The Winter of the Ice Wizard
Written by Mary Pope Osborne
Reviewed by Lane T. (age 7)
This story is about how Jack and Annie help the Ice Wizard get his eye back from the Fates. When they got to the Fates’ house they saw a big woven picture. That picture told a story: Long ago when the Ice Wizard had a sister, he got angry and said, “Never be with me again!” So the sister went to the swans, put a maiden swan cloak on, turned into a swan, and flew away. Then years later the Ice Wizard became selfish and wanted to be wise, so he went to the Fates and traded his eye for wisdom the Fates would plant in his heart, but the wisdom never grew. Jack and Annie had lots of adventures as they helped the Ice Wizard. I think the book was the best choice for me because it’s spooky, and I like spooky books. My favorite part was when the Ice Wizard got to see his sister again because it made me feel happy that the Wizard got to see someone he hadn’t seen in a while. I liked all the characters a lot because they all (except four of them) had their own thing to do. I like to do my own thing, and the characters (especially the Swan Princess) reminded me of me. I would recommend this book because it has a lot of adventures in it. I think this would be a good book for someone like my friend Julie who likes adventure books, and for anyone in any grade who reads chapter books. Probably the favorite part of anyone who reads the book would be the part where the Ice Wizard gets to see his sister again and starts getting wisdom back. They’d like that part because it just makes everything happy.