RODDA, EMILY Fairy Realm: The Charm Bracelet; illus. by Raoul Vitale. HarperCollins, 2003 [128p]
Library ed. ISBN 0-06-009584-9 $14.89
Trade ed. ISBN 0-06-009583-0 $8.99
Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 2-4
Jessie is visiting her grandmother in the house called Blue Moon. Her mother, Rosemary, wants Granny to move to the city with them, but Jessie does not want her grandmother to leave Blue Moon, a house she has believed magical since her childhood. Now, however, Jessie’s grandmother has fallen and sprained her wrist, tiffany jewelry and Rosemary is using that as an excuse to move Granny back to the city. More is wrong than just a sprained wrist, however-Granny’s charm bracelet is missing, and with it seems to have gone Granny’s memories as well. Jessie’s efforts to find the bracelet prove fruitless until the night she answers a call from the garden and finds herself pulled through a door into the magical Realm. There she discovers that her grandmother is fairy royalty, and that she and she alone can renew the Realm’s magic and thus save it from the wicked beings who threaten it. Originally published in Australia, this is a change from Rodda’s more adventurous Rowan of Rin series (BCCB 6/01, etc.). While the exposition is predictable, the momentum builds from the scene-setting opening and the action does finally take over the somewhat derivative plot. This doesn’t have quite the lure of Kathleen Duey’s The Unicorn ’s Secret: Moonsilver (BCCB 1/02), but transitional readers seeking a magical niche will pause comfortably here. Final illustrations not seen.
The Charm Bracelet
RODDA, EMILY Fairy Realm: The Charm Bracelet; illus. by Raoul Vitale. HarperCollins, 2003 [128p]
Library ed. ISBN 0-06-009584-9 $14.89
Trade ed. ISBN 0-06-009583-0 $8.99
Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 2-4
Jessie is visiting her grandmother in the house called Blue Moon. Her mother, Rosemary, wants Granny to move to the city with them, but Jessie does not want her grandmother to leave Blue Moon, a house she has believed magical since her childhood. Now, however, Jessie’s grandmother has fallen and sprained her wrist, tiffany jewelry and Rosemary is using that as an excuse to move Granny back to the city. More is wrong than just a sprained wrist, however-Granny’s charm bracelet is missing, and with it seems to have gone Granny’s memories as well. Jessie’s efforts to find the bracelet prove fruitless until the night she answers a call from the garden and finds herself pulled through a door into the magical Realm. There she discovers that her grandmother is fairy royalty, and that she and she alone can renew the Realm’s magic and thus save it from the wicked beings who threaten it. Originally published in Australia, this is a change from Rodda’s more adventurous Rowan of Rin series (BCCB 6/01, etc.). While the exposition is predictable, the momentum builds from the scene-setting opening and the action does finally take over the somewhat derivative plot. This doesn’t have quite the lure of Kathleen Duey’s The Unicorn ’s Secret: Moonsilver (BCCB 1/02), but transitional readers seeking a magical niche will pause comfortably here. Final illustrations not seen.