Snow

October 7, 2024
In the near-deserted kingdom of Mistmir, Princess Karina spends her time digging through the all-encompassing snow searching for a way to restore her homeland. Then someone stumbles through the Boundary Mists and changes everything. The stranger, 12-year-old Ela, is from Earth, which exists in a realm parallel to Mistmir. She knows Karina as the protagonist from a book of stories her mother reads to her at night. Ela travels with Karina back to the castle, avoiding the deadly mechanical Hounds that prowl the landscape. The girls’ unexpected connection—and the realization that Ela holds the key to saving Mistmir—leads to one final, climactic attempt to break the kingdom’s curse and take control of their own destinies. Trehan (The View from the Very Best House in Town) utilizes a quiet, dreamlike tone, lending to the retold fairy tale ambiance of the novel as the kingdom’s tragic history unfolds in flashbacks and tales from Ela’s storybook. Past and present and magic and science blend together in an introspective manner that assists in the gradual peeling back of this story’s many layers to reveal its secrets. Characters appear on the cover with brown skin. Ages 8–12. Agent: Molly Ker Hawn, Bent Agency.

November 1, 2024
Two girls work together to find answers and save a snow-covered kingdom. For years, the Princess has been endlessly digging Snow--which continually falls in a scientifically modified, self-replenishing form. She's desperate to restore her kingdom of Mistmir to the way it was, but ever since she wished for "perfect" snow, the wintry precipitation has been unrelenting, and everyone has fled except her father, the King. One day, the Princess' shoveling reveals her flutterbye toy, which was made by the Strangers who created the Snow, and she's excited to show the King this sign of hope. But before she can do so, she meets a girl, 12-year-old Indian American Ela, who has stumbled into Mistmir from our world. Ela is shocked to recognize the Princess from "the Book,"Snow Princess, that her mother used to read to her. Realizing that the surprise visitor is the key to fixing the kingdom, the Princess invites Ela to her castle. Ela follows her, hoping to uncover the truth behind the Book and the oddly vivid, memorylike images in her head, and they form an unexpected friendship. This story combines science and magic to create an engaging and moving setting with charming, detailed worldbuilding that's tinged with eeriness and sadness. While the start is slow, the storyline eventually picks up, revealing family secrets, schemes, and drama. Trehan weaves in themes of loneliness, belonging, forgiveness, and power. In the brown-skinned, dark-eyed Princess' kingdom, Hindi is known as their Naming Language. Poignantly beautiful.(Fantasy. 8-12)

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