Hortense and the Shadow

August 15, 2017
A young white girl in a snowy, onion-domed fairyland setting escapes from her shadow only to find she is not whole without it. Hortense hates her shadow. It follows her everywhere, it does everything she does, and it grows "tall and dark / and crooked" when night falls. One day, Hortense escapes from her shadow, slamming the window on it, and her shadow is left behind. Hortense feels happy and free without the hated shadow--until the bandits show up. (These bandits are hidden within the illustrations throughout the book for sharp-eyed readers to discover.) When her shadow saves her, Hortense realizes that instead of being a hated nuisance, her shadow is an indispensable part of her, and so, in good fairy-tale fashion, all ends happily ever after. Natalia O'Hara's playful, dreamlike story is written in a lyrical cadence and relies on the poetry of the words themselves more than the reality they outline for meaning: ("she was as sad as an owl"). Lauren O'Hara (the O'Haras are sisters) contributes her own layer to the story's fanciful mood with her soft illustrations of muted colors, filled with snowy landscapes, looming trees (for the scary bits), and storybook, folkloric buildings whose interiors show whimsical decorative details. A delicate original fairy tale that will likely appeal to young readers of imagination. (Picture book. 3-5)

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September 18, 2017
This haunting, folk tale–style debut from two sisters combines delicate, wintry images with dark thoughts. Hortense lives in a mansion that looks very much like a Russian Orthodox church, with onion domes, turrets, and ornate furniture. Hortense is “kind and brave,” but she’s locked in conflict with her own shadow. She’s not just irritated by it: “Hortense hated her shadow.” The O’Haras draw Hortense with a spidery black line looking angrily at her shadow on the snow—it’s long, gray, and menacing. In a convulsion of despair, Hortense dashes through a window and slams it behind her, casting her shadow from the house altogether. But when bandits arrive one night, it’s her shadow who saves her. It’s an allegory of reconciliation with the dark emotions human beings inevitably harbor; if Hortense’s shadow is sometimes “dark, fierce, strange, silly, jagged, or blue, well... sometimes Hortense is too,” the story concludes. Some readers may be unsettled by the depth of Hortense’s obsession, made all the spookier by garden tracery and architectural embellishment right out of Rebecca, but children who love eerie stories will be fascinated. Ages 4–8.

October 1, 2017

Gr 1-3- -This picture book, the first creation by the O'Hara sisters, has the look and feel of a classic fairy tale. Hortense, a young girl lives in a snowy woods filled with wildlife. She is kind and brave, but there is one thing she absolutely detests-her shadow. It is tall and crooked and constantly following her around. She tries to hide it and run from it, until fated a day in the park when she realizes that her shadow hates her, too. Hortense hatches a plan and finally separates herself from her shadow, severing it with a closed window pane. Life goes on and Hortense is seemingly happy, until she meets a group of bandits in the night. Luckily, her shadow saves the day by becoming different intimidating figures (even a bear) and scares the bandits away. Hortense is grateful and realizes that her shadow is indeed a brave part of her that shows her how big she can be and how far she can go. Dreamy, detailed artwork is stylized and evocative, playing with light and shadow in its minimal palette and impressionistic scenes. It is extremely well executed and does the heavy lifting in creating the mood and shifting emotions of the story. VERDICT A uniquely told tale with beautiful illustrations, this is a recommended purchase for all libraries. Great for reading aloud and discussing with students.- Jasmine L. Precopio, Fox Chapel Area School District, Pittsburgh

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2017
Grades K-3 Amid the woods' rabbits and wolves, ravens and deer, a young girl, Hortense, wars with the sight of her own shadow. Sometimes Hortense's shadow is no different than any other: Everywhere she went, it went. Everything she did, it did. But when Hortense starts rebelling against itdipping behind columns; lurking beneath sofas; and, ultimately, flinging it from a windowthe shadow, a dark, spindly force in its own right, fights back. It wails. It claws. And then it disappearsbut not for long. The fablelike charm of this picture-book debut, a collaboration between sisters, is undeniable. While Natalia O'Hara's sparse, lilting text provides a haunting poetic undercurrent, Lauren O'Hara's intricate illustrations, awash with cool blues and opaline whites, and filled with woodland creatures and towering trees, invoke a frosted fairytale magic. Inquisitive youngsters seeking a bedtime yarn with equal parts spooky suspense and serious reflection will find it in this wintry wonderlandand in the next glimpse of their own shadow. Pair with folktale-style gems such as Gennady Spirin's The Tale of the Firebird (2002) to further the enchantment.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)