Secret Kingdom: Enchanted Palace by Rosie Banks (Children's, 7 years +, 10/10E)

Scuh a cute cover!

  July 2012, Orchard Books, 128 pages, Ebook, Personal copy

Themes: school sale, being helpful, magic, pixies, happy mermaids, too happy performers, jealousy, evil magic, solving riddles, a precious box, guests of honour, a fairy party, fairy cakes that make you do things, misery spells, performing in front of others, thinking on your feet, being active, the power of friendship, flying on swans, using your talent to help others,

Content: lots of fun, mild peril, lots of humour

Summary from Orchard

Enter a magical world of friendship and fun!

The first book in the Secret Kingdom series introduces Ellie, Summer and Jasmine, who are the very best of friends. One day they find a magic box which whisks them away to a fantastical world! Can the friends help Trixi the pixie save King Merry's 1000th birthday party from Queen Malice's spiky thunderbolt...?

Nayuleska's thoughts 

I want to be the girls' friend! Aside from how cool their outfits are, which you get to see in each stunning illustration that provides a strong feeling of movemment (not entirely sure if I'm making sense here...I can see the action leap of the page thanks to the illustrations which transfer well to an ebook), the adventure they have when they first discover the Secret Kingdom is mega squeesome! It has all the fun parts of magic, like being able to fly by eating certain food, by seeing mermaids and unicorns, and making things happen with magic. Queen Malice is scary but not terrifyingly so. She and her minions are a right nuisance, but they hadn't reckoned on the trio of friends whose own non-magical but just as useful talents save the day.

You can find out more on the dedicated website.

Suggested read

For more cute magical fun check out the historical Arthurian series Spell Sisters which starts with Sophia the Flame Sister (Children's, 7 years +, 9/10)