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Rose Red and Snow White: A Grimms Fairy Tale

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Snow White and her sister, Red Rose, let a cold bear into their home to rest one night, but as he leaves, he warns them of the dangers of a little man, so when a evil dwarf shows up on the doorstep, the girls begin to get very worried.

32 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1796

3 people are currently reading
944 people want to read

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Ruth Sanderson

119 books90 followers

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5 stars
979 (47%)
4 stars
586 (28%)
3 stars
405 (19%)
2 stars
70 (3%)
1 star
25 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
Profile Image for Marquise.
1,936 reviews1,271 followers
November 8, 2022
This is, by far, the best rendition of this fairy tale you'll ever find published. It's perfect both in the story and in the art departments.

Because not only is it faithful to the Grimms' story but also has lush and beautiful artwork by Ruth Sanderson, with such warm and bright colours it's a pleasure to look at. And, something I noticed, the girls grow with the story's progression. Sanderson used real girls as her models, and at the beginning they do look like young girls but by the end of the tale they look older and have a more matured appearance whilst not looking like they aged abruptly. This goes well with the fact that, by the end of the tale, both girls marry the bear-prince and his brother, and the tale says it takes a while to happen.

Gorgeous overall! If you have to buy just one picture book of this tale, for yourself or as a present for someone else, let it be this one.
Profile Image for Set.
1,984 reviews
November 11, 2022
Don't expect Snow White to have 'Skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony' because this is the tale of Snow White without a description of her appearance and therefore illustrators typically make her into a blonde. In this book, the illustrator choose to make Snow White a blond with YELLOW hair. The Snow is about the skin, not the YELLOW hair. And where Rose Red is traditionally illustrated as a brunette with a rose in her hair or dressed in red, she choose to change her into a redhead. I don't care much for these illustrations and the story is okay.
My family are blonde, brunette, and redheaded but we don't do that Aryan thing some do of everyone dying their hair blonde. It's very hard to find a realistic book of a family with different color hairs.
Profile Image for Melody Schwarting.
2,088 reviews83 followers
July 5, 2021
Y'all, I've found it. The most cottagecore fairy tale to ever exist! Sanderson's telling combines all the usual suspects of that aesthetic. I liked it a lot more than her version of Cinderella. Given the sheer number of birds and flowers in that retelling, I should have known she'd be more at home in a cottage in the woods!

Rose Red and Snow White is a sweet tale of sisterly love, and being kind to those who don't appreciate it. Of course, the bad character gets his comeuppance and the good characters their just rewards, but the tale is marked by coziness and simple living. This is a picture book that would be perfect read by a warm fire, or on a woodsy picnic. It's making me want to don an apron and headscarf and pick mushrooms. I'm tying my braids with ribbons as I type this.
Profile Image for Книжни Криле.
3,456 reviews201 followers
April 18, 2017
След предните книги на Рут Сандерсън, които сме имали изключителното удоволствие да отразим, за нас не е никаква изненада, че и новата й книга не им отстъпва по красота. „Червенорозка и Белоснежка” (изд. "СофтПрес") е една от най-омайните и увлекателни приказки, а илюстрациите на художничката са самата прелест! Прочетете ревюто на "Книжни Криле":

https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/201...
Profile Image for Haley S.
385 reviews
February 21, 2017
Another children's book, yes, I know. But, this book is so good. I absolutely love it. When I was younger, I read it like...a million times. Every time I went to the library, I checked it out and read it. I still have it almost memorized.
The pictures are the amazing part. Ruth Sanderson did a wonderful job on this book. To be perfectly honest, she did wonderful on all of her children's picture books. And yes, I have read all of them.
Rose Red and Snow White is a wonderful story that will be read a million times over by my kids, if I ever have any. Every girl or boy who likes a good fairy tale should definitely pick this book up and read it. Well, anybody, old or young, should read this book. Because however old you get, you never get too old for a fairy tale.
The cover deserves five stars! Sanderson is an amazing artist.
And the whole book deserves five stars! It is my favorite children's book, and that means something. If you know me, you know that my favorite book changes every day. But, nope, Rose Red and Snow White has stayed my favorite picture book for as long as I can remember.

Title: Rose Red and Snow White
Author: Ruth Sanderson
Author's Website: http://www.ruthsanderson.com/

This review is written in my own opinions and words.
Profile Image for Amalie .
769 reviews208 followers
June 28, 2019
Ruth Sanderson's illustrations in this book are very beautiful just like the ones in The Enchanted Wood. I can easily give 5 stars for the pictures.

As for the story, I thought it was pretty weird. There were too many loose ends. I just didn't get it.


100 reviews16 followers
November 11, 2019
Used to love this one as a kid!
Just re-read it and loved it just as much as I used to. The illustration style is so beautiful (surprisingly I just discovered that all my favourite fairytale reads as a kid are illustrated by the same lady!) and the story was clever and interesting.
Profile Image for Natasha.
129 reviews
December 24, 2020
I had never herd this tale growing up this was the first time I had read it. But I think nostalgia is a big thing with tales like this. It was a cute story, tho I don't really get the message behind it other than don't judge people by the way they look. I never new that snow White was a name used in any other tale. It was fun.
Profile Image for Alicia Lovely.
151 reviews2 followers
April 12, 2024
Is it bad that I never knew this was a thing? 🙈 I just had to read it to see what it was all about & I rather enjoyed it.
Profile Image for Beccy.
12 reviews5 followers
August 24, 2011
A charming story and a great take on the other life that Snow White might have had, had she not taken up with some dwarves and a different Prince.

The story is pretty bog standard in terms of its format as a fairy tale. Two sisters, a bear who becomes a prince and a malevolent dwarf who, though showed kindness by the girls, continues with his wicked ways only to be slain by the bear. Cue the transformation of bear to prince and the happy ever after ending when he marries Rose Red and his brother marries Snow White.

It's the vivid language in this tale that makes it particularly good. As a resource it's perfect for introducing children to the word of similes, there are sufficient parts that it could be acted out, older children could turn their hands to creative writing seeing what variations they could come up with when having to write a story including the elements of Snow White, dwarves and a prince and smaller children could have a blast recreating through art, the scenes depicted in the tale.
Profile Image for Miss Clark.
2,866 reviews221 followers
January 11, 2015
The big change from the versions I know is that Rose Red marries the Bear Prince and Snow White marries his unnamed brother. Generally, it is Snow White who marries the Bear Prince and Rose Red the brother. Otherwise, a nice retelling of the tale with decent illustrations. I like Sanderson's scenery/buildings much more than her people/faces. Also, Rose Red did not have red hair.
Profile Image for Suvi.
864 reviews152 followers
June 13, 2020
I was under the impression I liked this as a kid, but the story isn't actually that interesting. It's almost as if it includes all my least favorite fairy tale aspects. There's also a spelling error, which is not good in such a short book.
Profile Image for Rebecca Caufman.
2,494 reviews6 followers
November 8, 2017
Lots of text and a bit boring...about 2 sisters, a bear, and a mean dwarf.
Profile Image for christina.
40 reviews10 followers
Read
May 13, 2025
if only i could go on walks in the forest everyday with a girl my age searching for berries, picking flowers and saving dwarfs
Profile Image for Marsha.
Author 2 books39 followers
April 19, 2023
This Grimm story is enhanced by the ever-lovely illustrations of Ruth Sanderson. The human characters are realistic in appearance, as are the animals that grace its pages. When the bear appears, it takes up much of the space, making it look quite frightening indeed, with its impression of size and bared fangs.

The titular girls are kind, inquisitive, patient and forgiving. They show remarkable forbearance in giving the wayward, talking bear a place by their hearth and in constantly rescuing an irascible dwarf who is rude, foul tempered and consistently ungrateful for their helpful efforts.

The problem with the story lies in the rushed shift in tone from the girls’s benign encounters with the ill-natured dwarf and the final two pages. Suddenly, Rose Red and Snow White go from being children to grown women and are presented as married to two young princes who barely feature in the main story. Many European fairy tales suffer from these unexpected happily-ever-after resolutions, as in the feminist nightmares of La belle bois au dormant and Snow White. It’s disappointing that the author couldn’t find some way to bridge the sudden revelation of the released prince with the double nuptials that hold all the romance of a shotgun wedding.

The enchanted bear merely slumbers and lumbers around the girls’s home before disappearing and then reappearing out of nowhere and revealing his human nature. And where the heck did the brother come from and what was he doing while his spellbound sibling was wandering around the forest wearing fur, down on all fours and pooping in the bushes?!

Lovely illustrations but lopsided tale. This will appeal to very few people save young children who lack critical thinking about its abrupt conclusion of wedded bliss.
Profile Image for Bookatrin.
32 reviews2 followers
August 26, 2025
Непогана казка.

Спершу не зрозуміла чому сестри одружилися саме таким чином з принцами.
Та, зрештою, дійшла висновку, що більш ніжна й тиха сестра символізує відданість й тихі почуття; коли ж інша більш активна й голосна, що символізує більше героїчність.

Тобто, казка більше створена для показу як розвиваються ніжні почуття, аніж для показу сили дівчат як основної ліній (а сестри ще ті круті героїні, до речі)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Ken Heard.
739 reviews13 followers
June 2, 2023
I am on a near strict nonfiction only reading menu lately, so this genre is totally out of my reading fare, but my wife told me of it and I found it at the library.

The story is typical Grimm's. Innocent, happy girls. A talking bear. A real prick of a dwarf and a prince at the end. I read it mostly because I love bears and I was rooting for him. I was a tad sad when he turned into a prince and preferred he remain the majestic animal, but so be it in the land of fairy tales.

It followed the typical fairy tale verve: good wins in the end. The girls helped the bear on a cold night and the bear repaid their kindness. An odd thing: the bear was a prince that had been cursed by the same dickweed dwarf. The spell was broken when the bear swung his paw, clipped the lil' fellow and killed him. Why didn't the bear do that before?

What sold this story, though, was more the artwork. It featured beautiful renderings of the little girls, their home, the bear hangin' by the fireplace and the dwarf and his beard. (However, the first picture of the dwarf tugging on his beard that was trapped in a split log looks a bit phallic on first glance).

It's 32 pages of Grimms... animals, princes, violence, animals, swept floors and steaming kettles of chow. Now, back to non-fiction...
28 reviews
January 19, 2025
A faithful retelling of the fairy tale. The illustrations are realistic, and portray the important story elements. I was not a fan of the color palette, but that is personal preference, and it would not stop me from using the book with children.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Jessica Tracy.
642 reviews
August 12, 2025
An older style fairytale about two sisters, a bear, and a dwarf. The illustrations/paintings by Ruth Sanderson are lovely as ever. I probably wouldn't own this book personally, but I would check it out from the library again.
Profile Image for Elizabeth.
5,787 reviews109 followers
December 17, 2022
Rose Red & Snow White: A Grimms Fairy Tale by Ruth Sanderson – A really pretty retelling of Snow White and Rose Red! Happy Reading!
Profile Image for Sarah.
214 reviews10 followers
April 19, 2023
The illustrations were so gorgeous! I love the story and the pictures.
357 reviews
June 1, 2023
I’ve been having a great time reading Ruth Sanderson’s books lately.
Profile Image for Brittany Newton.
41 reviews1 follower
October 7, 2013
This fairy tale was a little odd to me, but it could still be used in the classroom. It is about 2 girls who live with their mother. They meet a bear and they provide him with food, water, and shelter. They later meet a dwarf that they save but he is ungrateful and sneaky. The bear eventually scares away the dwarf and when the girls hug the bear he turns into a prince and then they marry him and his brother and their mother come to live with them in the castle. This book could be used in the classroom to talk about fairy tales, animals, food, and size (the dwarf).
Profile Image for Katsumi.
652 reviews
July 18, 2012
The story of sisters Snow White and Rose Red by the Brothers Grimm is not one that has received widespread attention compared to some of their other stories. However, this is a story that brings back fond memories of my childhood when my mother used to read this story to me. We used to own this delightful fairy tale book which had the story in it but I lost the book during a move and have been searching for a good adaptation/retelling ever since.
Profile Image for Nohely.
126 reviews30 followers
February 14, 2013
One of my childhood favorites. Don't let the tittle fool you, this is a complete different story even If it has the name of Snow White in it. The story is about two sisters and their nasty encounter with a dwarf and a mysterious bear who claims to be a prince. A story in which teaches us to be kind even to those who don't deserve it. At fist this may sound unfair, but at the end we will be rewarded.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews

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