

Aug 30, 2011

Ceridwen rated it:

I don't read a lot of juvenile fiction - that is, stuff aimed at the 8-12 demographic - because, well, it's been a long time since I've had the concerns of the prepubescent. Juvenile fiction is often too linear, straightforward, sexless and light for me to find much interest there, though I am not saying that juvenile fiction should change to suit me. I've got grown-up books to keep me happy. But a certain elegant Tomato of my acquaintance has been feeding me the really good stuff lurking on the More...

25 comments like (42 people liked it)

Jan 11, 2012

Kay rated it:

The Snow Queen is one of my favorite fairy tales. It's haunting and nostalgic, bleak yet hopeful. The villain isn't some wolf lurking in the forest, or an evil witch who casts curses on newborns; it's not even the Snow Queen herself. Rather, the villain is our own heart, capable of being manipulated and mutated by how we perceive the world.

Using this tale, Anne Ursu crafts a lovely retelling from the perspective of a girl, right on the cusp of adolescence. Hazel is a fifth grade More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 19, 2011

Joe rated it:

Breadcrumbs begins with a promise: "It was the sort of snowfall that, if there were any magic to be had in the world, would make it come out. And magic did come out."

And unlike many books, it delivers on that promise.

Hazel and Jack are best friends, the kind who, despite their youth, have weathered bitter hardships. Jack's mother tumbles into the darkness of depression; Hazel's father abandons his family for a new life. But the two friends have used the strength More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Aug 08, 2011

Amanda rated it:

This is a book for people who are in love with Story. I love that it's not about the mundane girl whose life is changed by a freewheeling, magical friend (though I do love those stories too!). It's about two magical, freewheeling friends and what happens when one of them loses his way. Hazel is such a lovable main character, so well captured. This book is fun and thoughtful and above all TRUE. It made me laugh and it brought me to tears and left me full of deep thoughts. I wish I had a tim More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Dec 27, 2011

Wendy rated it:

A spooky, shivery, seasonal novel that could well take a winter-reads spot next to The Dark is Rising for some readers. I shivered multiple times and once gasped out loud while reading this. I almost put it down once because this is a blustery November day and the portrait of depression in winter felt disturbingly real. And how I loved dear, odd Hazel, a sort of sister to Meg Murry, without the alienating genius.

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 09, 2011

Kellee rated it:

Complete review at: http://www.teachmentortexts.com/2011/08/...

I was enchanted with this book from the opening pages when the descriptive language grabbed me! I could close my eyes and picture exactly what Anne Ursu was describing. Ursu also alludes to so many great novels and fairy tales throughout Breadcrumbs such as When you Reach Me, A Wrinkle in Time, Harry Potter, and The Little Match Girl on top of the main inpsiration for the story: The Snow Queen. Though I am not familiar wi More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 07, 2011

Misty rated it:

I don't even know how to go about this review without gushing like an incoherent loon.
[Nope, as it turned out, all I had to do was sound really melodramatic and um...intense...Oh, boy.]
I mean, really, I don't know that I have a single bad thing to say about this book. I loved reading it for the beauty of the storytelling and for the way it made me feel, and I respected it for the same reasons as well as one very important one: Anne Ursu respects her audience.

It is ver More...

14 comments like (10 people liked it)

Dec 22, 2011

Sam rated it:

This book is more than a little otherworldly. It's as hypnotic as a blizzard, as ominous as a dream, as fragmented as reality.

The plot is an extended reinterpretation of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen," set partly in modern-day Minnesota, and partly in The Woods, one of the most unfriendly landscapes in children's fantasy. Fifth-grader Hazel Anderson's best friend Jack is missing, and she takes it upon herself to find and rescue him, even in the face of mounting More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 05, 2011

Meagan rated it:

I kept going back and forth on whether to give this book four or five stars. I want to give it five stars, but for some reason I keep feeling like I should give it four. But you know what? I want to give it five stars. So it gets five stars.

This book kept reminding me of all the thoughtful and beautifully written children's books I've read, like When You Reach Me or The Chronicles of Narnia. (In fact, Ursu has clever references to great children's books scattered throughout. So More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 10, 2011

Tatiana rated it:

I am not a regular reader of children's books and certainly not their connoisseur. Literature aimed at elementary school students is not something I actively seek or even enjoy at my age. But sometimes there are children's books that touch me in a special way.

Breadcrumbs managed to bring out the memories of my childhood like no other book before. This modern day retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen is an homage to all the wonderful stories of my childhood and some t More...

11 comments like (24 people liked it)

Oct 23, 2011

Small Review rated it:

Originally posted on Small Review

2.5 stars Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key

I'm back in my secret bunker

Why? Because I didn't really like Breadcrumbs. To say my expectations were high is an understatement. I love fairy tale retellings, the cover is beautiful, and a friend even mailed me her copy to read (after she loved it). People are even talking Newbery!

I have a lot to hide from.

I am the wrong reader for this book
More...

19 comments like (8 people liked it)

Dec 18, 2011

Cathy rated it:

Middle grade readers will be mesmerized by Anne Ursu's modern day version of The Snow Queen. Hazel is unhappy over her parents' divorce, and she feels like a misfit at school. The only one who really understands Hazel is her best friend, Jack. Hazel and Jack spend their free time together sledding and playing in the snow. The children share a strong bond until something happens to Jack causing him to turn cynical and mean. When Jack disappears into the woods behind his house, Hazel must find the More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 13, 2012

Barb rated it:

Once upon a time there was a girl that lived in a cold, cold city. It was so cold and snowy in this city that “it didn’t seem to matter [to the girl] as she was mostly snow herself now. She breathed it, in and out. It collected in her gasping lungs. The snow was colonizing her, breath by breath.”

The girl’s name is Hazel and the city is Minneapolis, Minnesota. Brrrrrrr……

A fairy-tale twist on the Hans Christian Andersen’s, Snow Queen, Hazel is adjusting to a new school, one par More...

0 comments like

Feb 13, 2012

Julia rated it:

I don’t usually read MG novels, but this one has a lyricism, beautiful, complex language, and a lovely, sweet and sometimes funny story. I wish I had someone, or a class full of someones to read this to. Hazel has lost her bestest friend Jack; he disappeared with the Snow Queen; Hazel goes on a journey to rescue him there.

“It snowed right before Jack stopped talking to Hazel, fluffy white flakes big enough to show their crystal architecture, like perfect geometric poems. It was the More...

0 comments like

Feb 03, 2012

Shannon rated it:

Breadcrumbs was, quite simply, a beautiful book. I loved the story of Hazel and her friendship with Jack. I loved the writing. I loved the mix of reality and fantasy. I love that it is a book recommended to me by my ten year old daughter and that I enjoyed it as much as she did.

Hazel is a fifth grader whose personal life is in upheaval: her parents are divorced, her father is about to remarry, she's attending a new school and her best friend is acting strange, then disappears. How More...

0 comments like

Feb 02, 2012

Pam rated it:

I read a lot of books, but even amongst my all-time favorites there are books that are complete little packets of delight. They usually exist in their own universe, usually with beautiful prose that fits the story and the characters perfectly. And when I get to the end, I sigh, full of satisfaction, content that I've been privy to some small insight into someone else's life.

Anne Ursu's BREADCRUMBS is just such a book. I found it to be both interesting and heartwarming. A story about fr More...

0 comments like

Jan 23, 2012

Sharon rated it:

On paper, this sounds like a book I'd really love: a coming-of-age story about a girl growing apart from her best friend, mostly for the simple reason that they are a boy and a girl and both about to turn 12, and that just doesn't happen anymore. Of course, there is a rational explanation for Jack's cold shoulder to Hazel and the fact that he wants to play with boys at recess instead: he has been captured and turned by a mysterious snow queen. And Hazel must embark on a journey to rescue the rea More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 22, 2012

Elizabeth rated it:

I'm honestly very mixed about this book. Very modern day fairy tale, on top of her parents' divorce and not fitting in to her new school, Hazel has to deal with the (mystical) disappearance of her best friend.

I liked Hazel a lot. I liked most of the characters, especially Hazel's mother. I was a little confused by her friend Adelaide and her uncle, who seemed on the verge of being significant characters but then went nowhere.

I wasn't nuts about how oppressive the overal More...

2 comments like

Jan 18, 2012

Jamie rated it:

It is very fitting that this was the NPR childrens book of the month for December, as it is so what NPR listeners think children would like.

The White Witch can only take you if you wish to be taken. Jack has a hole in his soul that can only be filled with love and validation by the white witch. I think the "vast emptiness inside" is not something even the most sensitive children understand.

The language is distancing and though the fairy tale retellings are done More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 14, 2012

Kim (magicsandwiches) rated it:

Breadcrumbs is a modern-day retelling of The Snow Queen and a number of other fairy tales. It's written for middle graders, but this book is SERIOUS BUSINESS. It deals with many issues that kids today face: adoption angst, parental depression, divorce, racial differences, and of course fitting in and finding friends. The story is told from the point of view of Hazel, a young girl who was adopted from India, whose parents are divorced and who must leave her special creative private school and att More...

0 comments like

Jan 14, 2012

Melanie rated it:

This book is exactly why I love middle grade books. There is something beautiful, sad and hopeful about that 9- 12 years of age group, where reality (and many of it’s hurts) starts to set in, but the daily grind hasn’t quite suspended all make-believe and fantasy potentials. My heart hurts with some of the sadness that kids today have to deal with, and I love it when I find a book that I think might help youngsters make some sense of the world.
Hazel doesn’t have a lot in her More...

0 comments like

Jan 11, 2012

Monica! rated it:

So I read Breadcrumbs two weeks ago, and it has been sitting, for two weeks, on my kitchen table. Every time I walk past it, I think “Shit! I haven’t reviewed Breadcrumbs yet! I’ll do that right now.” Except I don’t, because I’m not sure how to put my opinion of the book into an actual, coherent, cohesive sort of a way. So I leave it on the table, and notice it again 8 hours later... and so on.

But now, darn it, I’m reviewing the book for real, so it can go on to the next person w More...

2 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jan 10, 2012

Margo rated it:

Loved this re-telling of one of my favorite fairy tales, The Snow Queen. Not as well known as some of the other standards, The Snow Queen is one of the darkest fairy tales around. What could be scarier than a heart turned to ice? Ursu resets the tale in present day, and instead of the brother/sister pair in the original, the main characters are best friends and neighbors. Interestingly, our protagonist is also adopted, with divorced parents, and from India (dark skinned), adding additional d More...

1 comment like

Jan 06, 2012

Gian Piero rated it:

I'm glad this was my first book of 2012, but in a way this doesn't feel like a typical children's book at all. In fact, I doubt a child would be able to appreciate it in full because it deals with a lot of things children are not. It is at the same time a fairy tale and a deconstruction of one. I can't think of a moral to take home from the story, except maybe that loss is inevitable no matter what we do or where we hide. It's a novel about childhood's end as a transition that doesn't always mak More...

3 comments like

Dec 24, 2011

Lisa rated it:

Breadcrumbs is a modern-day tale of two friends, Hazel and Jack, who veer off their comfortable childhood path. While this diversion is partly due to growing up, and somewhat due to family challenges (Hazel's dad has left, Jack's mom suffers from depression), it has even more to do with the White Witch, who inhabits the woods.

When Jack is lured by the witch into the woods, Hazel is the one to go after him. Along the way to recovering her best friend, Hazel meets wolves, witches, wizard More...

0 comments like

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