Frost by Wendy Delsol

Candlewick Press, 2011. ISBN 9780763653866.
(Age: 13+) In this sequel to Stork, Katla Leblanc has to employ all her energy, determination and courage to save her boyfriend, Jack Frost. Katla is finally settling into life in Minnesota and when Jack uses his weather making ability to give her snow for a white Christmas she is dismayed when a snowstorm of epic proportions brings disaster and the attention of environmental scientist Brigid Fonnkona. Brigid is beautiful, intelligent and really interested in Jack, who begins to help her out with her research into the environment and gradually falls under her spell. But the mesmerising Brigid is not what she seems and when Jack goes missing above the Arctic Circle, Katla has to use all her skill and bravery to find him.
Delsol has used the traditional story of The Snow Queen as a basis for this engrossing story. Katla becomes involved in the school play, which is based on this myth, and soon her personal life begins to sound like the old story. It is the author's clever combination of myth and a contemporary heroine that makes both Stork and Frost stand out as enjoyable reads. Delsol has a deft hand with dialogue and often had me chuckling over the things that Katla says and the way that she deals with the elderly Stork society, which takes a backseat in this story.
Katla's quick mind and inventive spirit shine throughout the story and Delsol fleshes out all her main and secondary characters in a way that involves the reader, who learns more about her pregnant mother and estranged father, as well as her elderly grandfather.
There is plenty of action in Frost, particularly when Katla goes to Greenland and discovers that the Snow Queen has imprisoned Jack. The conclusion leaves the story wide open with a terrible dilemma for Katla to resolve in the next book in the series, which I look forward to.
Pat Pledger