The Middler wasn't yet finished and the idea for TrooFriend hadn't even occurred to me at that point! We were asked to write an early chapter book for young readers, so I wrote about a little princess who likes to sort out all the problems in her kingdom.Ģ. I actually wrote early drafts of the first two Princess Minna stories (The Unicorn Mix-Up & The Enchanted Forest) way back in 2015, when I was on an MA course in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University. We know you for books like The Middler and Troofriend, so what brought you into writing books for younger readers? In this video and Q&A, author Kirsty Applebaum tells us what inspired the Princess Minna books, how she plays with fairytales in the stories, and how the books can be used to support early readers.ġ. Read an extract from Princess Minna: The Enchanted Forest / Princess Minna: The Unicorn Mix-UpĬompetition to win a set of Princess Minna books In this new series of books for children aged five plus, we discover the Enchanted Forest and see Princess Minna make friends with frogs and unicorns, fight dragons and solve a problem or two. Princess Minna is a brave and bold princess who loves sorting out problems in the kingdom. Princess Minna: The Enchanted Forest (Nosy Crow Books)

She now lives with her husband on top of a hill in Winchester. She has had a wide variety of jobs including bookselling, railway re-signalling, picking stones off conveyor belts, putting lids on perfume bottles and teaching Pilates. She was born in Essex and grew up in Hampshire. Kirsty is the award-winning author of books including The Middler, Troofriend and The Life and Time of Lonny Quicke (Nosy Crow Books). Kirsty Applebaum talks to ReadingZone about her new series of books for younger readers, which begins with Princess Minna and the Enchanted Forest.

Troofriend book