There's so much to love about this snappy read. I was grabbed quickly by the vocabulary on page one: "My spoffs looked funny in the top, which is odd because my spoffs are tiny." Best opening line this year!
Charlie is cursed by her parking fairy. Her best friend has a clothes shopping fairy, her arch enemy Fiorenze has an all boys will like you fairy, even a finding loose change fairy would be better! So Charlie goes about trying to ditch her fairy, which proves to be more difficult than it sounds. She goes to an all sports high school and has a crush on the new boy, Steffie, who is unfortunately besotted with Fiorenze (Stupid-Name.)
So, funny writing, excellent concept and likable characters. But wait there's more! The thing I liked best about "How To Ditch Your Fairy" was the setting- neither America nor Australia as explained in a note to readers, and the resulting cute touches like Charlie loving cricket and basketball, and being able to own a quokka as a pet.
I would have loved to own a quokka when I was a kid. I did once swing one by the tail because my grandfather said its eyes would drop out. *shame* Of course that was back in the day when you could touch them and feed them. They are quite rightly protected now (probably from kids like me.)
This is a perfectly paced page turner.
Recommended for: those who believe in karma/ luck/ fairies. Personally, I think that my own parking fairy is pretty awesome :)
Teaching ideas:
- the vocabulary: words like pulchritudinous, doos, doxhead all provided in a glossary at the back. Students could invent their own.
- make a case for being awarded a fairy, or trading a fairy with a friend. Do fairies come to those who deserve them?
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