The Snow Sister

Emma Carroll's The Snow Sister is a short, snowy Christmas story for 9 year olds about a girl missing her sister on the one day that's meant to be happy.

What happens

Whenever it snows, Pearl Granger builds a snow girl and dresses it in something of her sister Agnes's. Agnes died of a fever three winters ago. A snow sister helps Pearl miss her a tiny bit less. (Ma is not pleased to spot Agnes's best shawl on it.)

This Christmas Eve, a very posh letter arrives from Bath. An uncle nobody has ever mentioned has died, and Pa is named in his will. Suddenly Ma is sure they're about to be rich, and she wants a proper Christmas pudding.

So Pearl is sent to beg for more credit at the grocer's. It goes badly wrong. She ends up running through the snowy streets with parcels she hasn't paid for, chased by two men, and gets knocked flying by a carriage.

The snow's too deep for her to get home. Instead she's taken to Flintfield Manor, home of the richest family for miles, and put to bed in an attic room the kitchen maid won't go near.

Pearl is great company. She's hot-headed, a bit reckless and very honest with herself, and she always knows the moment she's done something daft. Her voice is full of lovely words like "nicking", "blimey" and "a gander at the place".

The best bits are the contrasts. Pearl's family can barely afford coal, while the three Lockwood girls squabble over forty-five sugared plums that Pearl rolled in sugar herself. Who knew a plum could cause so much trouble?

Then there's the white room. Something makes Pearl look out of its window in the middle of the night, and what she sees in the snow is very sad and a little bit spooky.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Grief runs all the way through it. Agnes's death happened before the story begins, but Pearl misses her terribly and it's quite raw. For a child who's missing someone of their own, that might feel very close to home. It's also full of kindness, and most readers will find it a warm, wintry read.

What to read next

If they want another icy Emma Carroll, Frost Hollow Hall begins with a dare to skate on the frozen lake at a big house where the young heir drowned ten years before.