Book Review: How to Ditch Your Fairy

How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier
Click on the cover to see which libraries own it.

SUMMARY: This light fantasy takes place in a world that is much like our own, except that nearly everyone has some kind of fairy that gives them one special ability. Charlie attends a magnet high school for sports and has normal life of schoolwork and sporting events. However, her parking-space fairy is so annoying that she has decided to starve it by walking everywhere, which takes up a huge amount of time and earns her a lot of demerits, game suspensions, and community service time. Teaming up with her best friend (shopping fairy), the boy she likes (not-getting-in-trouble fairy), and her archenemy (all-the-boys-like-you fairy), Charlie embarks on an increasingly wild quest (luge, anyone?) to get rid of her fairy once and for all.

OPINION: Although this is technically a fairy fantasy, it reads more like a contemporary novel with weird slang. There is none of the darkness that makes fairy books like Tithe so popular, and there is no cultural fairy connection as in The New Policeman. The fairies in this book each randomly provide a particular gifting to a person; consult the List of Known Fairies in the back for an amusing recap of those mentioned in the book. I really enjoyed Charlie's strong-willed antics, and it was great to read about well-rounded girl who could play a wicked game of cricket, do well in school, and enjoy a day of shopping. I do wish that the author had provided a little more information about the world of New Avalon and the history of the fairies, but overall it was a humorous and easy read. It was little on the girly side, but I'd still recommend it for girls and guys in middle and early high school. The comedic tone of the story reminded me a lot of books by Janette Rallison, so check it out if you are a fan of hers.