The Princess and the White Bear King

The Princess and the White Bear King - I probably say this far too often, but this really might be my favorite Barefoot Book. The book itself is a gorgeous cloth-bound hardcover. The illustrations by Nicoletta Ceccoli are ethereal and whimsical and perfectly depict the magical land where this story takes place, and the story CD read by Miranda Richardson is enthralling. I am not generally a huge fan of story CDs, except in the car, but the first time I played this my 3 year old and I were snuggled together on the couch and we listened from beginning to end without a word (and if you knew my 3 year old, you would know that never happens!).

In the afterword, author Tanya Robyn Batt talks about her influences for this story. She says it "...combines the themes of three classic wonder tales East of the Sun, West of the Moon, The Black Bull of Norway and The White Bear King" and she has done a wonderful job of combining them into something that is fresh and original, but still has the comforting familiar feel of a classic fairy tale.