The Ice Palace - Robert Swindells

...received prestigious awards such as the Carnegie Medal. Ice Palace, which is a very popular book, was written in 1977 so it has been around for quite a while now. That does not matter though as it is a timeless tale, set in a mystical place, which is never likely to date.

The blurb on the back cover makes the book seem very exciting and mysterious. The first words that you read on this blurb are:

'Starjik! Whisper his name ...
...really does seem to draw the reader in and my eight year old nephew could not wait to get going with it. Straight away he was wondering who Starjik was and why his name should have such an effect on anyone!

The reader soon discovers that Starjik has never actually been seen. However, the impact of his visit to any village is drastic because, along with his wolves, he is stealing children and they are never seen again. Everyone is too ... more

I was looking for some books which I could get for my young nephews and an author who's name kept cropping up was Robert Swindells. He has been writing books for children for a number of years and many of his books have received prestigious awards such as the Carnegie Medal. Ice Palace, which is a very popular book, was written in 1977 so it has been around for quite a while now. That does not matter though as it is a timeless tale, set in a mystical place, which is never likely to date.

The blurb on the back cover makes the book seem very exciting and mysterious. The first words that you read on this blurb are:

'Starjik! Whisper his name and it was winter in your heart!'

This really does seem to draw the reader in and my eight year old nephew could not wait to get going with it. Straight away he was wondering who Starjik was and why his name should have such an effect on anyone!

The reader soon discovers that Starjik has never actually been seen. However, the impact of his visit to any village is drastic because, along with his wolves, he is stealing children and they are never seen again. Everyone is too afraid to try and find Starjikthough - that is until one more small boy is taken from his village but his older brother Ivan loves him so much that he is prepared to track him down and save him! The story follows Ivan's journey as he follows Starjik's trail and what happens when he does eventually catch up with him.

This beautifully written book is only 90 pages long so it's ideal for young but fluent readers who can read independently but who have not yet developed the stamina for reading longer more complicated novels. It is a very good story that is very good at building up the tension and therefore encouraging the young person to want to read on. The main character, Ivan, is brave and heroic and you really do share his trials and triumphs with him.

The entire novel is set in cold mysterious places - deep dark forests where danger could be lurking behind every snow covered tree! The description of all the places he travels through is very vivid - so much so that they are all easy to imagine. The cold is described extremely well and feels almost painful at times.

I think this book is particularly well written which is not something you can say about all children's books these days. In schools, children are often encouraged to 'read with a writer's eye' meaning that if they read good texts, the models of language they experience will help them in their own writing. In this way, this book is an excellent model using powerful language and varied sentence structures.

Overall, it is a very good story which an eager reader will devour very quickly. I think it is a shame that it is not divided up into chapters but with only 90 pages that is not too big a disadvantage.

With the subject matter and the level of accessibility in the reading, I think this book is probably most suitable for seven to ten year olds. There is no reason why girls would not enjoy the story, but I do think that it will particularly appeal to boys. As we hear so much these days about boys being reluctant readers, this has to be a good thing. It's also the sort of book that can be very much enjoyed by being read aloud or by being read on its own.

The book is published by Young Puffin and at the moment can be bought on Amazon for £4.49. 

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