I had heard the name Jack Frost but didn’t know it had significance until I read The Lost Frost Girl by Amy Wilson. It turns out that he is a fictitious character that cropped up in late 19th century literature as the personification of winter, mostly appearing as a mischievous character and sometimes as hero.

In The Lost Frost Girl, he is the main character Owl’s father whom she’s never met and didn’t know about until accidentally stumbling upon the truth.

This tale of fantasy for middle-grade readers was actually very educating for me as an adult as it brought to life various fictional and cultural concepts related to seasons, combined them with real life characters and modern life issues to weave a tale that was believable and interesting.

When Owl learns she is Jack Frost’s daughter and discovers she has some magical powers of her own, she is thrown into a magical world where different rulers of the seasons are up against each other. She needs to find a way to understand and use her own magical power wisely to set things right again and bring the harmony in nature.

Like Jack Frost, I didn’t know that literature had personified seasons into characters such as the North Wind, the Queen of May, the Earl of October and the Lady of the Lake. And this ignorance actually made the story seem rather interesting to me.

The Lost Frost Girl is modern-day fairy tale about family, friendship, and finding your identity and accepting it. It’s easy to read, with an interesting and imaginative plot that even non-readers will find enjoyable.

Published in Dawn, Young World, January 20th, 2018