Ice Princess

by Kay Woodward

Capturing the glamour, heartache and triumphs of Junior Olympic figure-skating, this stunning new series whisks readers off to, quite literally, the coolest boarding school on earth. Francesca Willis is sharp, funny and quirky, but let's face it, pretty average...until you see her blades hit the ice. Then Frankie is truly spectacular. Frankie's love and flair for ice-skating means she's dedicated to practising at her local ice-rink every morning, teaching herself the hottest moves and the toughest spins. And her dreams look like they might come true when she is offered a place at team GB's Olympic training school, far from home in the idyllic Swiss mountains. But while the school boasts world-class tuition and promises sporting success, its super-privileged pupils are so cool they're practically sub-zero. Frankie's going to have to work hard to form friendships and fine-tune her talent in this fiercely competitive environment. After all, Frankie has talent, dedication and passion - but does she have what it takes to be a winner? A gripping new boarding school series with added ice, "Skate School" combines ambition, competition, friendship and fun. This compulsively cool read is sure to inspire budding sports stars everywhere - just in time for the Winter Olympics!

240 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2009

About the author

Editor-turned-author Kay Woodward has written many successful books for children including her novel Jane Airhead, the Flower Fairies series and Magical World series. She's also written film and TV tie-ins including The Golden Compass, Happy Feet, Robin Hood and Shoebox Zoo, plus non-fiction titles and joke books. Kay lives in Hampshire with her husband and her little girl, and writes from her office overlooking a massive eucalyptus tree.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thrilling story of a girl who goes to a Skate School and can't decided whether to do a double or a triple jump.

[fiction.prescription · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pleasant but fairly predictable and unrealistic book.
Suitable for 11- 13 year olds, definitely should not be classified in the 'young adult' fiction section of the library. It's more appropriate for 12 / 13 year olds, or people making the transition from junior to young adult fiction.
It's quite unrealistic in the sense that this girl who has had basically no lessons or proper skating training whatsoever gets recruited to skate for the Great Britain olympic team. That just does not happen in real life.
Most of the characters in this book lack depth and personality. Madame Bon Verne (the skating coach) is a rather unoriginal character - she is SO scary and cold. Frankie (the main character) doesn't really seem to work too hard at all (despite "training for the olympics") and seems like one of those kids who think they know everything.

All in all, a great book to read if you're transitioning from junior to young adult - or have nothing better to read.

[Li-anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty cool story(: girl named Frankie dreams about becoming an Olympic Figure Skater, a dream of which is about to come true. Later, her talent gets discovered and she gets a place at Skate School. Skate School is tough, but is like another school: "bitches", some cool and nice girls, guys worth crushing on? Anyway, life is difficult with training and schooling... When Frankie takes part in the British Junior Championships, she won.... Ok I won't tell u what so just read the book(:

[Ciara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another brilliant book by Kay Woodward