The Fairy Rebel

The Fairy Rebel

Author: Lynne Reid Banks

ISBN: 0380706504

Publisher: Harper Trophy, 1989

Age: 9-12

Genre: Fantasy

Summary: Jan and Charlie, a young married couple, are wildly in love, but cannot have children.  Jan used to be a dancer but hurt her foot, so now cannot get around easily so is stuck at home constantly thinking about her childless state.  Her melancholy gets worse and worse until one day she meets Tiki, a fairy with pink hair and blue jeans.  Tiki and Jan become fast friends but have to be very careful so as not to be caught by the Fairy Queen, who rules her people with fear.  When learning of Jan’s desire for a child, Tiki asks what kind of child Jan would like, and promises to make her and Charlie a child.  After borrowing magic from her fellow fairies and gnomes, Tiki is caught by the Fairy Queen and imprisoned in an abandoned wasp nest until Jan and Charlie save her with help from Tiki’s friend Wijic.  Months later their child, Bindi, is born, and except for 20 blue hairs she is completely normal.  After eight years the Fairy Queen exacts her revenge through Bindi. 

Read A-likes: The Farthest Away Mountain; The Indian in the Cupboard; and The Borrowers.

Personal Thoughts: This is another of my re-visitations to my childhood favorite books.  I remember reading and re-reading this book as a tween, but it had been years since I’ve read it, and I honestly found it just as wonderful even as an adult.  A well written, quick and yet satisfying read for young tween girls with a great imagination.  Who doesn’t want to believe in fairies?  It also has good themes about right and wrong, personal accountability, authority abuse, and more.