Melodie the Music Fairy

Daisy Meadows' Melodie the Music Fairy is a ballet-show fairy rescue for 5 year olds, with a goblin hiding somewhere VERY unexpected.

What happens

Rachel is still staying with Kirsty, and tonight is a big night. Kirsty's ballet school is one year old and there's a party at the village hall, with a show on the stage.

The girls already know to keep their eyes open at parties. Jack Frost wants the Party Fairies' bags of magic dust for a party of his own, and his goblins have been spoiling human parties to get them. The book explains it all again at the start, so your reader won't be lost.

Rachel helps backstage with the tutus and ribbons. The curtain goes up and the dance starts beautifully. Then the music gets faster. And faster. Until it's a squeaky jumble and the dancers are stumbling and bumping into each other!

Nobody can stop the CD player. But Rachel spots a tambourine shaking all on its own. Underneath is Melodie, crying so hard the bells are jingling. A goblin has grabbed her party bag.

What follows is a lovely little hunt round the back of the hall. The girls check the dressing room and the office. Then they hear the most awful piano playing coming from the music room, with nobody sitting at the piano. (Where do you think he's hiding?)

Little ones will love the goblin's silly song about being a smarty. And the way they get the bag back is very noisy and very satisfying, with Rachel shrunk to fairy size and a pair of cymbals.

There's a funny bit afterwards too. Kirsty has to make up excuses to her ballet teacher on the spot, while her best friend and a fairy are stuck inside the piano.

It's a gentle one. Nobody is hurt, the scariest moment is a show going wrong, and Melodie's fix for the music is pure magic. If you've got a little dancer at home, or anyone who's ever been nervous about a show, they'll feel for Kirsty on that stage.

Melodie's party is saved by the end. The goblins are still out there, though, so the girls promise to keep watch at the next party they go to.

It's an American edition, so Kirsty has a "mom" and the village hall is set up like a "theater". Easy to read straight past.

What to read next

The Party Fairies' week begins on Kirsty's birthday, in Cherry the Cake Fairy. That's where Bertram the frog footman turns up with the invitation, and there's a goblin with his feet in the birthday cake.