Thursday, February 14, 2013

Adventures of the Tooth Fairies: The Wobbler! / S. de la Perrelle


Reviewed by: BigAl  with input from The Princess

Genre: Middle Grade

Approximate word count: 10-15,000 words

Availability    
Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

An English native, de la Perrelle is fulfilling her lifetime dream to write after a long and successful career.

For more, visit de la Perrelle’s website.

Description:

“When Isabella, the tooth fairy, falls foul of a trap to capture her, it is up to her lifelong friend, Jamie, to mount a fearless rescue.

Isabella is not only captured but she also loses her magical powers; she is a prisoner with no means of escaping by herself.

Her only chance of freedom is if Jamie realizes that she is missing and can get to her before it is too late.

Will Jamie find Isabella?

Will he suffer the same fate as his lifelong friend?

Will they manage to escape and return home safely?

This is an original story with a modern twist on the classic tooth fairy character.

The fairies are both male and female and they use computers to hold their tooth schedules.”

Appraisal:

“Crash, bang, clang, clatter! Isabella was rudely shaken from her peaceful slumber.”

A simple, yet powerful, first two lines that struck me as especially good. Already, we have a conflict developing to pull the reader in. It worked for me and it worked for “The Princess,” my nine year-old granddaughter, who assisted me with her thoughts on The Wobbler! This is the first of three books planned in a series of tooth fairy adventures. It’s well edited with a modern fairy tale storyline and story world that should appeal to children of many ages. The vocabulary and length are perfect for ages eight to ten and would be ideal for a parent or older sibling to read to younger kids.

The Princess enjoyed The Wobbler!, giving it a letter grade of A-. Her favorite part was when the main character, Isabella, got “trapped.” I don’t want to say too much about this to avoid spoilers, but I can say that this happens relatively early in the book and is the first major crisis, setting up the rest of the story. The Princess was drawn into Isabella’s dilemma, wondering, “what’s going to happen next?” Strange (at least to me) was when I asked The Princess her least favorite part of the story and she said it was Isabella’s “complaining” after getting trapped. This didn’t seem extreme to me and only emphasized her desperate situation. I guess The Princess wanted her to “suck it up” and get on with problem solving, trying to figure out how to get out of the trap.

Although The Princess liked the book, she suggested that, while kids up to nine or slightly older would enjoy reading The Wobbler!,  the book was ideally suited for reading to younger kids who “still believe in the tooth fairy.”

FYI:

UK spelling conventions.

The book has some illustrations that render well in black and white for an eink Kindle, but to get the full flavor, a Fire or other color capable reader or app would be slightly better.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: ***** Five stars

No comments: