Celia and the Fairies [Kindle Edition]

Karen McQuestion (Author)

Book Description

When Celia Lovejoy's grandmother moves in with her family, she tells her granddaughter magical stories of fairies living in the woods behind the Lovejoy home. Ten-year-old Celia believes they are just that-stories-until the day she receives an unexpected visit from Mira, a real, live fairy. Mira needs a favor in a matter of the utmost importance. It seems that Celia's house and the adjoining woods are in danger of being demolished to make way for a new highway. The person behind this horrible plan? Vicky McClutchy, a spiteful woman who holds a childhood grudge against Celia's dad. Fairy magic can counteract this evil, but it will only work with Celia's help. Aided by neighborhood friend Paul, Celia begins a danger-filled quest that takes her out in the woods at night to face her greatest fears. This magical tale of a plucky girl combines an entertaining story with an underlying message about the power of ordinary kindness.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

(Recommended Ages: 7-11)

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A Q&A with Karen McQuestion

Question: You’re a bestselling women’s fiction author with your novels A Scattered Life and Easily Amused. What drove you to try your hand at children’s literature?

Karen McQuestion: I have a confession to make: I never outgrew children’s books and I still read them to this day. A good kids’ book can be completely engrossing, transporting the reader to a whole new world. I clearly remember the joy I felt when first reading A Wrinkle in Time, Harriet the Spy, and the books of Edward Eager. I wanted to try my hand at writing for younger readers to see if I could create the same experience for others.

Question: What inspired the plot of Celia and the Fairies?

Karen McQuestion: Fireflies! Growing up I was always fascinated by the flashing glow of fireflies at night. Something about them seemed magical, and from a distance it was easy to imagine that they might be fairies. And who knows? Maybe sometimes the lights we assume to be fireflies are indeed fairies. I like to think that almost anything is possible.

As a kid reader, I loved stories where the main character was someone like me, an average person going about their usual routine of school and home, when something extraordinary occurs. And in Celia and the Fairies, that’s exactly what happens. I guess I wrote the kind of book I would have loved when I was young.

Question: What do you hope kids who read the book will take away from it?

Karen McQuestion: A few adult readers have said that Celia and the Fairies has a good message, and it does, but I’m glad that I haven’t gotten that same comment from kids. Instead, they talk about how much they love the scenes with the fairies, and how exciting it was when Celia had to venture out into the woods alone to save the day. I hope first and foremost to tell an entertaining story, and if a good message goes along with it, that’s fine, too.

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From Booklist

Ten-year-old Celia is excited when her beloved grandmother moves in with her family. To begin with, Grammy’s arrival means that she won’t have to go to her obnoxious neighbor Paul’s house after school. She also loves Grammy’s stories about fairies who reside in the nearby woods. Her parents say the fairies aren’t real, but Celia learns otherwise when she meets Mira, a fairy who warns her about a nefarious woman, Vicky McClutchy, who plans to take over Celia’s family’s toy company, and it’s up to Celia to stop her. Although she is supported by Grammy, the fairies, magic, and surprisingly, Paul, Celia must ultimately use her own courage and wits to thwart Vicky. The characters lack dimension, and the moral messages are heavy, with themes of penitence, forgiveness, and fairies as “good spirits,” versus evil “shadow things” that spawn human greed and selfishness. Still, the short chapters and straightforward, descriptive prose make for a quick read that is likely to draw contemporary fairy-story fans. Grades 4-6. --Shelle Rosenfeld

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 256 KB
• Print Length: 192 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1449924999
• Publisher: Two Lions (November 2, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B003X4KCBC
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,065 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #8 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > People & Places > Family Life > Multigenerational

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 56 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars 6th .. 5 Star Review for Karen McQuestion's 6th Kindle Book December 12, 2009

By Alice L. Kent

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Celia and the Fairies is a Wonderful Read for every age group . I am way past senior citizen age and the second I saw that it was written by Karen and when I saw the cover on this book I knew I wanted to read it . In my generation we read Dick, Jane and Spot. HaHa. I can still vividly remember those books and also remember being a small child growing up on a farm. Instead of fairies, we had magical Lightning bugs that glowed at night and we could see hundreds of them in the fields fluttering around twinkling in the dark. Just like Mira does.

Going back to one's childhood day's bring's back so many wonderful memories and this book did just that.

I am sure that the youngsters who read this book will remember it forever and this story also sends an important message about being good vs being bad to children. I also could of played Grandmother Celia and relate stories like this to my children and grandchildren and hopefully my great grandchildren.

I am an avid reader of myster/light thriller,light romance but I have to say that after I read one of Karen's books I was and am absolutely hooked on the way she writes and when one of her books comes to Kindle I put aside my mystery book or whatever else I am reading and start on Karen's stories.

Another Great read Karen for the youngsters and the oldsters !!!! Keep them coming. If all your future stories equal the quality of the six that I have read of your's, I am going to start saying Ditto...Ditto...Ditto

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars ~~~BEAUTIFUL STORY~~~ January 6, 2010

By Fairy Girl

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought this book last night and started reading it and I could not put it down. I stayed up to finish the book because it is such an engaging and charming story. The characters are soo real and the descriptions of the fairies make them so vivid and real that you can almost see them yourself. This is such a beautiful story and such a enjoyable read. I highly recommend this book! All age groups will enjoy this book.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Just didn't quite work for me November 4, 2010

By Bookphile TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Having two children, reading children's lit has become something of a hobby for me, as I try to build up a library of really, really good books for my kids. I've found that some children's lit really works, some does not work at all, and some falls flat. For me, Celia and the Fairies just fell flat. There were some things that I really liked about it but, as a whole, I just couldn't get into the book.

I think my biggest criticism of the book is that some sections of it felt too adult to me. I don't mean this in the sense that the sections were objectionable, but that they discussed concepts that I felt would be beyond the ken of the targeted age group. In particular, I didn't feel that the parts of the book that dealt with corporate corruption were really on the mark for a young children's book. A theme like this would work in a book targeted to teenagers, but I felt like it would go right over the heads of younger children.

Another disappointment for me was with the relationship between Paul and Celia. Paul just didn't feel developed enough for me, so I had a sense that he was there more to drive the plot than to serve as a full character in his own right. I was also disappointed in the way Celia treated Paul. Paul was painted as a selfish, bossy child, but I just felt like the way Celia treated him was too mean. She does apologize, but I would have liked to see some self reflection on her part. I think it would have been a nice message for her to reflect on how her actions caused hurt feelings in someone else.

What I really liked about the book, though, was that it avoided the simplistic trap that most children's works seem to fall into: it did not divide the world into a distinct good/bad dichotomy. I really liked the message of compassion. I thought it was great that Celia's grandmother explained to Celia that no one is all good or bad, and that she introduced Celia to the idea that sometimes people do mean or bad things because they're misguided and not necessarily because they are mean or bad. I was very impressed with how Celia ultimately resolved her situation, and I would love to see more works take this nuanced a view of the "bad" guy.

Though the ending of the book was very strong and though I liked the ending a great deal, it just couldn't make up for the beginning and middle sections for me, which simply dragged. Had the whole book been like the ending, I would have rated it much higher.

More About the Author

From the author: I grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the daughter of school teachers and the second of four girls. Later I married Greg McQuestion, which gave me a really cool last name and (eventually) three kids.

I've wanted to be an author since third grade when my teacher, Mrs. DiFrances, read my short story aloud to the class. It took a long time to achieve my goal, but I'm thrilled to say I currently have seven books with Amazon Publishing, two of them published in paperback by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

I love to mix things up, which is why you'll find I've written novels for adults (A SCATTERED LIFE, EASILY AMUSED, THE LONG WAY HOME), books for teens (EDGEWOOD, WANDERLUST, FAVORITE, LIFE ON HOLD), and two for kids (CELIA AND THE FAIRIES, SECRETS OF THE MAGIC RING).

Today I live in Hartland, Wisconsin, where you'll find me happily sitting in my office typing away on my laptop as I work on my next book.