Chapter Books - The Tiara Club 4: Princess Alice and the Magical Mirror

We are definitely into the "first chapter" books nowadays. It is fun watching my 4 yr old bookworm enjoy listening to me read these more drawn out stories and understand the plot. What is even more fun is that she remembers a series premise and gets right into the next book so quickly. We are trying a variety of these "first chapter" books and have come across The Tiara Club series by Vivian French . This series is prefect for those girls that are into anything princess or just plain girly. The cover and then title is what first caught my wee bookworms eye. The series takes place in a boarding school type setting where young princesses go to learn the ins and outs of being a princess.

In this 4th book we find it centers around Princess Alice. She and her roommates need to still pass the "descending the staircase as if floating on air" test. Although Alice has practiced she has yet to master it. While getting ready for the test, she accidentally gets some of her friends in trouble. So, she goes to help make things right and misses her test. Knowing that without the points from passing the test she won't be able to go to the Garden Party, it is even harder knowing that she'll miss getting a chance to look into the Magical Mirror.

One of the fun things about this particular book is the underlining moral sense and the honesty that Princess Alice displays even though it would cost her something dearly. Great lead into some discussions about making good choices even when it is really hard. Never to early to plant little seeds I think. Even though this is a series, these books need not be read in order to enjoy.

It is hard to find this series at our library as these and many of the other "first chapter" books tend to be checked out. Plus, the summer reading program is in full swing here. The covers I have noticed do tend to be different between the UK publications versus the US. I personally like the UK's better. There is also a fun website that is connected with these books. Each book has a secret code word that you can plug in and get some fun activity pages. We did the coloring page and used the stickers that came with the book to fill it in. Read and fill your inner princess needs.

Chapter Books - Rainbow Magic Fairies

Oh my, where to begin with this series of many series. My wee four year old bookworm was first introduced to the Rainbow Magic fairies at her fourth birthday party. One of her little preschool classmates gave her five of the seven Rainbow Magic Weather Fairies for a gift. Little did I know then how big of a hit they would be. I have been a bit out of touch with the latest and greatest in the book releases, especially series. Our wee bookworm got so interested that we had to immediately go and find the last two of the weather series, plus we needed to find out how it ended.

As with many kids series, like my beloved original Nancy Drew being one of them, there is generally a set formula that is used to write these. No doubt author Daisy Meadows is using a method as well, especially being able to crank them out so quickly. From what I have seen there seems to be no end in the type of fairies the series will address. We of course started with the weather fairies, which follows the series introduction of "the" Rainbow Fairies. These being the color fairies. Then we moved on to the Petal Fairies for flowers. There are also fairies for dances, parties, jewels, pets, fun days, sports, and the all encompassing special fairies.

The books are written in a seven part series with of course seven fairies. The lead characters are tween age girls Rachel and Kirsty who meet in the first series and become best of friends. The stories goes sort of like Jack Frost causes some type of grief for a set of fairies in Fairyland and some how their magic item/being/or event has been sent to or affected in the human world where the girls are able to help sort it out. Of course, this all the while trying to avoid Jack Frost goblins who are pretty much bungling fools who are not too evil for the most part just make bad choices and hang out with a mean leader. The series can be read out of sequence, but it helps to go in order for some readers.

They are not scholarly books or scary, but are a bit of fantasy magical fun. One of my favorite times with my wee bookworm is curling up together on the sofa and reading away for the about 30 minutes it takes to read one of these out loud to her. She totally gets the story line and remembers the key elements that make the stories their own. Plus, a key liking for her is throughout the book on almost every page small illustrations can be found. A choice series pick for kids 4 to 8 and that enjoy a bit more complex story line than found in the typical early readers and picture books. Probably more of a girls series. Most of these books can be found either online or the larger bookstores. They are hard to get at several of our library branches as they are checked out most of the time.