THE ICE PALACE

For warm-weather reading, the story parodies the Russian Empress Anna Ivanovna and her extravagant Winter Palace. In this version, the real heroine is the Princess Kasha, who felt uncomfortably hot even though everyone else in the kingdom was shivering from the gelid weather. Nothing helps to simmer down Kasha until eventually the ice palace is built in honor of her birthday. The details of the palace are both absurd and luxuriant, and girls will enjoy this silly but still romantic fantasy.