Fairy Dust - Hardcover

Smith, Jane Denitz

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060292792 ISBN 13: 9780060292799

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2002

Synopsis

While nine-year-old Ruthie's mother is away on an extended business trip, her father has difficulty keeping things together and so must hire baby-sitters for assistance, but the arrival of sixteen-year-old Alice changes everything for Ruthie as she becomes intrigued by her baby-sitter's beliefs in fairies.

About this title

About the Author:

Jane Denitz Smith was born in Allentown, PA, and graduated from Clark University. Her first book, Mary, By Myself, was hailed as "an impressive first novel from a promising new author" by Horn Book Magazine. She is also the author of Charlie is a Chicken published by HarperCollins.An English teacher and mother of three children, Ms. Smith lives in Massachusetts.

From School Library Journal:

Gr 3-6-When Ruthie's mother must spend several months in Mexico, the nine-year-old is left in the care of her father and a baby-sitter she does not like. An emergency in the woman's family calls for a new sitter, and Ruthie's dad hires a high school student, despite his doubts about her reliability. For Ruthie, though, Alice is almost magical in the stories she tells and the activities she plans. Together they build a house for the fairies to live in and decorate it with all kinds of comforts for the proposed residents. The teen makes everything exciting and explains that sprinkling fairy dust makes everything OK, even taking items from stores. Using this reasoning, Ruthie takes a small glass apple from her teacher's desk to put in the fairies' house. Even the disappearance of a treasured amulet and the apple from the fairy dwelling gives her only a few doubts about Alice. When the two are caught shoplifting, Alice is fired and Ruthie discovers the truth about her. The novel begins with the expectations of a lighthearted imaginative fantasy, but develops into a more intense, realistic story of right and wrong. The characters are fairly well drawn, even if not absolutely believable, and the plot moves along at a comfortable pace. While the ending is a bit heavy-handed and the theme of misplaced trust and loyalty is rather obvious, the book does provide an interesting read with a hopeful ending.

Janet Hilbun, formerly at Sam Houston Middle School, Garland, TX

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0060292792
• ISBN 13: 9780060292799
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160