By John David Anderson
4Rbooks: 4/6, grades 4-7
Amazon rating: 4.7/5, grades 3-7
Good Reads: 3.99/5
Common Sense Media: 4.5/5, ages 8+
Pages 322
Synopsis:
Ophelia Delphinium Fidgets is a fairy. More importantly, she is a granter, a fairy who has the privilege of granting wishes. These can be wishes on a dandelion, a first star, a coin in the fountain, or a birthday candle. It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is if the Great Tree drops the leaf with your name and wish listed on it.
Ophelia has never gotten the chance to grant a wish yet, but today she is chosen to grant the wish of Kasarah Quinn for a new, purple bike. It seems simple enough. Fly from Haven, the home of the fairies, to Kettering, Ohio where Kasarah lives. Find the coin she threw in the fountain, sprinkle the wish granting dust on it and the wish will be granted.
But things that seem easy often aren’t. Ophelia has a number of adventures, and misadventures, on her journey including run-ins with airplanes, trucks, geese, cats, and a butterfly net. She also finds a new friend in a stray dog she names Sam and gets help from her old friend Charlie. By the end of the day, maybe more than one wish can come true.
Parental Guidance: low
There are many uses of silly expletives.
A couple of instances of scatological humor.
Minor moments of danger.
Themes of fairies and magic.
Recommendation:
I found this to be a cute, fantasy adventure story that should be appropriate for most children. It was a little slow at times, and the misadventures were around every corner, but once you are in the heart of the story, it should keep a child’s interest. The author does use some vocabulary words that won’t be known by most 9/12-year-olds, and they will need some help.
Some parents might be leery of a book that talks about magic and fairies, but I’m a firm believer that as long as children are given a firm foundation in their family’s religious beliefs, they will be able to understand this as a make-believe fantasy and enjoy it as such.
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