These are two short chapter books in the Disney Fairies series by Laura Driscoll and Kirsten Larsen. One area where children's literature has gotten a lot more fun in the past 20 years is in the intermediate readers. I would have loved books like this when I was in second or third grade. In the first book, Vidia, a rather disagreeable fairy, is accused of steeling the Queen's crown. She carefully follows clues to try to clear her name. In the second, a garden fairy named Lily finds an unusual seed and plants it. The plant that results causes all kinds of problems for the fairy kingdom. It smells bad and the pollen gives everyone allergies. The other fairies want to cut the plant down, and Lily has to decide where her loyalties lie, with her beloved plants or with the other fairies. The authors of the stories do a good job of balancing the desire to make the stories have happy endings, and the desire to be not be too sappy. I especially liked the fact that Vidia stays pretty grouchy, even after she receives help from a very sweet fairy, Prilla. I am not a huge fan of the Disney brand, but these are a fun choice for little girls who are ready to move from early readers to something a little longer. (112 p and 110 p)
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