Stargirl Academy 3 – Sophie’s Shining Spell

Sophie's Shining Spell is the third Stargirl Academy story from Vivian French, a magic-school adventure for 7 year olds about a girl who turns up to her lesson with her little brother attached.

What happens

Sophie gets the Tingle in her elbow while she's babysitting Pete. That's the signal. The Academy floats on a cloud and when the Tingle comes, a path appears at the front door.

Except this time there's no path and no mist. Open the door and you're simply standing in the Academy hallway, with a five-year-old holding your hand.

Pete is through that door before Sophie can stop him.

What happens next is the best bit of the whole opening. Miss Scritch, the deputy who is fair but properly fierce, takes one look and says "What's THAT? A BOY?" Then she asks whether he likes aeroplanes, waves her hand, and a glorious shiny red one flies over his head and lands on the table. Pete hugs her. She smiles. A really nice kind smile.

Meanwhile Fairy Fifibelle Lee has lost the wand she borrowed, which means no other Stargirls can be summoned at all, and the head teacher is in bed with a terrible cold.

It's a comfortable sort of magic. The girls are learning spells one at a time, they work in a team of six, and they earn a star for every mission that goes right.

Sophie tells it herself and she's an easy narrator to be inside. She worries about being in trouble, she's embarrassed about her brother, and she's quietly thrilled that she can do a little magic.

The mission this time is about a local park being shut, and a grown-up at the council who has made someone's mum miserable at work. So there's a real problem underneath the sparkle, which is more than this sort of book usually bothers with.

Pete is the best thing in it, though. He wants to know why the fairy lady is floating and why she's got a stick in her hair, and that second question turns out to matter quite a lot.

What to read next

If your reader wants to start where the girls start, Lily's Shimmering Spell has Lily living with a great-aunt who calls her a little worm and pulls her about by the wrist, until a cloud shaped like a castle drifts down the high street.