Lucia lived, together with her mother, her baby brother, the family's velvet-brown cow, and their milk-white pet cat, in a small mountain cabin, far to the north. Although it was a humble and solitary life, they were happy - until the winter's day on which the sun disappeared, leaving the world in icy darkness. When the sun does not return, and their food runs low, Lucia sets out, despite the misgivings of her mother, to retrieve the celestial orb, confronting deadly cold and dangerous mountain trolls in the process...

Given the title of this one, and its cover-art, I rather expected that it would have something to do with Saint Lucia, who is associated with light, and whose celebration day, which falls on December 13th, is so strongly tied to Scandinavia. What it is instead, is an original fairy-tale, inspired (according to the dust-jacket blurb) by "Nordic lore," in which a determined young girl, assisted by her faithful feline companion, triumphs over adversity, and succeeds in her quest. Although I wouldn't say that Lucia and the Light was destined to become one of my favorites, I did enjoy the story, and thought the artwork, done in pastels by Mary GrandPré - best known for her work on the American editions of the Harry Potter books - was quite appealing. Recommended to young readers who enjoy heroic tales, particularly when the hero is a heroine. ( )

Lucia, her mother, and baby brother all live together in a tiny home at the bottom of a hill. One day, the sun doesn't come up and remains disappeared for the days to come. Lucia refuses to let this continue so she sets out on an adventure to save the sun and warm everything up once more. The only problem is, when she finally finds the sun, she also finds the trolls. Her and the cat outwit the trolls and save the sun. This book has great illustrations, and I feel that it would be a good book to have a read aloud in class.

Lucia - not literally Santa Lucia, though the parallels are obvious - is a small child living way way waaaaay up north in... gosh, Sweden? Norway? One of those places where winter MEANS something. But even in the winter, her family is happy. They have a cow to give milk, and a little house, and they keep each other company.

Until the sun doesn't rise. And it doesn't rise, and it doesn't rise, and it doesn't rise. And it keeps on not rising until the cow dries up and they run out of flour and it is cold cold cold. And Lucia decides to go up into the mountains and find out what's wrong.

I credit the author in making clear that her mother does NOT condone this act. Little girls really shouldn't be wandering in the endless night where child-eating trolls dwell. So Lucia just sneaks out.

And finds the trolls and gets the sun back from where they've hidden it, and turns them all to stone. Quite a job for a small child!

It's a great book. I love it. Great story, sounds very traditional (though I don't think it is), lovely illustrations. Only thing is that it's really a bit wordy. I can't point to an adjective or a sentence that I'd cut out, every word fits neatly in its place, but this book is probably best to be read to older children, or at least those with good attention spans. ( )

adventure + trolls + kitty + sun shining in the end = I like it. ( )

http://talesofarampaginglibrarian.blogspot.com/2007/01/curses-on-those-childrens... ( )