Whatever After 6 – Cold as Ice

Sarah Mlynowski's Cold as Ice is the sixth Whatever After book, a snowy fairy tale adventure for 8 year olds about a girl who has just fallen out with her best friend.

What happens

Abby, Robin and Frankie are FRA. They've got beaded necklaces that say so and Wednesdays after school belong to the three of them.

Then Robin announces she's going to Penny's instead. Abby tells her to choose. Robin chooses Penny.

It's a horrible little scene and a very true one. Abby demands the necklace back and makes Frankie take the R bead off hers. She's hurt and she's being bossy about it, and you can see both at once.

That night a voice like wind chimes calls up from the basement. It belongs to the fairy in the magic mirror down there, the one that drops Abby and her brother Jonah into fairy tales. Their puppy Prince hears the word "come" and is through the glass before Abby can catch him.

So they go after him with no shoes on.

They land in deep snow. Abby is thrilled, because she's sure it's Frozen and she knows all the songs. Jonah has to remind her it'll be The Snow Queen, the old story the film is based on.

This Snow Queen is NOT Elsa. She's silver-haired, sparkly and properly frightening, and she keeps a boy called Kai wandering round her ice castle with blank white eyes, building snowmen.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Early on, the Snow Queen blows an icy kiss at the barking puppy and freezes him solid. Jonah spots his eyes blinking, so you know at once that he's alive. Not long after, Abby and Jonah go through the ice on a lake and have to be pulled out.

If your reader gets upset when animals are hurt, that might be too much (he's a very sweet puppy). One who likes a proper baddie and a rescue to root for should be fine.

It's still funny. Jonah wants to build a snowman the minute they arrive. The people who fish them out of the lake are dressed as trees, and they're in a suspicious hurry to get both children into a sled.

Abby hasn't stopped thinking about Robin, either. The Snow Queen is about a girl who goes looking for her lost best friend, which feels about right for the day Abby's had.

What to read next

Rapunzel was the trip before this one. In Bad Hair Day the puppy gets through the mirror too, Jonah climbs the famous braid in football boots and Abby thinks nail scissors will put it right.