Reading level: Children's/Middle GradeGenre: Fantasy
Size: 190 pages
Publisher: AmazonEncore
Release Date: November 2, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1935597285
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Bought for Kindle
Rating: 4/5 stars
I actually got this for my Kindle some time ago. It was one of those impulsive initial purchases I made right when I got my Kindle; for 0.99 cents it was a great deal. This ended up being a fantastic book. A great fairy tale for the middle grade or younger set that touches on issues of responsibility, greed, environment and friendship. I enjoyed this book a lot.
Celia lives in her parents' house, a house which has been in the family for ages. Celia's grandma is going to be moving in with them; Celia loves her grandma and the stories she tells about fairies in the woods behind the house. Celia's dad is a toy maker with his own business. Things start to take a turn for the worse when an evil president of a corporate toy company wants to buy out her dad's business and he refuses. Then suddenly they are being forced out of their house because of a new highway being put in. Somehow everything is tied together and Celia has to figure out how; she also finds that she made need assistance from the supposed fairies that live in the wood's behind her house to set things right.
This was a well-written book and was easy to read. Celia is a lovable and realistic character; who tries her best but sometimes isn't as nice as she should be. I loved how subtly the magic in this story was woven into a lot of real life problems. I think kids will enjoy this because it really makes magic in everyday life seem possible.
I was most impressed with how McQuestion integrated a lot of important issues into such a simple fairy tale. In the course of the story Celia learns about corporate greed, a bit about environmentalism, how to accept people for who they are, and how to look past the evil in people and try to bring out the good in them. There were a lot of wordly and important issues addressed and they were addressed subtly enough that I think kids will learn from this but not realize they are learning from it :-)
Overall I really enjoyed this story. It was well written, the characters were believable, and the story was magical. A great story for all ages. I recently saw this availably through the Amazon Vine program and I am happy that Amazon is bringing this story to print so that it will be more widely available. I definitely recommend picking it up if you like fairy tales that deal with real world issues. I think young girls will enjoy it a lot; It is magical, insightful, and intriguing.
This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge
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