Book Review: Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

Book: Breadcrumbs
Author: Anne Ursu
Publication: September 27th, 2011
Source: Local Library
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Summary (from Goodreads):

Once upon a time, Hazel and Jack were best friends. They had been best friends since they were six, spending hot Minneapolis summers and cold Minneapolis winters together, dreaming of Hogwarts and Oz, superheroes and baseball. Now that they were eleven, it was weird for a boy and a girl to be best friends. But they couldn't help it - Hazel and Jack fit, in that way you only read about in books. And they didn't fit anywhere else.

 And then, one day, it was over. Jack just stopped talking to Hazel. And while her mom tried to tell her that this sometimes happens to boys and girls at this age, Hazel had read enough stories to know that it's never that simple. And it turns out, she was right. Jack's heart had been frozen, and he was taken into the woods by a woman dressed in white to live in a palace made of ice. Now, it's up to Hazel to venture into the woods after him. Hazel finds, however, that these woods are nothing like what she's read about, and the Jack that Hazel went in to save isn't the same Jack that will emerge. Or even the same Hazel.

 Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen," Breadcrumbs is a story of the struggle to hold on, and the things we leave behind.

My Thoughts:

Breadcrumbs was one of my most anticipated reads of 2013 after I read a review by A Backwards Story. She wrote this review way before I was a blogger, but I believe I found it around April. Although I really wanted to read this book I put it off until now. I think one of my key problems is that I had so many other books I needed to complete to satisfy my reading challenges. Another key reason was this book was at my library and it was always there on the shelf so I knew I had time. When I found myself down to one book left and no other books checked out from the library I knew I had to make a library trip. That is when I finally picked up Breadcrumbs.

Another key point that really pushed me to finally pick up Breadcrumbs was Disney's Frozen. I saw the movie the week before and I absolutely fell in love with the movie. Breadcrumbs is a retelling of the Snow Queen, which is a fairy tale I know little about so with Frozen in my mind I had the basic story of the Snow Queen in my mind as I began Breadcrumbs.

I do have to admit it took me a long time to become intrigued in this novel. The beginning of the novel was necessary to explain Hazel and Jack's friendship, but I found it to be slow moving. Once the White Witch got involved and Jack's whole personality changed. I became very interested in the novel. Hazel is indeed a typical 11 year old girl. She is trusting of people she shouldn't be trusting of and when her friend disappears. She knows that she has to rescue him. I loved her time spent in the forest and all the fairy tale characters that made it into this retelling.

As a whole this story is about the power of friendship. Jack and Hazel's friendship is the key to this novel and the reason Hazel makes the choices that she does. This novel is also about discovery, adventure, imagination, and growing pains. Hazel matures a lot with her journey through the forest and realizes that there is a danger in the land. I think Anne Ursu did a beautiful job of telling this story. I'm so glad I got to reading this book this year. Jack and Hazel are characters that are going to stay with me along with their beautiful story. I thoroughly enjoyed Breadcrumbs and Anne Ursu's take on The Snow Queen. I will look forward to reading more of her books in the future.

My final point is about the beautiful cover of this book. I put the falling snow on the book cover using Google Plus. I think this book is a great book to cuddle up with during a cold snowy day. The colors of the cover are magnificent. I like how it has elements from the novel, but is not too busy. Also who doesn't like a book with pictures. This novel has beautiful artwork inside, but there wasn't too many and none of them took away from the story.


Thanks for reading


Rachael