Justine Larbalestier [Lar-bah-LUS-tee-ay] is the author of Liar and the award-winning Magic or Madness trilogy. She was born and raised in Sydney, Australia, and divides her time between Sydney and New York City (with sojourns in Mexico, New Zealand, Thailand, and anywhere else that strikes her fancy). She is married to author Scott Westerfeld. www.justinelarbalestier.com
Gr 6-10-Fourteen-year-old Charlie, a fair-to-middling student at the "all sports, all the time" New Avalon high school, is cursed with a parking fairy (the driver finds the perfect parking spot if she's in the car) and determined to do whatever it takes to swap fairies with her archenemy, Fiorenze, who's been "blessed" with an every-boy-will-like-you fairy. But what Charlie doesn't know is that the grass really isn't greener on the other side, as proven by the many complications that ensue when she successfully ditches her parking fairy and finds herself saddled with slavish and unwelcome attention from every boy in sight. Kate Atkinson narrates Justine Larbalesier's novel (Bloomsbury, 2008), and her Aussie accent perfectly captures Charlie's sarcastic and smart character along with her struggle to figure out what she really wants and what price she's willing to pay for it. Filled with casual conversational slang, the story benefits from a glossary at the end of the book. The author's fans will find that this latest offering "doos" to the max-Cindy Lombardo, Cleveland Public Library, OH Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.
Sports-mad Charlie is 14, with a crush on Stefan and a burning desire to make the A grade basketball team of her elite Sports High School-despite being very short. Charlie must also deal with the inconvenience of having a parking fairy. Any car Charlie travels in automatically finds the perfect parking spot, which means people constantly 'borrow' her for to run important errands. Why won't anyone believe that a parking fairy is a curse and not a blessing? Not like Stefan's 'never get into trouble' fairy, or her best friend's 'bargain-shopping' fairy. In desperation, Charlie teams up with her arch-enemy, Fiorenze- the only other person she knows who hates her fairy's gift. But is a fairy swap really possible? And is the grass really greener? An unlikely friendship develops as the girls discover more about the reality of each other's problems and come to realise that in life, unlike sport, sometimes the only way forward is to bend the rules. Readers will cheer for Charlie, whose grit and determination win out by the end of this fun fairytale. The book's charm includes its own slang, which teenage readers will revel in. It's a perfect choice for escapist reading for girls aged 12 to 15 (and their brothers will quite possibly enjoy it too!). Jenny Gorman is the children's specialist at Megalong Books, Leura
Set in a futuristic fantasy city, this book puts a fun spin on fairy tales: fairies exist, but you may wish they did not. Charlie has a parking fairy, which means any driver Charlie is with can always find a choice spot (which in turn means that every time the brutish star jock at school gets behind a wheel he nabs Charlie). Charlie walks everywhere, hoping to ditch her fairy and the jock--but then she racks up tardiness demerits at her strict sports school. When Fiorenze, whose all-boys-will-like you fairy has captured Charlie's crush, also wants to get rid of her fairy, they team up to steal secret research compiled by Fiorenze's mother, an expert on fairies. It takes Larbalestier (the Magic or Madness trilogy) a long time to reach this point, but from here the pace quickens. The girls switch fairies, creating more trouble and pushing the girls to some serious (and seriously funny) extremes. Suggesting rather than exploiting the fictional possibilities of Charlie's city, which has as many rules as it has fairies, this vividly imagined story will charm readers. Ages 12-up. (Oct.) Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
