Story Time: Chapter Books for the Frozen Obsessed Reader

Story Time with LENikki and Jackie hope you’ll join them today for Story Time with Literary Escapism, a feature where they showcase various children books that fall directly in the fantasy & science fiction genres, as well as books they’re enjoying with their young children. They’re talking boardbooks, picture books, those books labeled as beginner or newly independent readers, and middle grade – anything of interest to those readers who are not quite ready for the young adult genre. So they hope you’ll join them on the carpet as they share the stories that have captured their little ones imaginations.

The Monkey was recently invited to a Frozen themed birthday party, and when I asked him what he wanted to get his friend, he said BOOKS! After a proud mama moment – he did say books *grin* – I started looking for chapter books that might be of interest to a Frozen obsessed girl. I was going on the assumption that she either has a lot of Frozen books already or will be getting quite a few since it’s her birthday theme.

EDavid-All Hail the QueenStrangely enough, there’s a ton of Frozen books out there, but no chapter books…yet. Not until January 6th that is. Anna and Elsa will be going on new adventures with their new chapter series, which begins with All Hail the Queen and Memory and Magic.

All Hail the Queen: Princess Anna, Queen Elsa, Olaf the snowman, and the rest of the stars from Disney Frozen are back in an all-new magical chapter book series that is perfect for girls ages 6 to 9. Now that the castle gates are open, Anna and Elsa are thrilled to be finally getting to know their kingdom. Anna bubbles with enthusiasm for all the things to do and the people to meet in Arendelle, and Elsa loves using her magic to help the town. But sometimes even a queen needs a day off.

Memory and Magic: After years apart, Anna and Elsa are finally getting to know each other as sisters. But Anna still wishes she could remember the magical times they had together when they were younger–skating and making snowmen, even in the middle of summer! An eager young troll claims he can restore the memories that Pabbie removed, but Elsa’s not so sure. Maybe it’s time to make new memories!

If you’re already planning on picking theses up for your little Anna or Elsa, there’ll be more coming – A Warm Welcome (3/10/15), The Great Ice Engine (5/12/15), and the Polar Bear Piper (7/28/15).

These would have been a perfect gift, right? Sadly they won’t be released in time, so I went looking for something else that might catch the interest of an 8yo girl and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it might be. Now, at the time I’m writing this, I don’t know if the Monkey’s friend will agree, but what do you think about these four series I came across. Do you think they’ll be a hit?

KThorpe-In a BlinkThe first book I found was Kiki Thorpe’s Never Girls series, which begins with In a Blink. Peter Pan and the Lost Boys seem to always be a hit with younger boys, especially with how popular Jake and the Neverland Pirates are.  So I was really excited to see something aimed more for girls.

Kate craves adventure and excitement.
Mia loves dresses, roses, and anything beautiful.
Lainey dreams of talking to animals.
Gabby believes in fairies more than anyone.

In a blink of an eye, these four best friends all get their biggest wish—they’re whisked off to Never Land, home to Tinker Bell and her fairy friends. The adventure of a lifetime is just beginning! But how will the Never Girls ever get home again?

JHolub-Cinderella Stays LateFrom there, I came across Joan Holub’s Grimmtastic Girls series, which begins with Cinderella Stays Late. I’m a sucker for reimagined fairy tales and why there’s not more of them, targeted at elementary age girls especially, I’ll never know.

The authors of the hit Goddess Girls series put a fun and girly twist on another super-popular theme: fairy tales!

Once upon a time, in faraway Grimmlandia…

A Grimmtastic girl named Cinderella is starting her first week at Grimm Academy on the wrong foot. Cinda’s totally evil stepsisters are out to make her life miserable. The Steps tease Cinda, give her terrible advice about life at the academy, and even make her look bad in front of her new friends, Red, Snow, and Rapunzel! But when Cinda overhears the Steps plotting a villainous deed that could ruin Prince Awesome’s ball, Cinda, her new friends, and a pair of magical glass slippers have to stop them–before the last stroke of midnight!

SMlynowski-Fairest of AllA natural link to the Grimmtastic Girls is Sarah Mlynowski’s Whatever After series, which begins with Fairest of All. Another twist on the classic fairy tale

Mirror, mirror, on the basement wall . . .

Once upon a time a mirror slurped up me and my brother, and magically transported us inside Snow White’s fairy tale.

Then we stopped Snow White from eating the poisoned apple. Hooray! Or not. If Snow White doesn’t die, she won’t get to meet her prince or get her happy ending. Oops.

Now it’s up to us to fix Snow White’s story. And then, fingers crossed, find our way home.

RBanks-Enchanted PalaceFinally, I came across Rosie Banks’ Secret Kingdom series, which begins with Enchanted Palace. Can I just say that it’s nice to see a fantasy-based chapter series that’s not based on the main characters being princesses? I know that’s what most fairy tale retellings are, and maybe my exposure is limited, but how often is there a young girl fantasy story that doesn’t have a princess in it? *grin*

Enter a magical world full of friendship and fun!

Ellie, Summer, and Jasmine are the very best of friends. Then one day, they find a magical box that whisks them away to the Secret Kingdom, a world full of every wonderfully magical thing under the sun.

But an evil queen wants to ruin the Secret Kingdom so she can rule it for all time. Can the friends help Trixi the pixie save King Merry’s 1000th birthday party from Queen Malice’s spiky thunderbolt before it’s too late?

With two boys, I don’t get many reasons to go looking for books that are very obviously for girls. Recently I came across Shannon Hale’s The Princess in Black and oh my god did I want to buy it. But I have no reason to. *grin* If I brought any of these home for the Monkey, he would probably stop taking any of my recommendations and I just scored one (The Notebook of Doom #1: Rise of the Balloon Goons by Troy Cummings – yea baby!), so I can’t go backwards. *grin*

Is anyone else trying to find…something…for a Frozen obsessed reader? Have you found something that ended in success? If so, share!

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.