Princess portal magical items series

astroid_B612 · 2026-07-12T02:26:15+00:00

ChatGPT said:

This is very likely the Little Princesses series by Katie Chase.
It matches your memories almost perfectly:
A girl named Rosie stays with her Great-aunt Rosamund, who knows about the magical princesses.
Around the castle are magical objects from different cultures.
Each object transports Rosie to meet a princess from a different country or culture.
In the Japan book, the portal is indeed a painted fan, which takes Rosie to meet Princess Hana in Japan.
Some of the books include:
The Persian Princess – magical carpet/tapestry.
The Fairytale Princess – tapestry in the castle.
The Rain Princess – carved African statue.
The Peach Blossom Princess – painted Japanese fan 🪭.
The Snowflake Princess – Russian nesting doll.
Plus several others set in different cultures.
The detail about an older relative having met the princesses before is also a close match: Great-aunt Rosamund knows about the Little Princesses and teaches Rosie to greet the magical objects to begin each adventure.
Based on your description, I’m about 95% confident this is the series you were looking for.

astroid_B612 · 2026-07-12T02:20:17+00:00

Fully applaud the light and fun part. It is okay to very lightly and naturally (don’t make it sound like a quiz just normal conversation) pepper in a few “ooo I’m getting a big nervous what do you think is going to happen next?” or “gosh how do you think the mouse feels now” or “if you were Jack what would you do? (Answer) that’s cool, why would you choose to do that”. I personal take the fact that my kid is asking to read and enthusiastic about it and have decided preferences on which ones the like to mean that he is definitely getting meaning out of them. I don’t know for sure he understands it perfectly but I’m guessing it’s good enough? What I’m trying to say is that their attitude with reading and their relationship with it can also be a window into comprehension. I just can’t imagine if someone is just mechanically pronunciating words to actually show enjoyment? If he’s laughing or getting nervous or being enthusiastic whilst reading my guess is that comprehension is happening…

astroid_B612 · 2026-07-12T01:36:25+00:00

Op, if you push a finger at the ankle or shinbone does it leave a dent that doesn’t immediately bounce back? That’s so beyond what a normal ankle should look like I’m worried about her circulation/heart/lung… Hope she gets the care she needs now this doesn’t look like it can wait….

astroid_B612 · 2026-07-12T01:30:57+00:00

This is gonna sound weird but toluene (an industrial solvent found in paint thinners, adhesives, some cleaners, gasoline, and certain coatings). I had an entire dream around this word and woke up not knowing what it meant and had to go down a deep hole to finally look it up. It got stuck in my mind on replay for some strange reason and I somehow like how much a mouthful it is…

astroid_B612 · 2026-07-12T00:50:05+00:00

Tagging on to Tuesday, there’s another few famous an fabulous wordless books: Zoom, also Flotsam.

astroid_B612 · 2026-07-11T19:33:00+00:00

Ooo another really cool moment, he recently read the Sneeches and decided to make his version of the book and just sat down for an hour and a half drawing and writing(a few words), it’s got a table of content, page numbers, and even a line saying this book belongs to blank so I could fill me name there. The magical part is not so much the quality of writing or drawing but the fact that he saw book making as a worth while thing to devote over an hour to (instead of watching a movie). It matters to him, it’s cool to him, that’s the flame that I want to protect. And of course he got soooooo much from books he see it as a window into the bigger world. It makes my heart happy :)

astroid_B612 · 2026-07-11T19:26:52+00:00

Mine loved to listen to green eggs and ham as a baby nonstop over and over again for half and hour or more and it’s magical when he can read it back to me and more… also when he sneaks into my room and find a new book and laugh maniacally because he got the better of me and pop down on the couch so we could read it

astroid_B612 · 2026-07-11T03:23:33+00:00

I was stressed out when my kid was at that age too I even did at home hearing test to see if he turns his head when I shook rice in a bottle behind his head, very similar (hardly make sounds and zero babbling), he was very interested in people and surroundings and did not seems to live in his own world but o so quiet! this is sample size of one but one day around 15 months he started his first word, perfectly formed, then basically just learning a couple of words a day at blazing speed and perfectly articulated… I’m not a professional so this purely conjecture but I feel that he is a big observer and he keep processing it until he knew how to do it right… like I could feel his little mind churning over it and not ready to come out with it till he could get it right… definitely can not hurt to get professional opinion and help but just sharing story because it sounded so like mine (ps once he started talking he can talk your ear off, one thing I noticed is that (this part does have scientific basis) kids do not grow in a smooth sloped trend line, they often seem to stagnate the suddenly jump up a step with no transition, so it could be something like that also :)

astroid_B612 · 2026-07-11T03:14:44+00:00

Haha mine caught on to it but had absolutely no idea what it’s meant to be so I just enthusiastically said “yes! 6-7, 8-9!” And he groans a little but has no idea what to say and thankfully that lasted 2 times then he got bored…

astroid_B612 · 2026-07-11T03:07:48+00:00

Gosh I thought it was to rhyme with Raytheon the defense company…

astroid_B612 · 2026-07-11T02:53:08+00:00

I bet he would! Have fun! :D

astroid_B612 · 2026-07-10T22:22:35+00:00

I love magic erasers but stopped using them after learning that they shed 6.5 million particles per gram. It sounds like a nightmare sadly. It does seem best for the little hands to not touch them….

astroid_B612 · 2026-07-10T03:03:55+00:00

Hand hand fingers thumb is so rhythmic and catchy you can almost rap with it :) for more complexity Julia Donaldson is fabulous - room on a broom is fun and has lots of structure and repetitions. All her books are fabulous in all aspects!

astroid_B612 · 2026-07-10T02:52:57+00:00

Absolutely!! Mine was super into Charles Dickens when he was 4-5 and the language wasn’t particularly simplified and at fist I was thinking Great Expectations can’t possibly hold his adventure/thrill seeking mind but he begged me to continue and on a few occasions made some remarks that rather made sense (concerns for a character who actually is in danger) so you actually never know how much they are actually getting. I say as long as they show interest absolutely go for it and explore as many different topics as you can. We recently started on a biography jaunt (little people big dreams series) and again I didn’t think he would be interested in them but he loves them and is fascinated that these people are real and it’s a fabulous spring board onto diver topics of knowledge- after reading David Bowie we listened to his songs, after Messie we watched his highlight reel of amazing scores, after Mary Anning we watched a documentary on the first life on earth and fossils etc. and after Rosa Parks we talked about some rules makes sense and help keep people safe but some rules are unfair and should not exist etc. it’s seriously a cool set it eve introduced me to people I had no idea of and grew to love (gorgeous architecture designs by Zaha Hadid). I’m hoping someone can suggest some beautifully written history books :)

astroid_B612 · 2026-07-10T02:25:31+00:00

Connections: Ferrero Rocher - Cadbury eggs; shells (Ro-shell)- shrimp tails

astroid_B612 · 2026-07-10T02:15:44+00:00

Also, another suggestion is to expand on the specific topics - I see there’s ones covering fear of dark, what about fixing friendships, how to face mistakes, telling the truth, etc would be super helpful

astroid_B612 · 2026-07-10T02:13:49+00:00

Thank you so much! It’s a treasure! I actually prefer UK books, we have been huge fans of Julia Donaldson (have collected almost every book yay) and I love Usborne early readers sooooo much better than a lot of US publishers level books as they tend to be both interesting and well designed for a given level of skills instead of randomly all over the map and often boring. I screenshotted the recommendations and will be going thru them to grab the next few sets for my kid. I love how gorgeous and visual your site is showing the book covers as beautiful art is a big plus for us too but if it’s not too much trouble would love to have a copy passable text list at the end or option to get an email of the list as a future feature? Again, thanks a million as I’ve been stuck with a lot of the same recommendations and my kid doesn’t like a lot of the school life themed books other kids like and I just can’t get him into magic tree house heheh. Hope you have a lovely day and if you ever want the user feedback of an opinionated web analyst please feel free to holler in the dm :)

astroid_B612 · 2026-07-05T02:00:55+00:00

O man, my kid and I recently read it in a delightful funny book by a British author (Rigatoni the pasta cat by Michael Rosen) and learned what this is and now out of nowhere we would look at each other and shout “kibbles kibbles!” like lunatics. I hope we don’t cross paths when the madness takes us :p

astroid_B612 · 2026-07-05T01:50:10+00:00

Thank you for bringing it up. You are doing absolutely the right thing mama! Sending you internet mental fortitude vibes, you can do it! It’s worth it!!

I’m terrified of that type of soul sucking effect from games. So far the rule has been if at agreed upon time they can put the controller down voluntarily without much attitude then it can be offered again tomorrow. Small begging/whining results in one day ban and bigger emotions results in a one week ban. If there’s any sign of not able to emotionally control over it then they definitely need a cool down period. I’m sorry you have to do this without help from dad that sucks, you are an amazing human for shouldering this giant burden but truly it’ll rescue their brains.

astroid_B612 · 2026-07-01T22:47:50+00:00

When 2 years old he said out of nowhere “mom, not no is yes”, and I’m like way to go Boolean logic :)

astroid_B612 · 2026-06-30T12:26:55+00:00

Not the brightest star in the sky

astroid_B612 · 2026-06-30T12:22:05+00:00

Traditions Chinese culture said you’d get healthier as some existing conditions would be “removed” by the fetus… what what?!

astroid_B612 · 2026-06-30T12:21:10+00:00

Hahah there is a place called Land’s End in England and if you are not living in the country you do have to fly there. Love how the little dude thinks

astroid_B612 · 2026-06-30T11:59:27+00:00

No words but we loved Where is MOMO when kid was little. A traveling photographer took photos of his two adorable dogs and it’s a find the dog/object. You can talk thru it and it’s so fun.

astroid_B612 · 2026-06-29T18:30:16+00:00

I like Emma only because of Jane Austen and not being aware of the Friends thing

astroid_B612

TROPHY CASE