In a Blink

November 26, 2012
When Kate, Lainey, Mia, and Mia’s annoying younger sister are transported to Never Land’s Pixie Hollow, they become the responsibility of a reluctant Tinker Bell until Queen Clarion and her winged crew can figure out how to get the girls home again. This first installment in the Never Girls, a Disney Fairies spinoff series, is by necessity mostly exposition about fairy life; the girls learn, for example, that humans are referred to as “Clumsies,” and discover the talents possessed by an array of local fairies. Thorpe seems occupied by diminutiveness and shelter magazine prettiness (“It was the perfect room. Four girl-sized hammocks hung from the tree’s branches. The willow’s leaves spilled down around them like curtains”), but there’s little narrative meat, character depth, or dramatic tension to be found among the oohing and ahhing. Fans of the reimagined Tinker Bell, who is now something of a DIY geek, may wish she had elbowed the other tiresome fairy characters out of the way and claimed center stage. Final art not seen by PW. Simultaneously available:
The Space Between. Ages 6–10.

December 1, 2012
Four friends become lost girls when they land in Never Land. Kate, Mia and Lainey are best friends who go on the ride of their lives when Mia's little sister, Gabby, grabs a fairy and they land in Never Land, with no way to return to their soccer-playing life. Now they are just Clumsies in the land of fairies, and they must rely on Tink (yes, that Tink) to help them find their way home. All fairies in this world have a talent; Tink is a fixing fairy, though a rather grumpy one. Tink's plan to send the girls back goes awry when Kate jealously steals fairy dust and flies away. The worldbuilding is weak (convenient changes happen to the island whenever the plot demands it), and the characters develop in ways that strain credulity (Tink quickly flips from irritation to shedding a tear when the four girls prepare to leave). Bland black-and-white illustrations show three of the girls as whisper-thin, stylish middle graders, with only Gabby having a real personality and healthy shape. The cliffhanger ending lets everyone know that this is the first of many adventures in Never Land. Fairy-crazy girls will embrace this series. Others will see it for what it is: a lightweight offspring of other watered-down Peter Pan stories. (Fantasy. 6-10)

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December 15, 2012
Grades 2-4 Young Kate McCrady, her friends Lainey and Mia, and Mia's younger sister, Gabby, hear silvery bells, view flying flamingos, and feel an ocean breeze, and then they are magically whisked awayin a blinkto Pixie Hollow, Never Land's home to fairies, including Tinker Bell. The fairies agree to transport the girls back home, but before that can occur, Kate sneaks away for a rendezvous with Vidia, a fast-flying fairy with a nasty agenda. As the book concludes, the girls (called Clumsies by the fairies) are stuck in Never Land, happily awaiting further adventures. This new series builds on the popularity of existing fairies titles (including Thorpe's Tink in a Fairy Fix, 2011) that promote the Disney version of Never Land. Each fairy has his or her own talent (Tinker Bell mends pots and pans, while Rain is in charge of weather), making the characters easy to remember. Short chapters, a large font, and plentiful black-and-white illustrations make this book accessible to beginning chapter-book readers. Recommended where demand for fairies is high.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)