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East of the Sun, West of the Moon
Audio CD contains 2 'East of the Sun & West of the Moon', and 'Suite from East of the Sun'. There is also a 20x24 poster included.
1 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1992
About the author
D.J. MacHale
89 books2,363 followersD.J. MacHale is a writer, director, executive producer and creator of several popular television series and movies.
He was raised in Greenwich, CT and graduated from Greenwich High School. While in school, he had several jobs including collecting eggs at a poultry farm, engraving sports trophies and washing dishes in a steakhouse...in between playing football and running track. D.J. then attended New York University where he received a BFA in film production.
His filmmaking career began in New York where he worked as a freelance writer/director, making corporate videos and television commercials. He also taught photography and film production.
D.J. broke into the entertainment business by writing several ABC Afterschool Specials. After moving to Los Angeles, he made the fulltime switch from informational films, to entertainment. As co-creator of the popular Nickelodeon series: Are You Afraid of the Dark?, he produced all 91 episodes over 8 years. He wrote and directed many of the episodes including the CableAce nominated The Tale of Cutter's Treasure starring Charles S. Dutton. He was nominated for a Gemini award for directing The Tale of the Dangerous Soup starring Neve Campbell.
D.J. also wrote and directed the movie Tower of Terror for ABC's Wonderful World of Disney which starred Kirsten Dunst and Steve Guttenberg. The Showtime series Chris Cross was co-created, written and produced by D.J. It received the CableAce award for Best Youth Series.
D.J. co-created and produced the Discovery Kids series Flight 29 Down for which he writes all the episodes and directs several. His work on Flight 29 Down has earned him both Writers Guild of America and Directors Guild of America award nominations.
Other notable writing credits include the classic ABC Afterschool Special titled Seasonal Differences; the pilot for the long-running PBS/CBS series Ghostwriter; and the HBO series Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective for which he received a CableAce nomination for writing.
In print, D.J. has co-written the book The Tale of the Nightly Neighbors, based on his own teleplay and penned the poetic adaptation of the classic Norwegian folk tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon.
The book series: Pendragon - Journal of an Adventure through Time and Space marks D.J.'s first turn as a novelist. He plans for this series of Young Adult adventures to span a total of 10 books.
D.J. lives in Southern California with his wife Evangeline and daughter Keaton. They are avid backpackers, scuba divers and skiers. Rounding out the household are a Golden Retriever, Maggie; and a Kitten, Kaboodle.
He was raised in Greenwich, CT and graduated from Greenwich High School. While in school, he had several jobs including collecting eggs at a poultry farm, engraving sports trophies and washing dishes in a steakhouse...in between playing football and running track. D.J. then attended New York University where he received a BFA in film production.
His filmmaking career began in New York where he worked as a freelance writer/director, making corporate videos and television commercials. He also taught photography and film production.
D.J. broke into the entertainment business by writing several ABC Afterschool Specials. After moving to Los Angeles, he made the fulltime switch from informational films, to entertainment. As co-creator of the popular Nickelodeon series: Are You Afraid of the Dark?, he produced all 91 episodes over 8 years. He wrote and directed many of the episodes including the CableAce nominated The Tale of Cutter's Treasure starring Charles S. Dutton. He was nominated for a Gemini award for directing The Tale of the Dangerous Soup starring Neve Campbell.
D.J. also wrote and directed the movie Tower of Terror for ABC's Wonderful World of Disney which starred Kirsten Dunst and Steve Guttenberg. The Showtime series Chris Cross was co-created, written and produced by D.J. It received the CableAce award for Best Youth Series.
D.J. co-created and produced the Discovery Kids series Flight 29 Down for which he writes all the episodes and directs several. His work on Flight 29 Down has earned him both Writers Guild of America and Directors Guild of America award nominations.
Other notable writing credits include the classic ABC Afterschool Special titled Seasonal Differences; the pilot for the long-running PBS/CBS series Ghostwriter; and the HBO series Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective for which he received a CableAce nomination for writing.
In print, D.J. has co-written the book The Tale of the Nightly Neighbors, based on his own teleplay and penned the poetic adaptation of the classic Norwegian folk tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon.
The book series: Pendragon - Journal of an Adventure through Time and Space marks D.J.'s first turn as a novelist. He plans for this series of Young Adult adventures to span a total of 10 books.
D.J. lives in Southern California with his wife Evangeline and daughter Keaton. They are avid backpackers, scuba divers and skiers. Rounding out the household are a Golden Retriever, Maggie; and a Kitten, Kaboodle.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 24, 2011
Textually, MacHale gives a fairly standard retelling of the fairy tale, although there are a couple of variant details. The first is the explicit statement that when the bear husband comes to the girl's bed night after night, he sleeps the entire time and never touches her; so, there is no sex and also no conversation to develop their relationship. The other alteration was that when the girl reaches the troll castle she wins free the prince almost immediately by weeping on his tallow-stained garment, those breaking the spell. This seemed to easy and elides both her struggle and the ritualistic three attempts at freeing the husband. Both these details seemed to weaken rather than improve the story.
What really stands out about this version, though, is Vivienne Flesher's illustrations. If you can call them that. I quite like Flesher as a painter. But as an illustrator for a children's book? I really don't think her work is suitable at all. It is not fairy-tale-like, not narrative. At times the "illustrations" were practically abstract. For example: [image error] is supposed to be the girl carried by the wind. With an explanation I can sort of make myself see that. But what's the point? This arty choice felt like an adult pretension, an intrusion, and I know I would not have appreciated it as a kid.
What really stands out about this version, though, is Vivienne Flesher's illustrations. If you can call them that. I quite like Flesher as a painter. But as an illustrator for a children's book? I really don't think her work is suitable at all. It is not fairy-tale-like, not narrative. At times the "illustrations" were practically abstract. For example: [image error] is supposed to be the girl carried by the wind. With an explanation I can sort of make myself see that. But what's the point? This arty choice felt like an adult pretension, an intrusion, and I know I would not have appreciated it as a kid.
February 6, 2017
I was so turned off by the illustrations once I got this book at the library. I had looked up East of the Sun, West of the Moon in the library’s catalog and this came up, only the picture of the book was tiny so I couldn’t see the loose, sketchy picture. If I had any idea of the terrible illustrations I never would have picked it up. As soon as I opened it there was an ugly picture of the girl with her hand literally curled over like a wave. She was truly ugly and I hate artwork in that style, impressionism or whatever it’s called. I am not a fan at all and the artwork can kill a story. It had none of the magic and beauty this story needs, and looked way too modern. After reading East by Edith Patou, I already knew the story but wanted to read different versions. So my expectations were high.
And omg, if I hear one more tale of the prettiest girl in the land I’m about to pull my hair out. I am SO sick of the girl in fairytales being the prettiest. LOOKS DON’T MATTER. STOP TELLING KIDS THAT LOOKS MATTER. What kind of a lesson is it, what is it teaching kids when the character has to be better looking than everyone else in existence, and only they get the prize, the handsome prince? What kind of a lesson is that if the only person that achieves the prize/happiness, what have you, is the best-looking person in the story? I’ll tell you what kind it is, the kind where only good-looking people come out on top and anyone unfortunate enough to not out-class everyone else in the looks department gets nothing.
Right smack in the beginning we are informed that she is no less than the prettiest daughter this man has.
She’ll go on to get someone as good-looking as she is who is what else, a prince! It’s truly vomit-inducing. And just because the original tale has this look-requirement doesn’t mean an author has to write it. After spewing how Rabbit Ears: A Classic Tale books have so inspiration for little ones and “offer powerful lessons for today’s audiences” I expected so much better. To open the first page and read that they then went to go on to foster a look complex in young children, I was mad. Just once I want to read a fairytale about a girl with crazy, frizzy hair. Out of control. Can’t be tamed. Looks like a bush.
What do I care if his children are all pretty? I want to know about their personalities and if they’re nice. I don’t require someone to have all beautiful children, and of course the youngest is the prettiest, with long blonde hair. And let me tell you, if that girl is supposed to be pretty then I shudder to think what her sisters look like.
And the girl could have at least had a name, instead of just saying “she” all the time.
I thought it was quite ridiculous to have the dad answer the door and show no shock whatsoever at there being a bear knocking on it and then go on to carry on a conversation with it. Seemed rather silly. And so irresponsible for her own dad to ask her to go off with a bear—an animal—and live with it because she’ll be a princess. Like being a princess is all that matters in life. And the other selling point is that the bear will make her family rich, so that settles that and away she goes to live with a bear.
It was interesting that he took her to a home inside a cave, the entrance hidden by a boulder that he moved, and once there he told her of a bell that she could ring to get whatever she needed. It made me wonder who would be there to serve her. I thought there must be some kind of servants, but then when she rang the bell when she was tired, she just all of a sudden found herself in bed. It took the fun out of it that the bell seemed to know what she needed.
I thought it was a bad idea on the illustrator’s part to show us that a boy was getting into bed with her, because that gave away the story when it had just gotten started. The writing said that it was so dark she couldn’t see who it was, so we shouldn’t have been shown who it was. That’s giving things away.
It got interesting at the part in the story where the bear didn’t like that she was sad and missed her happy, so relented to give her one day with her family. The plot takes off as he told her not to tell her family anything about her life here, even if her mom asked.
The sentence “the girl eagerly assented to do as he asked” was way too mature for children. The word assented shouldn’t be used in a picture book.
I didn’t care for her family living in house instead of their cottage. And the picture with that temple-like house that looked like something from the Middle East instead of Norway, and the exotic animals in the yard was just too much. One kid was riding an elephant. There aren’t elephants in Norway. She wished that they missed her more, so she would’ve been good to be rid of them.
When her mom got mad at her for refusing to say how her life with the bear was, she looked like a demon. Red background, a splash of red paint over her face, it would probably be terrifying to kids. Just because she’s mad doesn’t mean you have to make her look like the devil.
It really showed how bad her family was because upon learning her daughter was in bed with a stranger each night—alarming!—the first thing she had to say was that maybe that’s the rich guy and that she should look at him so he might make her his queen and they can live in his castle.
I also didn’t like how the bear knew what had happened. He wasn’t even there and shouldn’t have known. He knew enough to tell her that if she took her mom’s advice they’d both be sad.
I absolutely didn’t like what happened. It was told so much better in East. Of course he was “the most handsome prince that anyone could imagine.” Come on. That is sickening. And this girl can’t resist kissing him. My gosh, she’s only a girl! You don’t teach kids to value looks so much, and you don’t teach them to kiss random strangers just because you like the way they look. In East, the hot tallow from the candle doesn’t fall because she kissed him. And it shouldn’t have happened this way in here. It also should have been stated how close to a year they had come, because the year was almost up when she looked at him.
I thought the tale ended way too quickly, there wasn’t enough adventure because the whole thing was about the four winds. The East Wind took her to the West Wind, then she traveled and found the South Wind, who took her to the North Wind. It wasn’t told very well. And I didn’t like how it played out. A long time ago apparently he blew an aspen leaf all the way to the castle east of the sun and west of the moon. …Why?
Then what took place after was totally rushed and such a letdown. It was yet another horrid depiction of a red blotchy scene with no details, just sloppy lines. There were giant figures in the doorway, looking like vague monsters. There were also frozen people, one of which was the prince. She met the Troll Queen first thing and she throws the girl the boy’s silken shirt on which she had dropped the wax. The girl cried and the wax melted and just like that, everyone was thawed out. No fight, no challenge, no trial or tribulation whatsoever. In an accident she just undoes the whole spell. What a joke.
And the prince—who isn’t handsome-at all—answered that she broke her evil with a magic more powerful, that of love. The terrible queen exploded into smoke and was never seen again. What an easy way out. He asked the girl what she wanted and she answered that she wanted to be with him forever, and the North Wind took them off far away from the castle. To where? Where did they go? I think we deserved to know where they’d be spending their lives together.
This was not a good retelling and the only thing I got out of it was just that, it was a retelling to a story I love, but it bore very little resemblance to the version I like. The illustrations absolutely pulled this thing under and I don’t know who would clear such hideous artwork but I didn’t want to look at a single picture any longer than I had to. To be so long, the book covers none of the struggle this story needs. She has to atone for her sin of breaking her promise and getting him trapped in the curse, and in here she just breaks the spell through no effort of her own. It just happened. All I can say was that I was close to the story again, but I didn’t enjoy this at all. There was no conclusion and barely any magic and wonderment that the story is all about.
The vocabulary was also too advanced. There were so many words that would go right over kids’ heads. If they can’t pronounce it then it shouldn’t be in here. They won’t get anything out of it if they don’t know what’s being said.
Sumptuous, solemn, relented, stout, weary, bellowed, shamble, audacity, hysterical, horrid.
And omg, if I hear one more tale of the prettiest girl in the land I’m about to pull my hair out. I am SO sick of the girl in fairytales being the prettiest. LOOKS DON’T MATTER. STOP TELLING KIDS THAT LOOKS MATTER. What kind of a lesson is it, what is it teaching kids when the character has to be better looking than everyone else in existence, and only they get the prize, the handsome prince? What kind of a lesson is that if the only person that achieves the prize/happiness, what have you, is the best-looking person in the story? I’ll tell you what kind it is, the kind where only good-looking people come out on top and anyone unfortunate enough to not out-class everyone else in the looks department gets nothing.
Right smack in the beginning we are informed that she is no less than the prettiest daughter this man has.
She’ll go on to get someone as good-looking as she is who is what else, a prince! It’s truly vomit-inducing. And just because the original tale has this look-requirement doesn’t mean an author has to write it. After spewing how Rabbit Ears: A Classic Tale books have so inspiration for little ones and “offer powerful lessons for today’s audiences” I expected so much better. To open the first page and read that they then went to go on to foster a look complex in young children, I was mad. Just once I want to read a fairytale about a girl with crazy, frizzy hair. Out of control. Can’t be tamed. Looks like a bush.
What do I care if his children are all pretty? I want to know about their personalities and if they’re nice. I don’t require someone to have all beautiful children, and of course the youngest is the prettiest, with long blonde hair. And let me tell you, if that girl is supposed to be pretty then I shudder to think what her sisters look like.
And the girl could have at least had a name, instead of just saying “she” all the time.
I thought it was quite ridiculous to have the dad answer the door and show no shock whatsoever at there being a bear knocking on it and then go on to carry on a conversation with it. Seemed rather silly. And so irresponsible for her own dad to ask her to go off with a bear—an animal—and live with it because she’ll be a princess. Like being a princess is all that matters in life. And the other selling point is that the bear will make her family rich, so that settles that and away she goes to live with a bear.
It was interesting that he took her to a home inside a cave, the entrance hidden by a boulder that he moved, and once there he told her of a bell that she could ring to get whatever she needed. It made me wonder who would be there to serve her. I thought there must be some kind of servants, but then when she rang the bell when she was tired, she just all of a sudden found herself in bed. It took the fun out of it that the bell seemed to know what she needed.
I thought it was a bad idea on the illustrator’s part to show us that a boy was getting into bed with her, because that gave away the story when it had just gotten started. The writing said that it was so dark she couldn’t see who it was, so we shouldn’t have been shown who it was. That’s giving things away.
It got interesting at the part in the story where the bear didn’t like that she was sad and missed her happy, so relented to give her one day with her family. The plot takes off as he told her not to tell her family anything about her life here, even if her mom asked.
The sentence “the girl eagerly assented to do as he asked” was way too mature for children. The word assented shouldn’t be used in a picture book.
I didn’t care for her family living in house instead of their cottage. And the picture with that temple-like house that looked like something from the Middle East instead of Norway, and the exotic animals in the yard was just too much. One kid was riding an elephant. There aren’t elephants in Norway. She wished that they missed her more, so she would’ve been good to be rid of them.
When her mom got mad at her for refusing to say how her life with the bear was, she looked like a demon. Red background, a splash of red paint over her face, it would probably be terrifying to kids. Just because she’s mad doesn’t mean you have to make her look like the devil.
It really showed how bad her family was because upon learning her daughter was in bed with a stranger each night—alarming!—the first thing she had to say was that maybe that’s the rich guy and that she should look at him so he might make her his queen and they can live in his castle.
I also didn’t like how the bear knew what had happened. He wasn’t even there and shouldn’t have known. He knew enough to tell her that if she took her mom’s advice they’d both be sad.
I absolutely didn’t like what happened. It was told so much better in East. Of course he was “the most handsome prince that anyone could imagine.” Come on. That is sickening. And this girl can’t resist kissing him. My gosh, she’s only a girl! You don’t teach kids to value looks so much, and you don’t teach them to kiss random strangers just because you like the way they look. In East, the hot tallow from the candle doesn’t fall because she kissed him. And it shouldn’t have happened this way in here. It also should have been stated how close to a year they had come, because the year was almost up when she looked at him.
I thought the tale ended way too quickly, there wasn’t enough adventure because the whole thing was about the four winds. The East Wind took her to the West Wind, then she traveled and found the South Wind, who took her to the North Wind. It wasn’t told very well. And I didn’t like how it played out. A long time ago apparently he blew an aspen leaf all the way to the castle east of the sun and west of the moon. …Why?
Then what took place after was totally rushed and such a letdown. It was yet another horrid depiction of a red blotchy scene with no details, just sloppy lines. There were giant figures in the doorway, looking like vague monsters. There were also frozen people, one of which was the prince. She met the Troll Queen first thing and she throws the girl the boy’s silken shirt on which she had dropped the wax. The girl cried and the wax melted and just like that, everyone was thawed out. No fight, no challenge, no trial or tribulation whatsoever. In an accident she just undoes the whole spell. What a joke.
And the prince—who isn’t handsome-at all—answered that she broke her evil with a magic more powerful, that of love. The terrible queen exploded into smoke and was never seen again. What an easy way out. He asked the girl what she wanted and she answered that she wanted to be with him forever, and the North Wind took them off far away from the castle. To where? Where did they go? I think we deserved to know where they’d be spending their lives together.
This was not a good retelling and the only thing I got out of it was just that, it was a retelling to a story I love, but it bore very little resemblance to the version I like. The illustrations absolutely pulled this thing under and I don’t know who would clear such hideous artwork but I didn’t want to look at a single picture any longer than I had to. To be so long, the book covers none of the struggle this story needs. She has to atone for her sin of breaking her promise and getting him trapped in the curse, and in here she just breaks the spell through no effort of her own. It just happened. All I can say was that I was close to the story again, but I didn’t enjoy this at all. There was no conclusion and barely any magic and wonderment that the story is all about.
The vocabulary was also too advanced. There were so many words that would go right over kids’ heads. If they can’t pronounce it then it shouldn’t be in here. They won’t get anything out of it if they don’t know what’s being said.
Sumptuous, solemn, relented, stout, weary, bellowed, shamble, audacity, hysterical, horrid.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 15, 2017
The artwork completely ruins the story.
As you say she's the prettiest daughter, we're looking at something that is decidedly NOT pretty. Skin as pale as a vampire in the dead of winter. This weird pink splotch on only one cheek, this curled thing by her face that's either somebody's tongue or a messed up arm, I'm not sure which.
I can only give a sigh of deep regret at what this book could have been had this been done in realistic painting.
The dad looks so young, like a teenager and he's got a lil soul patch thing going on, or whatever you call that lil patch of hair. They don't look like they're from the correct time period at all. He looks completely modern.
The bear says good evening and the dad just replies "good evening" right back as if it's completely ordinary for a bear to knock at the door.
"All you have to do is live with this handsome white bear." Handsome bear. Hm. As if that sweetens the deal. If he was ugly, would the dad not want her to go with the bear? It's also hinting that he's actually a handsome prince.
The first drawing I've liked is the girl on the bear and he's wearing this red blanket, while he's carrying her home to her family.
The page with them at the cave entrance is also nice, now that I look back on it, which was a couple pages earlier, because it's mostly realistic-looking, with the dark colors of the cave, and the blue mixed in with the sky is pretty.
To show their change of fortune, they're living in a Russian/Indian looking house, and they're riding an elephant. What climate are they in that there's an elephant here? This is supposed to be in Norway or somewhere like that.
There's like 4 boys in the picture. Who are they? Or is that her father, mother and two sisters?
-The mom gets mad that her daughter isn't telling her about her time with the polar bear. The image of the mom is red and angry and her face has been splattered with red paint. That's pretty dramatic. When the daughter tells her a stranger has been sleeping with her, the mom 'became quiet anxious.' You think she'd be concerned for her daughter's safety, but no. She's anxious because she thinks it must be the 'master of all these riches.' It could be anyone! It could be some hobo living outside the cave who's slumming in someone's bed at night for all she knew! Her parents literally have no concern whatsoever for her!
'Perhaps then he will make you his queen and we can live in his castle.' What a stretch. You've also become rich because your daughter is living with the polar bear. Now you're just being greedy.
"if you have listened to your mother's advice, you have made us both unhappy." How did the polar bear know that!! How did he know what she said to her mother in their home?
'The girl didn't answer, For she was not one to tell something that wasn't the truth.' But you'll go against the polar bears condition of not saying anything of your time with the polar bear to your mom. That's ironic!
The page of them traveling back through the forest is pretty. I like the colors of the night sky, against the trees.
Idk why I expected the prince to be handsome after the supposed beautiful girl wasn't. I don't get the red strip over his face, the blue color smeared in. I simply don't understand this artwork. Then there's an image of her kissing him; that's pretty forward! but their faces look meshed together. her lips are blended with his. and he looks like Mr. Egghead. they really look like eggs. The yellow on the page isn't helping.
On the following page, there's an image of a person, I thought was the girl, but I'm not sure. Instead of looking Norwegian (why would it, the entire book hasn't?) she looks Grecian. She's wearing a toga-like outfit, holding a scepter looking thing, and has a wrap over her head.
-I don't remember the West Wind being mischievous and...such a jerk. Blowing her around and knocking her down.
She travels to green land, with palm trees. Where the heck is this landscape? There's an image there that I literally can't make out. I think it's the wind knocking her down, but there's these red lines blurring the image.
I don't like the repetition of asking each wind "can you help me get there?"
-"no, no, no matter how wildly you storm." I don't like writing like that!
I'm disappointed with the troll's castle. It looks like Gothic meets Imperial Russia. It doesn't fit the landscape either. She opens the door and there's these huge figures appearing out of this red cavernous room. It looks like the doorway to hell. Seriously, just because something is evil/dangerous/mad doesn't mean you have to use the color red.
Instead of showing us the troll queen, we see a zoomed-in set of lips. It's a cop-out, really. We deserve to see what the troll queen looks like.
Wow, this is new. The Queen throws her the prince's nightshirt that she spilled wax on as a keepsake of her broken promise to him. She cried and the tears make the wax melt, and all the frozen people melted, too. I don't like how that happened at all. It was all too easy.
The prince actually looks handsome and normal. Still not Norwegian, but I've given up hope with this book. He looks like a Greek youth. but his features are symmetrical, and there aren't any weird slashes of color across his face, (red splotches down side of cheek and neck notwithstanding), so that's something.
But there's this totally weird yellow shape beside him. I can make out a snout and a mouth, and it looks like it has two ears. It looks like some pig-thing.
'Then, in her fury, she spun around and exploded in a cloud of black smoke, never to be seen again.' It's like she killed herself! That was way too easy. Where's the fight, the struggle? She's supposed to clean the shirt herself and then beat the queen. Why was this so easy?
The red and blue colors were pretty on the last page.
It ended abruptly. I turned the page, expecting more and there was nothing.
With kids' books, it's hard to get a complete story. everything is shortened down, so you're always left wanting more. The writing was pretty good, but the illustrations ruined it.
And I really don't like a sudden ending in a book. This is like disney movies of princes and princesses, when the two actually don't really talk to each other that much, are suddenly in love, and then at ending just live happily ever after, while having not made a real connection or fallen in love. Wish they had talked more, and actually developed some kind of relationship. and the ending had been more defined. But this is a kid's book, so there you go.
I think I'm just wanting to read a whole story of this, like East and Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow. I requested my library to purchase Ice, but they wouldn't because it's an older book, so I'm just disappointed I can't read another full story of this legend.
As you say she's the prettiest daughter, we're looking at something that is decidedly NOT pretty. Skin as pale as a vampire in the dead of winter. This weird pink splotch on only one cheek, this curled thing by her face that's either somebody's tongue or a messed up arm, I'm not sure which.
I can only give a sigh of deep regret at what this book could have been had this been done in realistic painting.
The dad looks so young, like a teenager and he's got a lil soul patch thing going on, or whatever you call that lil patch of hair. They don't look like they're from the correct time period at all. He looks completely modern.
The bear says good evening and the dad just replies "good evening" right back as if it's completely ordinary for a bear to knock at the door.
"All you have to do is live with this handsome white bear." Handsome bear. Hm. As if that sweetens the deal. If he was ugly, would the dad not want her to go with the bear? It's also hinting that he's actually a handsome prince.
The first drawing I've liked is the girl on the bear and he's wearing this red blanket, while he's carrying her home to her family.
The page with them at the cave entrance is also nice, now that I look back on it, which was a couple pages earlier, because it's mostly realistic-looking, with the dark colors of the cave, and the blue mixed in with the sky is pretty.
To show their change of fortune, they're living in a Russian/Indian looking house, and they're riding an elephant. What climate are they in that there's an elephant here? This is supposed to be in Norway or somewhere like that.
There's like 4 boys in the picture. Who are they? Or is that her father, mother and two sisters?
-The mom gets mad that her daughter isn't telling her about her time with the polar bear. The image of the mom is red and angry and her face has been splattered with red paint. That's pretty dramatic. When the daughter tells her a stranger has been sleeping with her, the mom 'became quiet anxious.' You think she'd be concerned for her daughter's safety, but no. She's anxious because she thinks it must be the 'master of all these riches.' It could be anyone! It could be some hobo living outside the cave who's slumming in someone's bed at night for all she knew! Her parents literally have no concern whatsoever for her!
'Perhaps then he will make you his queen and we can live in his castle.' What a stretch. You've also become rich because your daughter is living with the polar bear. Now you're just being greedy.
"if you have listened to your mother's advice, you have made us both unhappy." How did the polar bear know that!! How did he know what she said to her mother in their home?
'The girl didn't answer, For she was not one to tell something that wasn't the truth.' But you'll go against the polar bears condition of not saying anything of your time with the polar bear to your mom. That's ironic!
The page of them traveling back through the forest is pretty. I like the colors of the night sky, against the trees.
Idk why I expected the prince to be handsome after the supposed beautiful girl wasn't. I don't get the red strip over his face, the blue color smeared in. I simply don't understand this artwork. Then there's an image of her kissing him; that's pretty forward! but their faces look meshed together. her lips are blended with his. and he looks like Mr. Egghead. they really look like eggs. The yellow on the page isn't helping.
On the following page, there's an image of a person, I thought was the girl, but I'm not sure. Instead of looking Norwegian (why would it, the entire book hasn't?) she looks Grecian. She's wearing a toga-like outfit, holding a scepter looking thing, and has a wrap over her head.
-I don't remember the West Wind being mischievous and...such a jerk. Blowing her around and knocking her down.
She travels to green land, with palm trees. Where the heck is this landscape? There's an image there that I literally can't make out. I think it's the wind knocking her down, but there's these red lines blurring the image.
I don't like the repetition of asking each wind "can you help me get there?"
-"no, no, no matter how wildly you storm." I don't like writing like that!
I'm disappointed with the troll's castle. It looks like Gothic meets Imperial Russia. It doesn't fit the landscape either. She opens the door and there's these huge figures appearing out of this red cavernous room. It looks like the doorway to hell. Seriously, just because something is evil/dangerous/mad doesn't mean you have to use the color red.
Instead of showing us the troll queen, we see a zoomed-in set of lips. It's a cop-out, really. We deserve to see what the troll queen looks like.
Wow, this is new. The Queen throws her the prince's nightshirt that she spilled wax on as a keepsake of her broken promise to him. She cried and the tears make the wax melt, and all the frozen people melted, too. I don't like how that happened at all. It was all too easy.
The prince actually looks handsome and normal. Still not Norwegian, but I've given up hope with this book. He looks like a Greek youth. but his features are symmetrical, and there aren't any weird slashes of color across his face, (red splotches down side of cheek and neck notwithstanding), so that's something.
But there's this totally weird yellow shape beside him. I can make out a snout and a mouth, and it looks like it has two ears. It looks like some pig-thing.
'Then, in her fury, she spun around and exploded in a cloud of black smoke, never to be seen again.' It's like she killed herself! That was way too easy. Where's the fight, the struggle? She's supposed to clean the shirt herself and then beat the queen. Why was this so easy?
The red and blue colors were pretty on the last page.
It ended abruptly. I turned the page, expecting more and there was nothing.
With kids' books, it's hard to get a complete story. everything is shortened down, so you're always left wanting more. The writing was pretty good, but the illustrations ruined it.
And I really don't like a sudden ending in a book. This is like disney movies of princes and princesses, when the two actually don't really talk to each other that much, are suddenly in love, and then at ending just live happily ever after, while having not made a real connection or fallen in love. Wish they had talked more, and actually developed some kind of relationship. and the ending had been more defined. But this is a kid's book, so there you go.
I think I'm just wanting to read a whole story of this, like East and Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow. I requested my library to purchase Ice, but they wouldn't because it's an older book, so I'm just disappointed I can't read another full story of this legend.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 18, 2021
In this tale, a bear shows up to the house of a poor family and says he will make the family rich if they give their daughter to the bear as princess. The bear took her to a cave and gave her a bell to get anything she wants. The girl becomes homesick and the bear takes her back to her family, but she cannot talk about her life with the bear. The girl learns that the bear is only a bear by day, and becomes a man by night. She then goes on a search to find a castle and break the curse of the bear. This book can be used to teach children that they must admit to their mistakes and fix what they have done wrong.
September 18, 2017
This is the tale of a man who is cursed to live as a polar bear. The only way he can break the spell is if he can get a woman to live with him for a year. He finds a woman he wants to marry, but she doesn't follow his rules and he ends up having to go back to the evil queen. However, the woman has grown to love the bear and feels bad for making the polar bear suffer, so she sets out to find the house that lies east of the sun, west of the moon. The tale is a story of love and going after what you want. I also appreciate how the woman is a lead of the story instead of the man.
December 5, 2023
A version of the Norwegian folktale "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" about a man forced to live as a bear by a troll queen. This is a pretty good version with nice illustrations.
August 12, 2024
Not sure what prompted me to borrow this book from the library.
When I started it, it kind of reminded me of "Snow & Rose" by Emily Winfield Martin.
But this is a diffrent story. This one has a troll
It is a lovely folktale.
When I started it, it kind of reminded me of "Snow & Rose" by Emily Winfield Martin.
But this is a diffrent story. This one has a troll
It is a lovely folktale.
Want to Read
August 9, 2010Darnit, I wanted to write this book! Maybe my idea for it will be different enough. The original folktale captivates me, and I feel there has to be more to the story. I guess I'll find out how this author did it, though.
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