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 Review by
Louella Moreland
This is a chick book! Sorry, guys, I doubt you would get much out of this
one. However, for girls, "How to Ditch Your Fairy" is a fun read full of
great high school situations with inventive language and semi-well-developed
characters. The premise is unusual, and the reader can imagine exactly when
and where the story takes place, so the characters really take center stage
in this one.
The story follows Charlie (she hates to be called Charlotte) as she
literally tries to ditch her fairy. Almost everyone has a fairy, even the
non-believers. No one really knows why or how the fairy comes to be attached
to each individual. The fairy brings the "host" a certain type of luck.
Charlie's best friend, Rochelle, has a shopping fairy, so she always
finds beautiful clothes at really low prices. Her mother has an "always
knowing what your kids are up to fairy," which Charlie finds a little
annoying. But Charlie was born with a "parking fairy." Whenever she rides in
a car, the perfect parking spot opens up just when and where it is needed.
Unfortunately, Charlie is only 14, does not drive and hates the smell of gas
fumes. There is also the inconvenience of people "borrowing" her to ride
along on errands so that they can find a great parking space.
In fact, Charlie's fairy has become so troublesome she has decided to
walk everywhere in the hopes her fairy will leave. This, too, causes Charlie
problems. She starts getting demerits for being late to classes. Since she
attends Sports High School, discipline is very strict, so when her demerits
start to earn her game suspensions, her parents are not too happy. She
agrees to work community service hours to decrease the demerits and ends up
partnered with Fiorenze, who also attends her school. Fiorenze is hated by
most of the girls since her fairy is one that makes all the boys fall in
love with her, including the new boy at school that Charlie has started
hanging out with.
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Fiorenze suggests that they work together to get rid of the fairies.
Her mother happens to be an expert on fairies and has done years of
research for a book she is writing. The girls decide to look at the
research in the hopes of learning how to rid themselves of their
fairy "pests." What they find is that getting rid of a fairy is
quite dangerous, so they opt to "trade" fairies instead. Although
this seemed a good plan, it really creates even more complications
for the two girls. Soon they become desperate enough to try to trick
their fairies into ditching them by a near-death experience.
The reader will be caught up with the funny situations the girls
find themselves in, their exasperation with their circumstances and
the "fairy" lore. Even though this is a light read, the characters
end up getting to know each other and themselves better because of
their experiences, giving the reader the message that one does not
always know what someone else's problems really are. Although the
teenage principal characters are well-developed, the secondary
characters are one-dimensional and the reader may be frustrated
wondering why they act the way they do. No reader will be naive
enough to believe the adult characters! However, none of this
detracts from the humor of this unusual tale.
For this book and other fairy lore selections, come see us at the
Lincoln Public Library, 725 Pekin St. Boys, never fear! Chick books
aren't the only hot reads at the library. We have great guy books,
too!
[Text from file received from
Louella Moreland,
Lincoln Public Library District]
(Ms. Lou's blog:
lincolnpubliclibraryupdates.blogspot.com) |
