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Daisy Meadows' Ruby the Red Fairy is the very first Rainbow Magic adventure, a sparkly holiday story for 5 year olds about two girls who find a fairy at the end of a rainbow.
Rachel is on the ferry to Rainspell Island when it starts raining in the sunshine. Out on the deck she meets Kirsty, who's staring up at the most amazing rainbow. By the time they land, they've found out their cottages are right next door to each other.
Kirsty sees magic everywhere. A bit of seaweed could be a mermaid's necklace and a cliff looks like a giant's face. So of course she wants to go and look for the pot of gold!
What they find in the woods is an old black pot, upside down. The girls are trying to roll it over when something inside starts tapping. Then a tiny voice calls for help!
Out pops Ruby in a cloud of red sparkles. She shows the girls what happened in a magic pond. Jack Frost was furious about not being invited to the Fairyland Midsummer Ball. So he cast a spell that blew all seven Rainbow Fairies away, and Fairyland lost every bit of its colour.
Ruby's sisters are hidden somewhere on the island. The girls found Ruby because they believe in magic, so she's sure they can find the rest. Then Ruby shrinks them down to fairy size, gives them wings and flies them off to meet the Fairy King and Queen!
This is where it all starts, so you get the whole mission. Six fairies to find and six days of holiday left to do it.
It's super gentle. Jack Frost is properly cross, but you only ever see him in the picture in the pond. The saddest bit is probably Ruby telling them how frightened she was, alone in the dark pot. Their first go at flying is very funny too (Kirsty is NOT a natural).
It ends with the girls promising Ruby they'll find her sisters, so it's really the first step of a longer adventure.
The copy in the library is the American edition, so Rachel goes on vacation with her mom and dad. Your reader probably won't even notice.
If you've got a little one who'd go fairy hunting at the bottom of the garden, this is a lovely first chapter book to share. Something magical happens in nearly every scene.
The search starts properly in Amber the Orange Fairy. This time the clue is a big shell on the beach, and the girls finally get to use one of the Fairy Queen's magic bags.
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