Winterfrost by Michelle Houts

 

Winterfrost | Michelle Houts | 2014 | 4 Stars | Grades 3-5 | 4 Stars

I enjoyed this middle grade story about a nisse from Denmark.  Nisse sounds like nissa.  I had to do a little research about the pronunciation since there wasn’t a clue in the book.  Apparently, nisses are  Danish gnome-like creatures who live in barns or houses and helps out the farmer or family in unseen ways.  Swedish people call them tomtens.  The Finnish people call them tonttus.  On Christmas eve the custom is to put a bowl of rice porridge in the barn for the nisse.  In the morning, kids like to check and see if the bowl is empty!  This is proof that you have a nisse in your barn. 

In this story, Bettina is left alone with her baby sister while her parents have to rush off on Christmas Eve because of some emergencies.  In their haste, they forget to set out the rice porridge.  The nisse is not happy and does some trickery. He actually takes the baby while she is napping.  Bettina is horrified to discover that baby Pia is missing on her watch and so she goes searching.  Meanwhile, the winterfrost has arrived in the forest and everything is coated with a beautiful sheet of ice. It is said that this is the time that magical things can happen. And so, as Bettina goes searching for her sister, she falls into the tiny and magical world of the nisse.  

I love this story for a holiday read-aloud but it is also a cozy read for anytime and is based on Scandinavian folklore. I really enjoyed reading this book.