Magic Animal Friends – Molly Twinkletail Runs Away

Daisy Meadows' Molly Twinkletail Runs Away is the second Magic Animal Friends story, a sweet adventure for 5 year olds about a tiny mouse who just wants to help.

What happens

Jess and her best friend Lily are back in Friendship Forest, the secret world behind a door in an old oak tree. Goldie the cat has come to fetch them again. This time it isn't an emergency. There's a fair on in Sunshine Meadow and she thought they'd like to come!

That's where they meet Molly. She's the youngest of ten little mice and small enough to sit in Lily's hand. She's too little to help on her family's stall, so she's helping everybody else instead.

She hands round hazelnut chips the size of grains of rice. She sets out raffle prizes for a magpie. And when Woody the squirrel realises he's only got big apples for his apple-bobbing game, off she scurries without telling anyone where she's going.

Then Grizelda the witch turns up in a shower of green sparks. Her smelly helpers, the Boggits, are busy wrecking the Treasure Tree, which is where the animals get all their food. And guess where Molly has gone to look for small apples?

It gets worse (only a little, don't worry). The Boggits think it's very funny to send a helpful little mouse off to a waterfall to fetch them a drink.

So there are two jobs to do. Find Molly, then save the tree.

What your reader will probably enjoy most is how many animals pitch in. There's a stork with a patchwork balloon that runs on bubbles. There's a whole family of beavers in boots. And Mr Cleverfeather the owl is back, still muddling up his words.

Molly is the heart of it though. If you've got a little one who loves being the helper at home, they'll understand her completely. She's kind to everyone, even the ones who don't deserve it.

There's one wobbly moment at the waterfall, where the water is fast and Jess slips on the rocks. Goldie and Lily grab her straight away. Molly is stuck and frightened for a while too. It all stays gentle, but it's worth knowing about if your reader worries easily.

What to read next

The story explains what you need about the forest and the witch, so you could start here. It's nicer to begin at the beginning though. Lucy Longwhiskers Gets Lost is the girls' very first trip through the door, when Goldie shows them the way in and they find out what Grizelda is after.