Sprite's secret

The early-aughts Pixie Tricks series, about using trickery to catch mischievous pixies, is back, lightly massaged, for a new generation of readers. When her favorite marble is stolen by a toad, 8-year-old Violet Briggs' pursuit leads her to an encounter with a fairy named Sprite. Sprite, a Royal Pixie Tricker, needs her help to find the 14 troublemaking fairies who escaped the Otherworld to make mayhem in Violet's world. The first fairy they go after is fun-loving Pix, who makes even the most responsible adult abandon anything but the desire to play--forever! The ensuing chaos is delightfully funny, and Violet must use her brains to stop him. The fresh, friendly new illustrations of this edition factor heavily in the seamlessly child-centered book design. Besides breaking up the text with images (so as not to intimidate young readers with text blocks), the illustrations are thoughtfully placed to fit the exact moment they occur in the story, working exceptionally well when the art crosses a double-page spread. Just like the short chapters and simple vocabulary, the text blocks' avoidance of hyphenated words at line ends or sentences that carry over to the next page keeps the book easily digestible for its emergent-reader audience. The inviting format and zany fun of the plot will leave readers excited for the next installment. Violet is White, and Sprite is green; human characters of color appear in the background. A very welcome series revival. (questions and activities) (Fantasy. 6-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.