Margaret McNamara is the Christopher Award–winning author of more than two dozen books for young readers, including the Robin Hill School series. The Fairy Bell Sisters series is inspired not only by her love of the classic sisterhood novel Little Women but by her own experiences growing up with older sisters (and a baby brother). Margaret and her family live in New York City, but they spend part of their summer on an island in Maine very much like Sheepskerry Island.
It's almost Christmas, but just as the Fairy Bell sisters are ready to begin their holiday preparations, they receive a cryptic message from Tinkerbell telling them to leave everything up to her. As the big day creeps ever closer, though, there's no sign of Tinkerbell -- or the tree, presents, and feast she promised. What was supposed to be their best Christmas yet may actually become their worst.
At a little over a hundred pages, this was a quick, charming chapter book that captures the Christmas spirit well. The question of whether or not Tinkerbell would show up kept my interest throughout most of the story, and the climax at the end made for a nice surprise. While this is part of a series, it stands on its own well, although the fairies' personalities were hard to distinguish from each other, especially since I hadn't "met" them in the previous books.
An enjoyable read, but not as fun as the other books in this series. With the promise of Tinker Bell appearing for Christmas in this book, I had high expectations for this one. But, those expectations were dashed as she only showed up for a few pages at the very end. Also, the subplot of her playing Robin Hood was boring as well. I hope future books in this series will be as good as the previous ones.
This was a really fun book to read. My daughter (7) and I read it together. There's more books in this series and we look forward to reading them too. It's just a fun, light read that definitely keeps your interest. Especially if you like fairies and fairy magic :)
When the Fairy Bell sisters get a message from their older sister, Tinkerbell, they are thrilled that she is coming home for Christmas. But as Christmas draws near, Tink still hasn't arrived and baby Squeak is acting strange. Will Christmas be ruined??