Book two in the Diary of an Ice Princess series finds Lina having her first sleepover at her cloud castle with her best friend Claudia. She is very excited and has everything ready. Of course, nothing goes as planned and the two girls end up lost and alone in a blizzard where they have to use their creativity and science skills to signal for help. The concept of this book is good – an ice princess (think Elsa but with a more normal life) who is navigating her powers, friendship, and the pitfalls of testing her boundaries in a normal kid-like way (with some STEM-type action thrown in). And the fact that Lina is Asian and her best friend is Black is great; it’s awesome to see faces of color on books aimed at princess-loving readers without the story being about the color of their skin. But the story falls flat. Lina and Claudia make decisions that seriously endanger their lives and then they really don’t get any consequences for their actions because everyone is so glad that they are found unharmed. Not every book needs to teach a lesson, but there could have been a little more in the way of owning up to the giant risk that Lina takes without permission. There is a lot of emphasis on acting “like a princess,” but many of the qualities are what any human should exhibit. The artwork is in grey scale with touches of blue and a cartoonish quality; the lists peppered throughout are nice and support the diary-style structure of the book. This book will have high appeal and should circulate well. For ages 7-9/grades 1-3.

Reviewed by Jill O’Connor, Merrill Memorial Library, Yarmouth