These two titles from the hugely successful Usborne Young Reading series are each accompanied by a captivating CD, bringing the books to life with lively music, song, dramatic sound effects and highly entertaining readings. The Snow Queen is a beautiful reworking of Hans Christian Andersen's classic tale of a young girl called Gerda and her struggles against an evil and icy foe. The Nutcracker is a lively retelling of the classic tale of sweets and sugarplum fairies. Each title is vividly illustrated, and is clearly laid out with speech bubbles to aid the narrative flow. The audio CDs allow children to follow the text, while constantly improving their reading skills. The Usborne Young Reading series was developed in conjunction with educational experts at the University of Surrey.