Snow White and Rose Red [Hardcover]

Snow White and Rose Red are loving, happy sisters, although they are different as day and night. Together they live with their mother in cozy, peaceful cottage in the woods. Then, one snowy day, their peace is disturbed by a giant black bear looking for a warm place to rest. At first scared, the girls and their mother soon realize the bear is kind—in fact, there is more to the bear than meets the eye. Will the girls’ giving spirits rescue the bear from his troublesome and secretive fate? This age-old Brothers Grimm tale is here deftly retold and stunningly re-illustrated with modern, magical paintings by Kelly Vivanco.

There once was a poor widow who lived in a little cottage by the woods. In her front garden grew two beautiful, intertwining rose bushes, one with white flowers, the other with red. The widow’s two daughters were just like the rose bushes – different, but equally lovely.
 
Snow White’s hair was white like the stars, while Rose Red’s hair was as dark as the space between them. Snow White was quiet and gentle, while Rose Red was loud and lively. Snow White preferred to sit cozily indoors and read while Rose Red liked to romp in the meadows and sing. But both girls were helpful, grateful and loving and never thought badly of anyone or anything. They loved each other so much that they always held hands when they walked together. When Snow White asked, “Will we ever leave each other?” Rose Red answered, “Not as long as we shall live.”
 
When they went into the woods to pick berries, they never feared the animals, for they had made friends with all of them. They fed rabbits clover from their hands. Deer grazed beside them, and birds perched on their shoulders and sang songs. If they stayed too long and it got dark, they would lie down beside each other and sleep on the moss until morning. Trusting and loving her girls, the widow never worried about them.
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