Daisy Meadows is the pseudonym used for the four writers of the Rainbow Magic children's series: Narinder Dhami, Sue Bentley, Linda Chapman, and Sue Mongredien. Rainbow Magic features differing groups of fairies as main characters, including the Jewel fairies, Weather fairies, Pet fairies, Petal fairies, and Sporty fairies.
Narinder Dhami was born in Wolverhampton, England on November 15, 1958. She received a degree in English from Birmingham University in 1980. After having taught in primary and secondary schools for several years she began to write full-time. Dhami has published many retellings of popular Disney stories and wrote the Animal Stars and Babes series, the latter about young British girls of Asian origin. She lives in Cambridge, England with her husband and cats.
Sue Bentley was born in Northampton, England. She worked in a library after completing her education and began writing for children once her own began school. Bentley is the author of the Magic Kitten, Magic Puppy, and S Club series and lives in Northamptonshire.
Linda Chapman has written over 50 children's fiction books, including the following series: My Secret Unicorn, Stardust, Not Quite a Mermaid, and Unicorn School. She lives in Leicestershire with her husband and daughters.
Sue Mongredien was born in 1970 and grew up in Nottingham, England. She has published over 100 children's books, including the following series: The Adventures of Captain Pugwash, The Magic Key, Frightful Families, and Oliver Moon. She has also contributed many titles to the Sleepover Club series and written picture books. Mongredien created the Royal Ballet School Diaries under the pen name Alexandra Moss. She lives with her family in Bath, England.
"Rachel and Kirsty shared a wonderful secret. They were trying to find the seven Rainbow Fairies, who had been cast out of Fairyland by mean Jack Frost. Fairyland would be cold and gray until all seven fairies had been found again." it's literally like "such a wonderful secret, we have to save the world. also a wonderful secret: fairyland is gray"
“The Big Book of Fairy Tales,” I read that at first as "The Book of Big Fairy Tales" and now they both look wrong
"It’s purple. A really deep purplish-blue." omg look at my sheets they're green, a really mossy green
"Rachel yelled to Kirsty, “Why haven’t we hit the bedroom ceiling?” Kirsty reached for Rachel’s hand and held on tight. “Because it’s magic!” she replied." I-I can't-there's so much here to make fun of
“No, they sound too sweet to be goblins’ voices.” I just realized that idk if the goblin's genders have ever been specified idk they might've but if they haven't I feel bad because I've been misgendering them
"The archway was made of pink marshmallows and golden caramel." I REPEAT: HEAVEN
"...the Lemonade Ocean." did all the fish pee in it and that's why it's yellow and then they just called it lemonade or something
"On the other side of the arch, the sun shone down warmly from a bright blue sky. Flowers made of whipped cream grew underneath chocolate trees. Squishy pink and white marshmallow houses lined the street, which was paved with jelly beans." STOP MAKING ME HUNGRY AND NOSTALGIC
“All the lemonade is a purplish-blue color. It made my tongue tingle, too!” blue raspberry 2.0
"The goblins had tied Inky’s sneakers together with strawberry licorice. They were dragging her up the road, toward the jelly bean fields." ...just get out of it I didn't think that licorice was so hard to get out of (BUT YUMMY)
"Inky nodded and wriggled her feet free from the licorice ropes." about time
"Let’s go right away," I thought it was raining outside but okay
OVERALL: I definitely remember this being one of my favorite because the food.
This book deviates from the formulaic storytelling of previous books in the series. Instead of finding a fairy somewhere on the island, the girls are magically transported to the Land of Sweets. There, they meet all sorts of candy characters, which makes for fun reading. The goblins are there, too, and this time, they even get so far as to carry Izzy / Inky off!
What really interested me about this book, though, is that the version published in the US, Inky the Indigo Fairy, has a different name from the original version published in the UK, Izzy the Indigo Fairy. Izzy is not an uncommon name in America, so why the change? I got to wondering how else the books might differ...
Our local library carries the American version, and a sister library had the UK version. We put in a request for the UK version, and we borrowed both books at the same time. Isabelle and I had great fun comparing and contrasting the two books! I had thought that maybe there would only be a handful of changes in the whole book, but as it turned out, there were several, sometimes many, changes on each page!
Some word choices had obviously been changed to sound more American. A British "rucksack" became an American "backpack"; "on holiday" became "on vacation"; "I trod on a twig" became "I stepped on a stick". Even the definition of "indigo" differed: the British version called it "bluey-purple", but the American version called it "purplish blue". Many candy references were changed, e.g., "toffee" to "caramel", "sweet shop" to "candy store". Even "lemon sherbet" - which isn't really uncommon in America - was changed to "cocoa powder", a completely different substance!
Spelling was also country-specific. British "colour" versus American "color", "realised" versus "realized".
But, oftentimes, I couldn't figure out why the wording was changed. The British version used words like "gleaming", "beside", "odd", and "little" - all perfectly acceptable words - but the American version replaced those words with synonyms like "shining", "next to", "strange", and "small", respectively. Why!? It seemed so arbitrary. These type of seemingly inexplicable changes were very common. It was fascinating.
Very frequently, the American version changed or added words, presumably to make the text more descriptive. Over and over, the original British version had "they", but the American version specified "the girls". Other changes include:
British version: "dusty, old books" American version: "dusty old books that looked like they hadn't been read in a long time"
British version: "Let's get out of here!" American version: "Let's get out of here before they realize that Inky is free!"
Oddly, sometimes the American version simply dropped words - even whole sentences - from the original British version for no apparent reason at all.
British version: "They sound too sweet and soft to be goblins' voices." American version: "They sound too sweet to be goblins' voices."
British version: "Rachel and Kirsty stared at each other in delight." American version: "Rachel and Kirsty stared at each other."
Finally, punctuation - particularly, the use of commas - frequently differed between the two versions as well.
I'm amazed at how the author manages to make each of these books different. They each follow the same plot of course so one would think it's get old on say, the second book. This is the second to last book in the Rainbow Fairy series and so far they've each been quite different. They all *could* be read alone although I really wouldn't recommend it. And these are so fast - I read them to my 5 year old daughter (who LOVES them) and we usually get through one book in about two days or two sittings. I definitely recommend to anyone wanting to get little girls into reading. There are some neat added bonuses also, the map of Rainspell Island which stays true to the story, the poem about Jack Frost being two of them.
This was one of my favorite books because Inky got stuck inside a fairytale and Kristy and Rachel had to go inside of the fairytale to rescue her. It was fun. Inky turned a lot of things like the lemonade water fountain and gingerbread man's tie indigo. I liked how the snow was really powdered sugar and mostly everything was made of candy and the jelly beans grew and the mountains were caramel. They got home on a bubblegum hot air balloon.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Jewel fairies weren't enough. Now, we're on the rainbow fairies series, and after this is all over, I think there are days of the week fairies, and maybe even rock 'n roll or some sort of music fairies. Oh brother. This book featured the same brand of formulaic hijinx as was found in the jewel fairies series, with the same human characters (Rachel and Kirsty) as well as the same King Oberon/Queen Titiana vs. evil Jack Frost conflict. Unsurprisingly, it also features the same logical inconsistencies that bugged me in the jewel fairy series.
Regardless of my opinions, I still have to give the book 3 stars because I don't hate reading it to my son and he loves these books so much and gets so into the suspenseful parts, that I just can't help it.
Cover: ★★★★ (Although I'm not the biggest fan of the orange / purple cover combination, otu of all the rainbow fairy outfits in this series, Inky's outfit is the one I would actually wear! Gives a groovy vibe, that's for sure, and is probably the most wearable one for most people.) Story: ★★★★★ Overall Rating: ★★★★.5 (rounded up) Ghostwriter: Narinder Dhami Most Memorable Part(s): The unique setting, for sure! (Inside a storybook inspired by the Nutcracker story!)
Review: From what I remember as a kid, this was the most popular book of the series involving the seven Rainbow Magic fairy sisters. I'm pretty sure that the setting is 99% responsible for that, as it's very unique as far as settings go: inside a storybook inspired by the Nutcracker fairytale. Visiting the Land of Sweets in itself is quite an adventure, and by how things were described...let's just say that I was in the mood for some cotton candy, chocolate, cake, etc. once I finished reading, ha ha!
Anyways, the plot itself is more interesting as well, with the goblins more of an active threat and actually capturing Inky the indigo fairy this time around. The resolution's still as easy-peasy as you'd expect and want from a children's book, but still, it definitely has more consequence to it!
Ahem, but anyways, all things considered, it's definitely a key book of the series, and a popular one!
Kirsty is staying in Rachel's cottage during their sixth day of their vacation at Rainspell Island. As the girls discovered a magical book, they were teleported into the story of Nutcracker, where they went to the Land of Sweets to meet the residents such as elves and gingerbread men. There they also met Izzy the Indigo Fairy who is stuck inside the book instead of Rainspell Island. Along the way, the girls needs to rescue their new fairy friend until the goblins shows up to get her, and find the Sugarplum Fairy so they can go home. In my own thought, this is truly the most magical Rainbow Magic book ever.
I also love this book in the Rainbow Fairies series because it’s a little different from the others because instead of Izzy being trapped in 1 of the places on Rainspell Island, she’s trapped inside a storybook in Rachel’s bedroom at Mermaid Cottage! I liked the descriptions of some of the things in the Land of Sweets- they made my mouth water 🍬🍭🤤I love Rainbow Magic!!!!!!!!!!!!
I liked Inky because indigo is the color of ink and indigo was in a lot of pens. I liked it because in the jelly bean field when the goblins were rolling the barrell the barrell smashed and cocoa powder exploded all over the air and Inky was coughing and so were Kristy and Rachel.
I think this book is very adventrous and magical.This book is about two girls which are called rachel and kristy they always meet a magical fairy which is a coulour fairy.All seven fairys have a special colour.
So Sky came NEAR the goblins and was rendered almost unconscious, yet Izzy was grabbed by the goblins and had her feet tied up and she was fine? Serious flaw in the overall storyline there.
I'm looking forward to when Miss 4 learns to read as some days I'm reading two of these fairy books aloud and she's grumpy that I haven't read a third! There are an incredible number of books (almost 300) in the Fairy vs Jack Frost series. Miss 4 loves looking at the maps at the beginning of the books and looking at the 'collection' at the end so she can show me which ones we've read from the mini-series. The opening series is quite nice as it's helping her learn the colours of the rainbow :) We now own a few secondhand fairy books and are trying to fill the gaps from the library, although that's meant that this mini-series we've read Red, Orange, Blue, Indigo, Violet (and had to skip yellow + green). The stories work pretty well as standalones so it doesn't matter hugely. The first mini-series has Kirsty and Rachel meeting for the first time (on holiday @ Rainspell Island) and helping restore colour to Fairyland. Miss 4's favourite was Izzy the Indigo Fairy as they rescue her from The Land of Sweets.
Miss 4 and I like to explore different books and authors at the library, sometimes around particular topics or themes. We try to get different ones out every week or so; it's fun for both of us to have the variety and to look at a mix of new & favourite authors.
Daisy Meadows and her fairies are my childhood. I collected so many in my youth, knowing all the fairies and their importance, and sticking with the two special girls who go to be a part of the magic. Years ago I had to give my beautiful collection away, now still part of my childhood school where little girls are picking their favourite fairies and playing pretend. It's fun to hear stories from my old teachers telling me how over the years so many students have grabbed these books and fallen in love with the tales of two girls, Jack Frost and the fabulous glittering magic that is the fairies. On Christmas last year, my sister surprised me with a boxset of these books, but cause you cannot collect these darlings as easily anymore. I was over the moon! If anyone has a little one who needs a little magic in their life, wants to read and needs a big creation to be hooked on...it is Daisy Meadows!
Unfortunately, I struggled to immerse myself into the world of Rainbow Magic with this book. I felt like its content was incredibly out of pocket, although perhaps one may call it innovative ; I wish that the fairies reunion was documented at the end like the previous books. I suppose they are saving this for the final fairy to be found, which hopefully will be a more exciting read. One more thing, .
Her jeans outfit and short hair left such an impression on me. It made me realize that a fairy doesn’t have to wear a dress to be who she is… A simple image was enough to make me think.
Moreover, the choice of indigo was interesting, since it’s not a colour children usually know.
As for the story, it’s hard to judge its development compared to the other volumes: I jumped from book 2 straight to book 6, since I couldn’t find the others second-hand.
In this volume, we dive into the Land of Sweets, a world apart from the other fairies, which allows us to discover Inky’s mischievous side.
All in all, just because she was my favourite fairy in the first series of books, this definitely deserves a 5/5.
Izzy the Indigo Fairy is the sixth book in the series, Rachel and Kirsty enter a magical world in order to find Izzy the Indigo Fairy. Unlike other books in this series, Rachel and Kirsty don't find a fairy on the island instead they magically end up at the Land of Sweets. When rediscovering this book earlier in the year I wanted to buy it to bring into school, I found out that the American version is Inky the Indigo fairy instead. Upon reading some reviews I also discovered that there are word changes in the book to make it more 'American'. It is a great easy read, I remember when I was younger I could finish one of these books in 2/3 days.
Izzy the Indigo Fairy is the 6th missing fairy in the Rainbow Magic series to be found by friends, Rachel & Kirsty. My 4 yr old granddaughter & I are reading this series via facetime. I love how it sparks her imagination & our conversation! In this book, Rachel & Kirsty are transported to the luscious Land of Sweets through a storybook of fairy tales. There, they must rescue Izzy & reunite her with her sisters. Wonderful line drawing illustrations and creative storytelling with so much imagination! One more to go in this series, Adeline has already picked out her next Series within this series❤📚🌈 #ReadingWithTheGrands
Another new approach in this series, and I appreciate the creativity. Perhaps a little more farfetched, but in a series about fairies, that's probably just fine. I could have used a bit more of the goblins in this one, but they were fun while they were around. The cast of characters makes it interesting. I found it a bit jarring that they kept referring to the jellybeans as "beans"--sometimes six times within the space of a page. Maybe it's more common in the UK to refer to them this way? Not a significant problem, but it took our family out of the moment a bit.
Another lovely episode in the Rainbow fairy series. This book is slightly different because it is raining and so the girls read a book in their holiday cottage and then they enter the book and find Izzy in there. It is a bit of a Christmas book because they go to the candy land in nutcracker. There's the usual gobblin idiots, hopefully in the next and final book of this mini series Jack Frost will be a force to be reckoned with and not so easy to fool.
This one definitely gets points for being the most creative. I read the book when I was a child but I did not remember them going to a magical candy land but that was pretty cool. That being said, the title character, Inky, is kind of annoying and I just can’t respect that she felt the need to use a random bow tie as a pillow.
I decided to pick this up from the local library, in an attempt to reread books I loved as a kid. I can definitely see why mini-me was obsessed with this series; it may have a simple, repetitive structure but the names and worlds are creative and fun!