Ice Palace
by Deborah Blumenthal, and illustrated by Ted Rand
Most people living in Minnesota know about annual the St. Paul Winter Carnival, which includes an ice castle. If you don’t know about this carnival, a Wikipedia photo below says 1000 words in a single photo. As I live in Minnesota I was immediately drawn to this nonfiction book about how an ice palace is actually built. This book is about a similar event in Saranac Lake village in the state of New York. They have a court for snowshoe volleyball, torchlight skiing, and a slipper slide like an icy chute. Hey, if you live where winter is fierce, you learn how to have snowy fun.
In this book, a father and son watch as an excavator grabs and sets blocks of ice to the site of the ice palace. A special line in this story say, the workers put “. . . one block neatly over another until the blocks turn into the wall of a great palace changes the way they see life, at least for a while, and makes them feel good about who they are.” The story goes on to say that, “Sometimes, the harder the job, the better it can make you feel in the end.” These are some important thoughts to share with children when reading this book. On opening day, the king and queen of the carnival are crowned and the events begin. On the last day there is a parade and fireworks.
Uncle Mike in this story is in jail, but helps build the ice palace, and he wants to continue to help when he is soon free. At the end of the book is an author’s note that a minimum security correctional facility has inmates help with the palace as part of their community service work. It means a lot to the community to have such help.
Wikipedia photo of Winter Carnival Ice Castle in St. Paul, MN
My freebie isn’t anything about ice castles as although I searched, I couldn’t find any clip art of ice. Go figure! So, I have some snowmen for children to color. Some quiet coloring in the midst of the busy holiday season might be just the ticket for an hour or so one day soon!
Happy reading,
FREEBIE: Let it Snow! PDF, free
