As a teacher, I see firsthand that series are a great way to motivate readers. Once they love the first book, it makes future selections easier, and kids love to revisit favorite characters and settings when they know what to expect. You can also find the Fairies in Easy Readers for those not yet ready to hit the chapter books.
Recently Frannie received a few titles from the Petal Fairies series arc, including Charlotte the Sunflower Fairy and Tia the Tulip Fairy (other 'mini-series' include Music Fairies, Ocean Fairies, Holiday Fairies, etc.)
Petal Fairies Series Arc
Each book finds human friends Kirsty and Rachel encountering a different fairy and helping with some sort of problem, while avoiding the evil Jack Frost!
Frannie's thoughts on the books:
"The fairy books have characters that are interesting. In the Petal Fairies Kirsty and Rachel have to help find the different special items, and it's an adventure every time. I bet a lot of boys wouldn't like them but lots of girls would. Oh, and if some people don't believe in the tooth fairy and they read these books then you'll start believing fairies are real." (Huh? Not sure where that came from.)
I find that many of my Grade 3 students love this series as well. When asked why, several mentioned getting to know the characters (Rachel, Kirsty, their parents, King Oberon, Queen Titania, Jack Frost, etc.) and meeting a new fairy in each book. The chapters are short and accessible (making it easy to read a chapter before bed, especially if you're the one reading aloud. Some books have chapter lengths that are downright painful for moms who want to get the kids to sleep and get something else done!)
Levelled Scholastic Reader
Another neat perk about the books is that each one is named after that particular fairy, which means that from Abigail to Zara, dozens of girls' names are included in the series. While I don't use my girls' real names on the blog, I will say that they are both represented by the fairy books (I was quite surprised to see Maggie's real name used) which really makes the girls feel special.Frannie was unimpressed this month when I wouldn't allow her to buy the complete set of "Rainbow Fairies" books from the Scholastic book order (a steal at $19.99 for seven books, but she already read that arc last year from the library!) however I made it up to her when I picked up "Trixie the Halloween Fairy" with the book orders for my own class.
If you're looking for a series to get your daughter going (and to make library visits and book shopping very straightforward for a while) I strongly suggest the Rainbow Magic titles. Certainly not prize-winning literature (and I'm pretty sure author "Daisy Meadows" - a collective pseudonym - would not take offense to that), but there are valuable lessons in the books, and if you can get kids to love reading, what more can you ask for?
Disclosure: We received some Petal Fairies titles from Scholastic for review purposes. Opinions are, as always, our own.
