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Julia Donaldson's Princess Mirror-Belle and Snow White is a funny backstage story for 7 year olds about a mirror double who simply can't stay out of the show.
Ellen's big brother Luke has a part in the Christmas pantomime. He's playing a dwarf (on his knees, in baggy trousers) and he won't stop singing the dwarfs' song. Ellen is VERY tired of it.
She's been sent along to help him paint scenery at the theatre. While Luke fusses over his leaves and acorns, she wanders off, finds a dressing room lined with mirrors and tries on one of the dwarfs' beards.
That's when her reflection sings back at her. It's Mirror-Belle, who climbs straight out of the glass wearing a beard of her own. The palace hairdresser said the wrong spell, apparently.
Ellen knows exactly what that means. Their adventures always seem to end with Ellen in trouble. So when the curtain goes up that evening, she's sitting in the audience feeling very nervous indeed.
Who's counting the dwarfs? Not Luke, until there are eight of them. One is singing much louder than the rest, with cheeky new words to the song.
And that's only the first half! Mirror-Belle has strong opinions about princesses. She thinks Snow White should be bossing the dwarfs about, not washing their clothes. She also knows exactly what the wicked Queen is planning to do with those apples.
It turns into a proper pantomime romp. There's a chase round the audience, a very cross director and a "She's behind you!" moment the whole theatre joins in with. Meanwhile poor Ellen is squirming in her seat, because Dad thinks the extra dwarf sounds a lot like her.
What makes it so much fun is that you're with Ellen the whole time. She's shy and sensible and she can see disaster coming. Mirror-Belle is the opposite. She says all the things you'd never dare say out loud and has a silly answer for everything.
Mum and Dad think Mirror-Belle is an imaginary friend, which only makes it worse for Ellen. It's one short story, so it's a lovely one to read in a single sitting.
If this one goes down well, Princess Mirror-Belle and the Party Hoppers is in the library too. This time Mirror-Belle offers to go to a cousin's birthday party pretending to be Ellen, so Ellen can sneak off to her friend's swimming party instead. What could possibly go wrong?
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