DIARY OF A FAIRY GODMOTHER

Hunky Dory is at the top of her class at charm school, destined to be the “wickedest witch wherever the four winds blow.” But Hunky Dory would rather work on wishcraft than witchcraft to become an F.G. (Fairy Godmother). “I can’t help it. It’s who I am,” she says. In a deliciously lively and inventive tale of one witch’s path to self-fulfillment, Codell displays charming wordplay, and offers allusions to Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, Rumpelstiltskin, Baba Yaga, Heckedy Peg and a host of other characters in tales that readers will love recognizing. There’s plenty of wisdom about life here, too, and the admonition to be the best you can be. “If you’re going to leave us to be an F.G., don’t just be any F.G. Be the best one. The one everyone will talk about for years.” When she meets Cinderella, it’s a dream (or wish) come true. Similar to Susan Cooper’s The Magician’s Boy (p. 118), but for a bit older audience, this volume will send readers off to other tales they know but perhaps have never read. (Fiction. 7-11)