The Rescue Princesses 10 – The Ice Diamond

Paula Harrison's The Ice Diamond is a Rescue Princesses adventure for 7 year olds about a shy princess, a snow leopard cub and an uncle who's up to no good.

What happens

Princess Maya lives in a grey palace in the kingdom of Lepari, with snowy mountains right outside. Early one morning she spots a snow leopard cub on the slopes and names him Cloudtail (his tail is exactly the colour of the clouds).

Snow leopards are very rare in Lepari. Maya's dad, the king, has made their mountainside a wildlife area where nobody is allowed to build.

Then nearly a hundred royal visitors arrive for the Spring Festival, and Maya has to curtsy in front of all of them. She'd much rather be halfway up a mountain. Who hasn't wanted to disappear when everyone's looking at them?

Things look up in the palace garden. Two girls are squabbling over a ball stuck in a tree, and one of them says the words Rescue Princess. It's Lottie and Rosalind. Then a girl called Summer coaxes Maya's little brother's runaway rabbit out from behind some flowerpots, and soon Maya and Summer are being let in on the secret.

When the four of them sneak off to visit Cloudtail, they find diggers tearing up the slope right by his den. Nobody at the palace will listen. Maya's uncle, Duke Levon, makes very sure of that.

There's loads of fun along the way. Pony rides, an escape plan and an old Book of Ninja full of moves. The best bit is a lizard let loose among the kings and queens as a distraction (someone actually shouts for the Lizard Catcher!).

Maya is lovely to follow. Her cheeks go red when she has to speak up and she hates letting her new friends down. Watching her get braver, bit by bit, is a real treat.

Later on there's a tense stretch when the rocks around the den crumble and Cloudtail ends up at the bottom of a deep, narrow hole. A soft-hearted animal lover might want a hand to hold for that part.

This is the tenth Rescue Princesses book. Two of the usual four are away, so Maya and Summer find out about the club just as a new reader would. It's the American edition too, so the diggers are called backhoes.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, try The Amber Necklace. Princess Zina is shy as well, and when workers start marking the trees her lemurs depend on, she has to find her voice and stand up to them.