Where Snow Angels Go

by Maggie O'Farrell (Author) Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade

What happens to a snow angel after you leave it behind? A little girl discovers she has an unusual protector in a modern fairy tale with gorgeously detailed illustrations.

One night Sylvie awakens to an incredible sight: a glowing figure tiptoeing across her floor, with enormous feathery wings wafting from his back. He's muttering to himself, trying to remember his orders, for this is his first flight. Could he really be the same angel she made last winter in the snow? Sylvie's angel says she isn't supposed to see him. He has been sent to save her life, and when the danger is past, she won't remember he was there.

But she does remember. She thinks of him every day. And when nothing Sylvie does, no matter how risky, can make him reappear, she realizes he'll always be there unseen when she truly needs him.

In a contemporary tale told with humor and warmth, paired with Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini's enchanting artwork, Maggie O'Farrell weaves the story of a spirited girl who finds a way to bring magic into her own house--and enlist it to bring a sense of wonder to those she loves.

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Kirkus

An appealing contemporary fairy tale told with humor and warmth.

Publishers Weekly

In her debut children's book, novelist O'Farrell (Hamnet, for adults) adds piquancy to the moment when a blue-tinged angel with enormous feathered wings materializes in a girl's bedroom by imagining that the angel is just as startled as the girl. Sylvie can see him, and that's against the rules: "This is my first flight, you see, and I did want it to go well." He's a snow angel, he explains--every person who has ever made a snow angel creates a real one who looks after them for the rest of their life. A bold, even audacious child, pale-skinned Sylvie spends the months that follow exploring what her snow angel will--and will not--do for her, and for those she loves. Graceful ink and watercolor spreads by Terrazzini (The Seeing Stick) give pre-Raphaelite romance to the tall angel and to Sylvie's soulful eyes and honey-colored hair. O'Farrell's lengthy, storybook-style narration and winning dialogue ("I really had no idea that you would be so talkative," the angel sighs) similarly give life to this witty exploration of godlike power and what it's good for. Ages 7-10. (Oct.)

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes



Maggie O'Farrell
Maggie O'Farrell is an award-winning Irish-British author whose books for adults have received international acclaim, including Hamnet, which won the Fiction Prize at the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Awards. Where Snow Angels Go is her first book for children. She lives in Edinburgh.

Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini studied fine art in Milan and moved to London to study photography. She is the illustrator of The Night I Met Father Christmas by Ben Miller and The Seeing Stick by Jane Yolen, among other picture books. She lives in London.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781536219371
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Candlewick Press (MA)
Publication date
November 16, 2021
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV015020 - Juvenile Fiction | Health & Daily Living | Diseases, Illnesses & Injuries
JUV039000 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | General
JUV022000 - Juvenile Fiction | Legends, Myths, & Fables | General
Library of Congress categories
-

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