Poppy the piano fairy (by Daisy Meadows)

(Amazon UK link)

I don’t think I was previously aware of the ‘Rainbow Magic’ series of books by the collaboration of authors known as Daisy Meadows. Apparently there are around 200 of these books, and my five-year-old granddaughter has about fifty of them, mostly bought from charity shops. When she spotted, at the library, some she did not have, she decided to check them out.

Since I had not read any of the books, I offered to read ‘Poppy the piano fairy’ aloud. I was slightly surprised that my eight-year-old grandson wanted to listen too, but both children have always loved books read aloud to them.

It’s not a long book - about 75 pages - and is intended for early readers. No doubt my granddaughter will soon decide to read these books for herself, although at present she’s more comfortable reading shorter books. And taken at face value it’s not a bad story. 

Two girls, Kirsty and Rachel, have a secret life in Fairyland, where they go every so often when fairies need help. This time they get an unexpected call from a radio, after listening to some music and hearing an announcement about a band competition.

When they arrive in Fairyland, they learn that Jack Frost, the master-villain, and his evil goblins have stolen seven musical instruments from seven fairies. The upshot of this is that music sounds distorted and untuneful, both in Fairyland and on Earth. So the girls have to help the fairies to find and retrieve their instruments.

The idea is interesting, I thought. Of course the girls eventually manage to rescue the piano, and there’s then a ‘sneak preview’ of the sequel, ‘Ellie the Guitar Fairy’, which we did not have access to. Both my grandchildren said that it would be similar. It was clear that since there were seven stolen instruments, there would be seven books, each dedicated to one instrument retrieval. My son confirmed that not just the ‘music fairies’ sequence but all the books in this series follow the same pattern, and they’re not planning to buy any more.

The story is well told, if predictable, and the pace is good. It clearly appeals to young children; I suspect mostly girls. To encourage reading, they’re fairly harmless, although I didn’t like the way that all the ‘good’ characters are portrayed as female, and all the ‘bad’ ones as male. It's strange to me that there are so many 'girl' books about fairies and princesses, while a lot of 'boy' books feature super-heroes and fighting. This surely reinforces negative stereotypes and I'm surprised so many are published.

However, more worrying is the way that it’s stated more than once that the trips to Fairyland are the girls’ secret, and that they are careful to keep it a secret, even from their parents. In this era when child protection and openness are so important, it felt to me like a very bad underlying message that a ‘secret’ like this could - and should - be kept.

However I may be over-thinking. My grandchildren both quite liked it, and were pleased to discover that another of the books taken out of the library is the seventh and last in the ‘music fairy’ sequence, so there is no need to find or read the five in between.

I don't know that I'd recommend this, but if children like it, it's not a bad book to borrow from the library or pick up from an inexpensive charity shop to encourage early readers. It can lead to some interesting discussions about stereotyping and secrets, too. 

Review copyright 2022 Sue's Book Reviews