The Magic Mirror

The Magic Mirror
Anna Staniszewski
Macky Pamintuan, Illustrator
Scholastic/Branches, 2019 90 pages
Grades 2-4
Fantasy/Fairy Tale/Mystery
Once Upon a Fairy Tales series #1

Bookworm, Kara, ventures to her best friend Zed's house to escape a heatwave. Zed, a royal messenger, discovers a letter from Aspen, the Ice Princess. It has melted open and explains that winter cannot come because her magic mirror is broken. Kara and Zed decide that they must travel to the Ice Palace in order to save the world from heat and draught. Once they arrive Princess Aspen is rather nasty and not grateful for the help. She suspects that her sister, Princess Sola, is responsible for the broken mirror to keep summer in the land forever. The two sister-princesses have been feuding for many years over custody of their shared pet monkey. Will they ever work out their differences in order to set the weather to rights? And can Kara and Zed discover the true culprit behind the broken mirror?

First in a new series in the Branches line of early chapter books from Scholastic, Once Upon a Fairy Tale delves into a magical fairy tale kingdom unconnected to the world of Disney. Newly independent readers will appreciate the linear plot and gentle mystery that is solvable, though not too obvious. Although the story involves a magic mirror, it is not Snow White's tale and the series seems to incorporate traditional fairy tale elements without the same old reimagined characters. Kara and Zed will appeal to a wide range of kids and offer many readers someone to identify with. The illustrations are plentiful and can be found on literally every page, making this choice perfect for emerging or reluctant readers. This coming summer's reading club theme will be fairy tales and this new series will fit in nicely and find an enthusiastic audience. The Branches series is high interest with a low reading level and we buy multiple copies of all of the titles at my library as they fly off the shelves. This new series will be no exception and is an easy sell. A second in the series has been released this past December with the third and fourth set for release in April and August 2020.