Sky the Blue Fairy

Daisy Meadows' Sky the Blue Fairy is a seaside fairy rescue for 5 year olds, led by a very helpful little crab.

What happens

Rachel and Kirsty are paddling in the rock pools on Rainspell Island when a bright blue crab pops out of the seaweed. He's muttering "Fairy in trouble!" in a tiny scratchy voice. Then he points a claw down the beach. Wouldn't you follow him?

The girls are on a mission. Jack Frost has banished the seven Rainbow Fairies from Fairyland, and there'll be no colour there until all of them are found. Four are safe so far. The holiday's running out, though.

The crab leads them to a deep pool right under the cliffs. Someone is singing a nursery rhyme in the seaweed. Then up floats a huge bubble with a tiny fairy inside it!

Just as they spot her, frost creeps over the rocks and the pool freezes solid. Sky is stuck in her bubble under the ice. And the magic bags from the Fairy Queen? Rachel left them in her backpack, way down the beach (of course).

So Kirsty stays to guard the pool, while Rachel runs. By the time she gets back, two goblins are skating on the ice and showing off. They're rude, and they're hopeless at skating, which gives Rachel her chance.

What your reader will probably love most is all the little helpers. The crab calls up lots and lots of his friends, big ones and little ones in all different colours. They scuttle off to fetch seagull feathers and tuck them round the fairy to keep her warm.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Sky is very poorly for a good while in this one. The goblins' cold has drained her colour, she can't get warm and she's too weak to fly. Rachel feels tears stinging, and later the fairies worry the goblins have hurt Sky forever.

A sensitive little one might want you close for that part. If your reader likes a story where everyone pulls together to help a friend, the crabs' cosy feather nest is just the thing.

It's the American edition, so a few American words pop up along the way (mom, vacation, ginger ale).

This is book five of the set, picking up with four of Sky's sisters already safe. Ruby the Red Fairy is where it all starts, if you'd like to go back.

What to read next

If the rock pools and the beach are the bits they love, Summer the Holiday Fairy takes Rachel and Kirsty back to Rainspell Island for another holiday. This time the sand has vanished from the beach and Jack Frost seems to be behind it.