Paula Harrison’s The Wishing Pearl is a seaside Rescue Princesses adventure for 7 year olds about a princess who isn’t sure she’s brave enough.<\/p>\n
Clarabel comes from snowy Winteria, so the tropical island of Ampali feels like a treat. There’s a royal sailing race in two days, a white palace by a turquoise sea and a little blue parrot who pinches her breakfast crumbs. Best of all, her three friends are here too.<\/p>\n
But Clarabel has a worry she’s keeping to herself. The others swing on ropes and flip somersaults. She keeps falling off. Is she really good enough to be a Rescue Princess?<\/p>\n
Then she hears a sad squeaking from a lagoon behind the dunes. It’s a young dolphin with a nasty cut down his side. He’s weak and on his own, but he still dives down and finds her a perfect pearl.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile sulky Prince Samuel is up to something. Clarabel finds him digging a big hole right where turtles have laid their eggs, and he keeps patting a very old map in his pocket. What’s he looking for?<\/p>\n
Finding out means a ninja raid on his bedroom. There’s a brilliant bit where three princesses are squashed under his bed (with Lulu’s feet in Clarabel’s ear) and a beetle sends his mum shrieking out of the room. Who knew a bug could be so useful?<\/p>\n
You’re right there with Clarabel the whole way. You feel her tummy go hollow on the palace roof and how small she feels every time she lags behind. So the moment she stands up to Lulu and says the dolphin has to come first is a really lovely one.<\/p>\n
It’s worth knowing the dolphin is in real trouble later on. He gets tangled in a net, then swims out into a tropical storm close to sharp rocks, and the girls row after him in a little boat. A child who worries about animals getting hurt might find those chapters tense. If yours likes a rescue with proper stakes, that’s the bit they’ll race through.<\/p>\n
This is the second Rescue Princesses book, and the four girls already know each other. If you’re starting the series, The Secret Promise is where they first meet.<\/p>\n
If they’d like another quiet princess finding her courage, try The Amber Necklace, a Rescue Princesses story with a different group of friends. Zina is shy and finds it hard to speak up, but there’s a family of lemurs to look out for and an amber jewel that seems to whisper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Paula Harrison’s The Wishing Pearl is a seaside Rescue Princesses adventure for 7 year olds about a princess who isn’t sure she’s brave enough. Clarabel comes from snowy Winteria, so the tropical island of Ampali feels like a treat. There’s a royal sailing race in two days, a white palace by a turquoise sea and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14493,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":8491,"lr_next_read_anchor":"The Amber Necklace","lr_seo_hook":"An injured dolphin, a secret treasure map and a princess scared of heights.","lr_series_id":96,"lr_series_name":"The Rescue Princesses","lr_series_position":2,"lr_series_label":"","lr_author_order":"787"},"book_tag":[1047],"age_group":[19],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[787],"class_list":["post-14494","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-magic-books","age_group-books-for-7-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-paula-harrison"],"yoast_title":"The Rescue Princesses 2 – The Wishing Pearl by Paula Harrison | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"An injured dolphin, a secret treasure map and a princess scared of heights. For ages 7+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n