Stargirl Academy 4 – Ava’s Sparkling Spell

Vivian French's Ava's Sparkling Spell is a fairy-godmother story for 7 year olds about saving a café.

What happens

This is the fourth Stargirl Academy book, and Ava is the one telling it. She lives in the flat above Café Blush, which is rose pink inside, hung with flowery pictures, and run by Little Val and Tallulah Sweet, who stop her in the doorway to hand her cake.

Then her mum mentions, over burnt toast, that Val was crying in the street last night. Not enough customers. They can't pay the rent.

Ava's elbow tingles the same morning, which is how a Stargirl knows she's wanted. The Academy is a castle sitting on a cloud, and a whole day there takes no time at all at home, which is a very convenient sort of magic.

The spell that morning is a Copying Spell, and the demonstration goes so wrong that eight girls end up in a heap of cartwheels and sparkles.

What I like about these is how ordinary the problem is. No wicked queen. A rival café up the road doing cheap cake, stamping loyalty cards, promising free birthday parties, and running a kitchen with beetles on the shelves.

So the girls turn invisible and go and have a look, which is where the fun is. Ava is hopeless at being invisible. She keeps knocking drinks over and then apologising out loud to people who can't see her.

There's a bit of grit in the middle of it too. Melody and Jackson are in the other team and they're horrible, and the story doesn't pretend otherwise. When Jackson tries to use the spell unkindly her magic star stops shining, and she's left to work out why on her own.

If you've got a reader who likes friendship, fairness and a good sprinkling of glitter, this is comfortable stuff. Short chapters, a narrator who talks straight to them, and a problem solved by paying attention rather than by being the most powerful girl in the room.

What to read next

They don't have to start here, but they might enjoy starting where it starts. Lily's Shimmering Spell is also stocked, and it opens with poor Lily in a front room with a great-aunt who calls her a stupid girl.