MY SORT OF FAIRY TALE ENDING

Plenty of laughs follow Jenny the Adventurer as she concludes her trilogy of comic quests in Fairy Land by fighting the Queen Fairy, who has stolen nearly all the magic in the world and intends to steal the rest.

Jenny only wants to rescue her parents, who have been missing for several years. She’s certain that the Queen Fairy has captured them, but when the queen captures Jenny too, the plot becomes complex. It turns out that the Queen Fairy is more than a bit insane. She’s turned her palace and her minions into a Disney fantasy. Deprived of magic, her subjects are powerless, save for the leprechauns, who are weakened. Worse, the Queen wants to steal the magic of the Committee, the group of identical elderly ladies who control all the magical realms and who employ Jenny as an adventurer. When Jenny actually finds her parents, she must concoct a plan to rescue them, but with no power and her friends disappearing, she faces difficulties. When she’s turned into a mouse—twice—she feels even more frustrated. Staniszewski’s ear for humor remains keen. Willy-nilly, Jenny spouts occasion-appropriate clichés even though it embarrasses her. She meets fantastical creatures, including a one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater. Of course Jenny will prevail, but how?

It’s all great fun for middle school fantasy fans. (Comic fantasy. 9-14)