My oldest daughter is almost seven years old, and she is in the first grade. She was an early reader, but up until recently, she preferred graphic novels to chapter books. We are very fortunate that our town library has a large selection of graphic novels for children. If there is anything that they do not have, we can have it sent to us via the library network.

My daughter discovered the first Princess Candy book at our town library, and she has since read several books in the series. Princess Candy combines several of the things that my daughter likes: princesses, candy, and superheroes. Princess Candy is a collaboration between Michael Dahl, the author and Jeff Crowther, the illustrator.

Halo Nightly is a typical kid. She lives with her grandmother, who is a taxi cab driver. When Halo receives a mysterious box from her Aunt Pandora, she finds that it contains a variety of colorful candies. When Halo eats one of the candies, she discovers that she becomes Princess Candy, a superhero whose powers are determined by the type of candy eaten. Once she has eaten one of the candies, she can temporarily use elemental powers like fire and water, etc.

There are a few books in the series, and my daughter has read all of them. They mostly take place at Halo’s school, and they involve her fighting all sorts of villains, like a test stealer, an evil mermaid, and a shapeshifter. The content is not particularly scary, so it’s appropriate for younger children.

Speaking of which, the grade level equivalent is 1.6. If your school uses the letter system for reading levels, the Princess Candy series is a K. There are many great graphic novels and series for strong readers, so it’s nice to find something for children who are just beginning to read confidently.

The illustrations are great. They are bright and colorful. The artistic style is a little quirky, and they really capture the action very well.

I would definitely recommend the Princess Candy series. The only negative that I can think of is that they are on the short side. They are only about 32 pages long, and my daughter reads them so quickly. She’s done in about 10 minutes, and asking if there are any more books in the series! Unfortunately, she’s read all of the books that have been written. I hope that they add some more books eventually!

You can find out more about Princess Candy here:

Sugar Hero: Princess Candy (Graphic Sparks)
The Marshmallow Mermaid: Princess Candy (Graphic Sparks)
The Evil Echo: Princess Candy (Graphic Sparks)
The Green Queen of Mean (Princess Candy)