Megan McDonald

The magic of a fairy world comes across with sweet goodness and a little, exciting adventure, which fits great to the audience level.

Eliza has a secret. The door in her bedroom floor, which should lead to the crawl space underneath the house, opens up to a beautiful world, instead. She enjoys visiting the gorgeous landscape, especially the colorful flowers. Then, one day, she accidentally runs into a fairy...and the entire fairy world comes into sight. They are a wonderful bunch of friends, and she loves to play with them. But when one of the fairies lands behind the hedge, villains release an evil curse, one that Eliza isn't sure she can turn around.

These pages open up to a cute story about an adventurous, little girl, who just happens to cross a bit of magic. The fairies are friendly and kind, laying the foundation for a wholesome and fun read. Their personalities are just enough to pull in and have readers wishing they could slip into this world, too. When the villains enter the tale and bring a curse, it adds just the right amount of adventure to keep those pages turning. Eliza does have quite the journey, each moment adding a new level to the fantasy to make it hard to guess what is coming next. It all flows together well and rounds off at the end with the promise of more to come.

The text is great for those, who are pretty sure of their words, but might need a bit more practice before attempting middle grade novels. The chapters are not too short or overly long, giving a good reading pace the entire way through. There are many illustrations sprinkled in between the pages, which not only help keep the plot clear but add a lovely touch to the fantasy. It's fun just to look at these and dream of the story.

It's an enjoyable story with fun fantasy and is sure to especially draw in those, who dream of entering a fairy world themselves. I received a DRC, enjoyed the imagination, and am giving it 4.5 stars and rounding up.… (more)

{My Thoughts} – Judy Moody is a little girl that is unhappy that summer is over. It’s the first day of school and she didn’t get to do anything special, like she assumed all of her friends probably had. At breakfast, however, she learns that she did do something worth talking about, she ate shark. She decides that this news of shark eating is so special that she just has to mark up her t-shirt to show that she had ate shark. I have to say that if it were my daughter I would have been surprised, however, at least she had something to talk about the first day of third grade.

Once class begins the teacher assigns homework. Judy is suppose to make a “Me Collage.” The object of the collage is to allow students to creatively tell others more about themselves, through pictures, objects, etc… She goes through a rough go of trying to make this collage for school. It appears that she was putting way more thought into it and what others would think about it, then just having fun with the assignment. Eventually she finishes it and has to present at at school. In between somethings happen that almost stop her from presenting it, but she decides to take a chance and does and it all turns out okay and in her favor.

I really enjoyed the illustrations in this book. They helped to bring more character to the story. I also like how the simple wording of the story continued throughout the entire book. I want to read more of this series in the future, as this was a rather enjoyable read.… (more)

{My Thoughts} – Judy Moody is a little girl that is unhappy that summer is over. It’s the first day of school and she didn’t get to do anything special, like she assumed all of her friends probably had. At breakfast, however, she learns that she did do something worth talking about, she ate shark. She decides that this news of shark eating is so special that she just has to mark up her t-shirt to show that she had ate shark. I have to say that if it were my daughter I would have been surprised, however, at least she had something to talk about the first day of third grade.

Once class begins the teacher assigns homework. Judy is suppose to make a “Me Collage.” The object of the collage is to allow students to creatively tell others more about themselves, through pictures, objects, etc… She goes through a rough go of trying to make this collage for school. It appears that she was putting way more thought into it and what others would think about it, then just having fun with the assignment. Eventually she finishes it and has to present at at school. In between somethings happen that almost stop her from presenting it, but she decides to take a chance and does and it all turns out okay and in her favor.

I really enjoyed the illustrations in this book. They helped to bring more character to the story. I also like how the simple wording of the story continued throughout the entire book. I want to read more of this series in the future, as this was a rather enjoyable read.… (more)