Fairy in waiting

Fans find more magic mayhem in this sequel to Fairy Mom and Me (2018).Ella's good-hearted but inept Fairy Mom just wants to make things better, whether it's finding a pet bird or enlivening a party. Ella can't wait to be old enough to use magic herself. She watches as many of Mom's online lessons with Fairy Tutor Fenella as possible. Until she gets a Computawand of her own, Ella serves as assistant and, in a bit of role reversal, often tells Mom the correct magic codes to undo her messes. Each episodic chapter is told through Ella's eyes. In one, Fairy Mom disrupts Dad's important lunch with his boss, Mr. Lee, and his wife, Mrs. Lee. Fairy Mom and Ella just want to find Mrs. Lee's bird, but in the process they turn into monkeys! Oops. In another, Ella's Not-Best Friend, Zoe, is underwhelmed by Ella's birthday party. Fairy Mom is determined to impress with a big cakebut it keeps growing! Large typeface and plenty of dialogue make this easy to read, and the imaginative situations are captured in animated black-and-white cartoon art. In this throwback white-bread world, Dad is the annoyed authoritarian demanding, "No magic." Characters are one-dimensional, and any diversity comes through secondary characters such as the Asian Lees. Activities at the close include a recipe as well as a word scramble, maze, and drawing prompt.A cotton-candy read for transitional readers. (Fantasy. 6-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

  Hi. My name is Ella Brook and I live in a town called Cherrywood with my mom, my dad and my baby brother, Ollie. I have blue eyes and dark brown hair. My best friends at school are Tom and Lenka. My worst enemy is Zoe. She lives next door and she's my Not-Best Friend. She is the meanest girl ever. She looks mean even when she smiles. Everything in my life seems normal, but my family has a special secret that I'm not allowed to tell anyone, even my friends. My mom looks like any other mom . . . but she's not a regular mom. Because she can turn into a fairy. All she has to do is stamp her feet three times, clap her hands, wiggle her behind and say, "Marshmallow," . . . and POOF! She's Fairy Mom. Then if she says, "Toffee apple," she's just Mom again.  My Aunty Jo and Granny are fairies too. They can all fly and turn invisible and do real magic. And Mom and Aunty Jo also have a really cool wand called a Computawand V5. It has magic powers and a computer screen and an Extra-Fast Magic button. And it has Fairy Apps and Fairy Mail and Fairy Games. The problem is that Mom . . . well . . . she is not that good at doing magic spells, even though she works really hard at her magic lessons on FairyTube with Fairy Fenella. But one day she's going to get everything right. And one day, when I'm grown up, I'll be a fairy like she is. I'll have sparkly wings and my own Computawand. Until then, Mom says I just have to wait. So that's what I am. A Fairy in Waiting.        Excerpted from Fairy Mom and Me #2: Fairy in Waiting by Sophie Kinsella All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.