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quietjenn's review against another edition
3.0
3 1/2. Pretty cute - sort of classic feel to it. I'll read the next one in the series for sure.
frankisib's review against another edition
4.0
I was between a 3 and a 4 on this but it's so fun and it reminds me a bit of Polly Horvath who I love. Quirky for sure!
mcampbel's review against another edition
4.0
Continuing to test out books for my niece in future. This one is a very enjoyable and I loved the drawings, especially the ones of Mr. Fidget and the shop. Mr. Fidget is a great character.
annielou95's review against another edition
4.0
Read this to my class of year 2s and they LOVED it. 30 children shouting "NO!!!" everytime I stopped reading is exactly what I want from a book I share with them.
choberygu's review against another edition
5.0
All 3 of us loved this book (Me, my 7 year old, my 4 year old). It has fun characters - (mainly a giant, talking cat, but also fairies, and a moving shop), easy dialog, and a thrilling plot. There are enough drawings to keep younger siblings interested, even when the timeline of events gets difficult.
bethkemp's review against another edition
4.0
Magic, mysteries and a resilient heroine - fab start to a new series for 7+
Sally Gardner is so great! I've never been disappointed with one of her books, and this quirky magical tale is no different. With shades of Roald Dahl and Eva Ibbotson, this is classic young fiction at its best.
As the first book in a new series, it lays the groundwork for the future, showing how the wonderful cat Fidget and little Emily Vole on the book cover come to be working together at a Fairy Detective Agency. The gorgeous illustrations are perfect, starting with the cover style that shows us this is no 'pink and sparkly' fairy book.
Emily's life has fairytale elements: she's an orphan, found in a hatbox at Stansted Airport and quickly adopted by the incredibly wealthy Dashwoods, who soon grow frustrated by Emily's inability to perfectly complement their otherwise perfectly coordinated life and treat her shockingly. It's through Emily's adoptive parents that comparisons to Dahl are most valid, with their caricature-like superficiality and materialism. Once the magical elements start featuring, things look up for Emily and the adventure truly begins.
Children of around 7 and up will lap this up, revelling as they do in deliciously bad parent-figures and tough and resourceful child protagonists, not to mention magical talking animals. I know I would have loved this as a child (umm, actually I loved it now :) ) and my 9yr old will too.
Overall, this is definitely a fun read for newly confident readers (shortish chapters and lovely b/w illustrations throughout), or would work well as a shared bedtime read.
Sally Gardner is so great! I've never been disappointed with one of her books, and this quirky magical tale is no different. With shades of Roald Dahl and Eva Ibbotson, this is classic young fiction at its best.
As the first book in a new series, it lays the groundwork for the future, showing how the wonderful cat Fidget and little Emily Vole on the book cover come to be working together at a Fairy Detective Agency. The gorgeous illustrations are perfect, starting with the cover style that shows us this is no 'pink and sparkly' fairy book.
Emily's life has fairytale elements: she's an orphan, found in a hatbox at Stansted Airport and quickly adopted by the incredibly wealthy Dashwoods, who soon grow frustrated by Emily's inability to perfectly complement their otherwise perfectly coordinated life and treat her shockingly. It's through Emily's adoptive parents that comparisons to Dahl are most valid, with their caricature-like superficiality and materialism. Once the magical elements start featuring, things look up for Emily and the adventure truly begins.
Children of around 7 and up will lap this up, revelling as they do in deliciously bad parent-figures and tough and resourceful child protagonists, not to mention magical talking animals. I know I would have loved this as a child (umm, actually I loved it now :) ) and my 9yr old will too.
Overall, this is definitely a fun read for newly confident readers (shortish chapters and lovely b/w illustrations throughout), or would work well as a shared bedtime read.
katebrarian's review against another edition
3.0
This book is really adorable. I'd definitely recommend it to kiddos who want to read hilarious magical mystery books!
Coming up is a discussion totally off-topic of the book so I'm going to hide it in a spoiler alert and anyone who is fond of talking about language and political correctness can continue on!
As a side note which has nothing whatsoever to do with the story but everything to do with a single word I found in this book - at one point a character says that something's given him a "gyp" which instantly to my eyes was like, whoa, that's not very culturally sensitive! But in context, not used in the way I've ever heard that slur used in Canada, so I was curious and looked it up. Apparently this is a term used in Britain to mean a small ache or pain, and as far as my cursory research went, is not derived from a derogatory term for Roma people like the meaning I'm familiar with is. So, now it's one of those words that I'm not sure what to do with...is it fair to taint what I'm sure was a perfectly good word with something that is a slur? But I'm all for offending the least amount of people in my everyday speech so I'd probably try to remove it from my vocabulary if it were in there already.
Coming up is a discussion totally off-topic of the book so I'm going to hide it in a spoiler alert and anyone who is fond of talking about language and political correctness can continue on!