ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Title: Diary of an Ice Princess: Snow Place Like Home
Series: Diary of an Ice Princess, #1
Author: Christina Soontornvat
Pages: 128
Genre: Children’s, chapter books, fantasy
Publication Date: July 30, 2019
My Rating: ★★★★★
Princess Lina has a life any kid would envy. She lives in a massive palace in the clouds. Everyone in her family has the power to control the wind and weather. On a good day, she can even fly! She loves making lemons into lemon ice, riding wind gusts around the sky, and turning her bedroom into a real life snow globe.
There’s just one thing Lina wants: to go to regular, non-magical school with her best friend Claudia. She promises to keep the icy family secret under wraps. What could go wrong? (EVERYTHING!)
This was such a cute story and even as a 30-something year-old, I found the characters and themes so relatable!
Dairy of an Ice Princess: Snow Place Like Home tells the story of Lina, a princess who lives in a palace in the clouds. Her mother is a Windtamer and her father is a human (pilot!) It turns out that everyone on Lina’s maternal side of the family can control some aspects of the weather, but Lina is struggling with summoning her own powers. She doesn’t want to spend all her free time practicing and she just wants to be a non-magical kid doing non-magical things at a non-magical school. Of course, once she attends a “groundling” school, things don’t go quite according to plan!
What I loved so much about this book is that it is ownvoices. The author is half Thai and white, and she created a mixed-race character which I know is going to mean so much to other mixed-raced children. It even meant so much to ME because I am also half Thai and white. I never had books with characters that looked like me growing up, so this book just made my heart so happy. Also, Lina’s friend Claudia is black, and we even get a glimpse of Lina’s family tree which is also very diverse!
I was also loving all the important themes and good messages in this book. Lina learns the value of compromise, confiding in her parents, admitting to her mistakes, and builds her reasoning skills (why X happened and the resulting consequences.) She discovers so much about herself and the importance of friendship, all while coping with pressures from family and how to overcome it.
As for the visual aspects, you’ll find lots of beautiful illustrations all throughout the book. You’ll meet Lina’s dog, Gusty, and even recipes for some cool science experiments — because, after all, the groundling school that Lina attends is all science based. Yay, STEM rep!
I loved this little book and I hope your child will, too! I loved how it was packed full of diversity and the overall messages meant a lot to me. If you are a librarian or teacher, please consider adding this book to your collection.
xx,
Amy
A Court of Crowns and Quills 