Usborne English Readers From the classic story by Hans Christian Andersen. Kay and Gerda are childhood friends, but one day Kay is carried off by the Snow Queen. Gerda goes in search of him, helped by a friendly crow, a princess, a robber girl and a reindeer, until finally she must cross the ice alone to rescue her friend. The Usborne English Readers series is a new range of graded readers in simplified English for younger learners. They include activities, glossaries and a full audio recording of the text in both British English and American English.