Another great location for a fairy / goblin encounter! This time, Rachel and Kirsty visit an adventure playground with a fun and elaborate tree house. "Daisy Meadows" is actually the pen name of a group of authors who ghostwrite these Rainbow Magic books, and I have to say, I think the actual author(s) of the last few Jewel Fairies book have done an especially good job.
For the first time that I have noticed, this book makes evident that books within a sub-series should be read in order. In the last book, the goblins ran into some trouble because the warmth of the jewel burned their icy hands. Having realized that, the goblins in this book now wear gloves! Interestingly, the use of the gloves are not explained, and it's up to the reader to figure out why the goblins are wearing them. I liked that; the author didn't spell it all out, and the reader is expected to think. I think it's fun for young readers to make connections to previous books, and they can even feel a bit of pride for having figured out the purpose of the gloves without being told.
I was also glad to see that the characters in this book exhibited positive characteristics like cleverness and bravery. (Too often in the Rainbow Fairies books, magic simply saves the day.) In this book, when trying to re-capture the amethyst from the goblins, a little bit of magic helped, but Kirsty also came up with an idea that required some physical daring on her part. And when they needed to hold the goblins at bay, Amy the Amethyst Fairy came up with a pretty clever solution! Plus, an added bonus: Amy thoughtfully made sure that her magic, which altered the real world, would not compromise the safety of humans.
I think it's worth noting that I read part of this book out loud to Sebastien, and he enjoyed it! He liked hearing about how the goblins would be defeated, and he liked looking at the pictures, too. I know these books are geared towards young girls, and I don't know if Sebastien will be interested in fairies once he gets old enough to read on his own, but for now, I think these books - or excerpts from these books - can serve as good read-aloud options that are longer than our usual picture books.
One final note: While reading this book, Isabelle asked something about the drawings, something about letters. I really didn't understand her question at all, and it wasn't until after we later read Shannon the Ocean Fairy that I realized what she was asking. It turns out, each series book has a hidden letter in it! The seven letters of a sub-series can be unscrambled to make a word. There are no instructions describing this activity, it's like a secret game for readers "in the know"! I think that's fun. Going back, Isabelle found letters in all the series books except the first Rainbow Fairies series.
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