Amber the Orange Fairy

Daisy Meadows' Amber the Orange Fairy is the second Rainbow Magic book, a seaside fairy rescue for 5 year olds with a fairy who can't keep still.

What happens

Rachel and Kirsty are back on the beach on Rainspell Island. They've promised to find all the lost Rainbow Fairies, and Ruby is already safe. The Fairy Queen told them to let the magic come to them. So for now they're splashing in the waves and collecting shells.

Then a strange little wind starts swirling the sand in one spot. Underneath is a big peachy scallop shell, shut tight. And someone inside it is humming.

It's Amber, and she's stuck. The girls tug and tug but the shell won't open. So they try the magic bags from the Fairy Queen, and out comes a golden feather.

What on earth do you do with a feather? You tickle the shell, of course! It's such a lovely silly moment, with the shell chuckling away until it opens up.

Amber is a little bundle of energy. She does cartwheels and backflips, and her fairy dust turns into orange bubbles that smell of oranges. She also fires off about six questions without stopping for breath (she's had nobody to talk to in there).

There's a new friend too. Bertram is one of the king's frog footmen, and he's very proper. He calls the fairies Miss Ruby and Miss Amber. He's not wearing his uniform, so he looks like an ordinary frog (apart from the glasses).

This is also where Jack Frost's goblins turn up on the island. The girls and the fairies hide behind a bush while two of them argue right next to them. The pond freezes over and everyone's teeth start chattering.

It's a little bit tense, but mostly the goblins are just rude and silly. They bicker about who stood on whose toe and whose nose is bigger, and then they wander off.

The two sisters back together is the sweetest part. They fly into each other's arms in a fizz of red flowers and orange bubbles, and Amber's shell becomes their bed in the pot.

It finishes with five fairies still to find, so it's one step in a bigger hunt rather than a story on its own.

Like Ruby's book, the library's copy is the American edition. So expect Mom, vacation and sneakers.

What to read next

When they're ready for the next fairy, the hunt carries on in the Yellow Fairy's book. A babbling stream starts whispering to the girls, and it leads them somewhere very buzzy.