Despite the tag, I have never read this book. I never will. I only read one or two Rainbow Magic books, but I was desperate for more. Specifically, the hamster book, which I only knew by name from another book’s flap. Hamsters were my obsession. What were the odds that there was a book in this favorite-series-I never read about hamsters? Shocking. Incredible. I had to get it. Child-me craved this book like a drug.
(Now I’ve finally realized that it’s no remarkable coincidence that there happened to be a Rainbow Magic hamster book, seeing as this behemoth of a series also boasts fairies themed after PE, Thursdays, Rainbow Looms and Prince Harry).
To 8-year-old me, Rainbow Magic books were like caviar. They were the bourgeoisie of children’s literature. They did not grace the shelves of my plebeian library. And the Holy Grail of Rainbow Magic books, Harriet the Hamster Fairy, remained just out of reach. I had to settle for mundane books, though they lacked the heady intoxication Rainbow Magic had over me. That year, I didn’t read Harriet the Hamster Fairy. Instead, for the very first time, I read the Fellowship of the Ring.