Philippa Fisher's Fairy Godsister

Philippa Fisher #1

by Liz Kessler

New from the author of the best-selling Emily Windsnap series! A tale of a girl and her reluctant fairy guardian sparkles with magic and charm.

Philippa Fisher would like nothing more than to summon a fairy. Still, she is taken aback when Daisy, the new girl at school, announces that she is Philippa's fairy godmother — or godsister, since they're both the same age. Though the fairy is none too pleased with her mission, she is obliged to see it through and grant her human charge the customary three wishes. Now, if only Philippa would wish for something that makes her life better, not worse! With warmth and whimsy, the creator of Emily Windsnap whisks a traditional theme into a contemporary setting to tell a story of friendship, luck, and how we decide what we really want.

Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Childrens, Fairies, Fiction, Magic, Young Adult

288 pages, Paperback

First published February 7, 2008

About the author

Liz Kessler is the author of three novels about Philippa Fisher as well as the NEW YORK TIMES best-selling Emily Windsnap series. She lives in Manchester, England.

Reviews

[Miss Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty generic tale of an eleven year old girl with low self-esteem and a large amount of dissatisfaction with her life who meets a fairy that will grant her three wishes. Of course, the wishes go awry. Which in turn is an opportunity for Philippa to learn something important. The fairy's life is tied to that of a daisy flower and she too is supposed to learn something from this encounter, namely compassion and empathy.

The good old "Be Careful What You Wish For" and "Discover the power of being yourself" and "What you can do when you put your mind to it" are all present. Bland, but nothing wrong with it, per se.

[Dominique · Rating 5 out of 5]

Philipia Fisher's fairy godsister is about a eleven year old girl named Philipia and her best friend Chalotte moved away.After making a traditional daisy chain in her backyard Philipia soon finds out that its actually a fairy godmother named Daisy.Daisy explains that she is here to grant philipia 3 wishes,but she soon realizes that theres a twist to every wish.

My opinion was that this book was very good and I wouldn't change one single thing about it.

I recomend this book to anyone who is interested Fairy tails,or fantasy's,or anyone who enjoys mythical like books.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Philippa fisher picked a daisy. She knew at midnight that it would turn into a fairy. Soon she started to not believe it. Philippa threw the daisy out of the window. At school there was a knew girl. She said that she had been thrown out of a window to Philippa. At once Philippa knew that this was the fairy.

Soon the two became friends. The fairy told Philippa that she would die soon. Philippa was so sad.
Will they ever see each other again? To know just read the next book.

I love these books. I really wish that their would be five books instead of three.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this as a preteen 10+ years ago and remembered how magical I found it back then. Rereading now as a 24 year old young adult…. It was just as magical! The warm & happy memories of my first read came flooding back and again I really enjoyed it. Will definitely read the other two in the series again at some point! Sometimes revisiting childhood books brings back the joy… and I’m so happy I chose to reread this 💜

[Mimi 'Pans' Herondale · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was cute. 😊

[Adeline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having a fairy godsister... Sound interesting, right? Really pulls you in to where you feel like you have to read it. And that's good! This book lives up to everything it sounds like. Such a well-written story with genius hidden into the pages. Great for anyone who's read a fantasy, a perfect series for you to start. All the characters are relatable. I think anyone, especially you, would love it!

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ein tolles Buch über Freundschaft, Mitgefühl und wie wichtig es ist, an sich selbst zu glauben. Liz Kessler schreibt tolle Bücher, so auch dieses. Alle 3 Bände dieser Reihe sind mir sehr ans Herz gewachsen.

[Elena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Phillipa Fisher's friend was going from the town and this was the last day she could see her and of course Phillipa was really sad about it. Phillipa invited her friend to come say good-bye to her in her house. They were both having a really good time when they were doing daisy necklaces to each other when, Phillipa knew she saw fairy in the flower. She didn't want to tell her friend because her friend always thought she was crazy. She decided just to keep the flower until her friend went. Phillipa said good-bye but her friend promised she would come back some day. That night she was really convinced that she saw a fairy and started making illusions. At the end, she just thought she was crazy and threw the "fairy" out of the window because of fear. What she didn't know was that there really was a fairy inside there to grant her wishes and now she was hurt and mad. The fairy, or Daisy, thought this was unthinkable and she wouldn't do her mission but they told her she had to. Daisy was really mad and had many bruises but she still had to do her job as a fairy to grant her wishes. Daisy went to Phillipa's school as a human and her teacher told Phillipa to guide her around. Phillipa couldn't understand what she was doing wrong because everything she did was criticized by Daisy. Finally, Phillipa exploded and asked if there was something wrong with her but Daisy screamed at her that she was only doing her job. Phillipa was more confused than ever because it was her job to show her around. No matter what she did in the day, she missed her friend even more each second.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished Philippa Fisher’s Fairy Godsister by Liz Kessler. Its genre is a fairytale because it is about fairies. The main characters are Daisy and Philippa. Daisy is a fairy that grants Philippa 3 wishes, and comes as a girl. Philippa just had her friend Charlotte move away. She was glad to have Daisy as a friend. Daisy was treated meanly by some girls and nicely by others. Philippa was treated badly and nicely, too by the same girls.
This happens in Philippa’s backyard and school when Philippa is in about 5th grade. At the beginning of the book Philippa realizes that her best friend, Charlotte, is moving away. After that Daisy shows up with 3 wishes to give away to Philippa. Daisy tries to really rush to get Philippa to make her wishes so she can go back home to fairyland. In about the middle of the book, Daisy convinces Philippa to sign up for the talent show because Philippa is really good at magic. At the end of the book, the talent show was presented and Philippa got a “Best of Show” certificate. Daisy leaves a few minutes after the show.
I liked the book because I like fairies, and the book was really good because Daisy changes from not liking humans to liking humans. Philippa stood up to Daisy and showed her kindness which made Daisy change her mind about humans. The author did well with writing the book because she uses good description and explains well. My rating is 5, and there was nothing to dislike. I recommend this book because I think 5th graders would love the adventure Daisy takes.

[Saige Holcomb]

I think "Philippa Fisher's and the Fairy Godsister" is a great book. One thing that I still wonder about in this book is how did Philippa's enemy Trisha Miles find out about Philippa having a fairy granting her wishes. I like the part where Daisy and Philippa officially become friends. The sad part was that The fairy who was granting her wishes had to leave at the end.

"Philippa Fisher's and the Fairy Godsister" is about a girl named Philippa whose best friend just moved away, but a fairy is assigned to grant her three wishes. At first the fairy did not seem nice, she just wanted to get the job done and leave, but as the story goes on the fairy begins to like Philippa and want to be her friend. When Philippa made her first wish, wishing that her parents were normal and not embarrassing it turned out that her parents became cold to her. Then when she wished she was popular she then realized that people just like her because they are under fairy magic not for who she was. So her third wish was undoing her first two wishes so everything would go back to normal.


I recommend "Philippa Fisher's and the Fairy Godsister" to someone who is not happy with their life and wants three wishes to change it. It may teach them that they could regret what they wish for because it could make their lives worse. It could also teach them to just be happy with what they have and realize that their life is not so bad.

[Michelle Wu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give this book a 4 star rating - there were some parts of the book I really didn't liked about - but other than that - it's great ! it's got a natural soothing sound like the waves at the beach. My favorite character is Daisy French, even though she seems to be like a short-tempered kind of girl, but later on she opens up her heart to Philippa. I was really angry about Philippa that she threw out Daisy out the window, I mean like if I was Daisy, I would know how it would feel if you're "thrown away" by a human and they say that "it was an accident" for an excuse that it was on purpose. If I were the author, I would've made up a character that's Daisy's dear/best friend & for some reason/accident, the person is in danger because Trisha was trying to cut off one of it's wings to make an accessory - now that would made a really great dramatic-like, touching moment. I don't really understand how you can eat thinly sliced bricks for breakfast - I mean they're really hard to chew. If Iwere Philippa, I would really feel really great like I'm on a paradise if MY parents were normal, except for the part that they STILL worry about doing your homework (etc.) and that they act really strange and they start arguing all of a sudden. This book is awesome, i hope that you will read it too ! - Can't wait for the next book ! (please no negative comments)

[toonepersonyoumaybetheworld · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good book. After I read the first five pages I could not out this book down. I was almost positive that I was going to like this book because of the way the back of the book described the story and how it was about a fairy because usually I don't read books about fairy's and noticeable unreal things. This book was very good and I was very surprised I liked it.

One thing I did not like is how the fairy, Daisy, was a real sized human and she could go to school with Phillipa. I think I would have liked it better if Daisy was little and had wings and could fly because it would have been more realistic.

One thing that I did really like is the fact that the author chose that when Daisy and Phillipa meet they do not like each other and don't want anything from each other. I thought that was cool because some readers can relate to that.

I think this book had a really good point and that was to enjoy the things you have and if because you are going to miss those things. Also I think it could also have a different theme and that would be to not care about what people think.

The reason why I chose to just write about how I felt and the parts I liked and didn't like and not about what the book is about is because I had mixed feelings about this book.

[Sandie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was very good. I have read a zillion stories with the whole three wishes and fairy godmother idea, but this one was very cute and nicely done.

I love the whole moral of this story. The little girl thought she wanted all these things different in her life and when she got her wishes, it turned out that she really did love her life before and missed it after she changed it with the wishes. She discovered that she was liked not for herself but because of the fairy magic and that she would rather be liked for who she was.

I thought the lifecycle of the fairy godmother was an interesting idea, I had never heard that before. The last chapter or two was very good, I was in tears as the lifecycle came to an end.

I am not sure what age group this book is geared to, its about an 11 year old girl and its definately a child's book. I would assume that its geared to 4th through like 6th or 7th. But its such a cute book and the moral lessons are great reminders to appreciate what you have for any age group! Its an easy read, the pages just keep turning.

[Binibining `E (of The Ugly Writers) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh this is a cute story. Who wouldnt want a fairy assigned to you right? The story is about friendship and being true to each other. We will always have this bestfriend who would be there for us no matter what happens. I like Philippa and Daisy's friendship even if Daisy's assignment is finished i know she'll always be there for Philippa and she'll always be her bestfriend. Fairy stories are sooooo cute!! Cant wait for the next book. :)

[Mandie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Philippa does NOT, cannot, believe that faires exist. However, her arguments and explanations can't dispute that fact that a fairy has handed her 3 wish vouchers, redeemable in the next 10 days. Perhpas the strangest thing of all is how much the fairy seems to hate Philippa, just what is going on?!

[Meagan Hendershot · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a terrific book! It is about a fairy named Daisy, who does not like humans that much, coming to a girl named Philippa on a mission to grant her three wishes. When Philippa makes her wishes they do not turn out as good as they sounded. It is also about the friendship between Daisy and Philippa, which has its ups and downs.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute story about a girl who is unhappy with her life and wants to change it only to realize it's that way for a reason. Not the world's greatest writing but I had to pick it up after one of my fifth graders raved about it. Great for that age.

[Carlos Corea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this tale with my own 11-year old.. who found it predictable and cliche.
However, it did keep her entertained enough to keep reading.

[Caedy Eries · Rating 3 out of 5]

Title: Philippa Fisher’s Fairy Godsister (Philipa Fisher #1)
Author: Liz Kessler
Rating: 3/5

Summary: Philippa Fisher is just your average eleven-and-a-half-year-old girl. She's a bit shy and not the most popular girl at school. But all that changes one day when a new girl named Daisy arrives at school and reluctantly confesses that she is Philippa's very own fairy godsister.
Unfortunately for Philippa, Daisy is a fairy who is not too fond of humans, and so she is not pleased about having to help Philippa. In fact, she wants nothing more than to grant Philippa her three wishes quickly so that she can move on to a new assignment.
However, things are not that simple. Philippa and Daisy just cannot seem to get along, and Philippa's wishes keep making her life worse rather that better. Will Philippa and Daisy be able to come together to solve the mess they have created before it is too late? (Taken from goodreads.com)

Review: A couple of things irked me about this book, but not so much to put me off reading it or recommending it if the need arose. The title comes from one line in the book, and it is the only time any reference to it is made, otherwise it is the standard cookie-cutter reference of “fairy godmother” when speaking of Daisy (our Fairy God-mother or –sister). Daisy is only referenced as a fairy godsister simply because of her closeness in age to eleven year old Phillipa Fisher, daughter of scatterbrained, artsy parents.

The story is cute, but tends to rely a bit too much on message, and cramming as many life lessons as possible into the book. This, unfortunately reduces the plot to little more than a checklist of things that need to be done. It is not a book that I probably would have remembered if I’d read as a kid, even now, having read it 4 months ago, some of the details are sketchy at best. If there had not been the reduction into the former formalities of “fairy godmotherdom” and it had remained light-hearted and stayed in the realm of “fairy godsisterdom” it would have been much, much more entertaining and would have left me with a more lasting impression.

If you have any questions, comments or recommendations you can contact me at simplicity.kindreth@gmail.com
My reviews can be found here:
Confessions of a Bibliophile
Idle Musings and Random Things
Cae's Smashwords Reviews

[Catherine]

Philippa Fisher’s Fairy Godsister by Liz Kessler
Fantasy
✯✯✯✯✯ out of 5 stars

“The daisy was going to turn into a fairy at midnight!" Philippa Fisher is the main character of the book. She is extremely sad when her best friend Charlotte moves away. She then tries to summon a fairy, but does not have any luck because she fails. Then, there is a new girl in class, Daisy. Daisy announces one day that she is Philippa’s fairy godsister and that she is there to grant Philippa three wishes. Philippa is taken by surprise and does not believe it at first. She thinks that a mean girl named Trisha Miles is trying to trick her. But when she spots Daisy with fairy wings, she believes that it is true. But Daisy is not the friendliest toward Philippa. She is very rude and just wants to give Philippa her wishes and get out of there. But, she has a mission so she sticks through it until the job is done. Philippa’s wishes keep making her life a mess. Daisy losses the wish voucher. It will take one mean girl to make each other realize how much they care for each other and that they are friends. Can they come together and solve their problems before it is too late?
I think that this book is very compassionate. I think that it is compassionate because Daisy and Philippa learn to care about each other. From this book I will definitely remember that even if you want change you life, your life is already perfect just the way it is. I want to remember this because Philippa does not like her life, she wants to change her parents and be popular at school. In the end she realizes that she likes her life the way it was before her wishes and undos her wishes. She realizes that her life was perfect, without any wishes. I think that Daisy learned a good lesson about caring and friendship in this book. I think this because she learned you have to be nice to someone to make them your friend to make them like you. IF you like fairies, then this is a good book for you. If you like books about kindness and friendships, then this is also a great book for you. I gave this book ✯✯✯✯✯ out of 5 stars because this book is so heartfelt. This was a delightful book and I deeply recommend it.

[Kat Hooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Philippa Fisher is your average 11½ year old — her parents are embarrassing and she wishes she was popular. When her best friend moves away, she is so sad that she comes to the attention of the fairy godmothers. They assign Daisy, who’s never worked with humans before, to Philippa’s case. Daisy must grant Philippa three wishes, but Daisy also has her own lessons to learn about compassion if she wants to advance in fairy society.

I listened to the audiobook version of Philippa Fisher’s Fairy Godsister with my 9 year old daughter, Tali. We thought Philippa was charming and that the audiobook reader, Kate Reinders, did a wonderful job with all of the characters. In fact, the perfection of the reading was one of the best parts of my experience with this novel and I often found myself smiling at Ms. Reinders’ delightful voices.

As an adult reader, I thought Philippa Fisher’s Fairy Godsister was highly predictable and I am weary of the I-wish-I-was-popular and my-parents-are-so-weird themes. But Tali isn’t tired of these yet and the “be yourself” message comes across effectively, even if the characters’ sudden epiphanies and changes in attitude seemed unrealistic to me. Particularly well done was Philippa’s realization that the mean girl is popular because nobody wants to be on her bad side.

Overall, Philippa Fisher’s Fairy Godsister is a sweet, if predictable and unoriginal, story with a good lesson for young girls. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to girls who enjoy these types of stories and I may decide to read further in this series if my daughter wants to read them with me.

[Hannah S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing! It's in the fantasy genre, but the characters are relatable.

[Tabatha B · Rating 5 out of 5]

February
Philippa Fisher's Fairy God sister
By: Liz Kessler


Philippa doesn't live a normal life. All she wants is a fairy godmother. Instead she gets Daisy. Daisy is her fairy god sister. Now she can wish for anything she wants. In the process of making these wishes, she wished for something she regretted. Her and Daisy don't get along at all, they always get on each others nerves. The thing is that these wishes have made a big mess. The two girls need to come to a conclusion to help fix the mess.


A big theme in the story is "careful what you wish for". I think it is this because the wishes Philippa makes she ends up regretting because they make it worse or they don't help at all. Another one is "appreciate what you have". Philippa makes a wish for her parents to be normal. This just changes everything and cause a conflict between her parents and she gets really upset. IN the end she learns from her mistakes and uses her last wish to fix everything.

[Bridget Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this has a great base to it and love 'the grass is not always greener' theme to the book. I think it's good for children to be able to see that for themselves in the varying situations. Definitely a relatable book for young girls.

I love the imagination that is used and the ideas that go along with it. I do wish the acronyms used were explained earlier on.

[Evelin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Knižka je stvorená pre mladšie deti a rozhodne si ju zamilujú. Mne trošku vadila povrchnosť víly, ale myslím, že deti by si z toho mohli zobrať veľké ponaučenie. Kesslerovej príbehy sú všetky milé a zaujímavé.

[Evelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book! And great moral/meaning!!!

[Juliana Spencer]

Amazing

[Carla Bainpanneau]

I loved this as a child!✨🧚‍♀️🫧🌱

[Madeleine Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a pretty good book

[Abigail F · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this early reader/middle grade novel. The idea of a fairy godsister who would be your age and go to school with you and help you sort out your life? So much potential for exciting moments and humorous mishaps! Yet, this novel didn't really deliver on the promise of fun... in fact, the stakes seemed absurdly high for Daisy, the fairy godsister, and ridiculously low for Phillipa.

The premise is that Daisy, so named because Phillipa picked her as a daisy before she turned into a fairy at midnight, has a 'life cycle' to complete her assignment with Phillipa. That means the lifecycle of a picked flower, so -- at best -- a week and a half. If Phillipa doesn't make her three wishes on the three shooting stars scheduled for that time, Daisy will die. That's it. Full stop. Adding to this mess is that Daisy hates humans because one of her fairy friends was assigned to a human in the form of a bumblebee, and the human got scared and killed the bumblebee before ever knowing it was a fairy. So Daisy has a vendetta against all humans -- and maybe rightly so? Her friend DIED and all the other fairy entities kind want her to 'just get over it' and help Phillipa.

And frankly, Phillipa doesn't really need or deserve the help she's getting. Yes, it's sad her best friend moved away -- implausibly, to a farm where her parents won't have a telephone (mobile or landline) or the internet, so she can only speak to her best friend via snail mail. And yes, her parents are a bit goofy and I can see that being embarrassing for a certain kind of eleven-year-old. But the only reason she even got the three wishes deal is that her mom once heard a fairy song, and singing it bumped Phillipa to the top of the queue. Her wishes -- that her parents would be 'normal' and that she would be popular at school -- are pretty run of the mill, and predictably backfire. Her life gets worse after these wishes, rather than better. But the backfiring of these wishes seems almost too harsh; there's no humor in her parents changing, and no light-hearted hijinks while she's the popular girl. Not even a good (or bad) make-over moment to accompany it (not that it's necessary, but I do love me a Princess Diaries make-over montage in a fairy godmother story).

Neither Daisy nor Phillipa were particularly likeable, either. I can forgive Phillipa, I guess. She's eleven. Life's weird at eleven. But Daisy? She's a fairy, and yet she gives a sh*t about what some popular girl at some elementary school thinks about her? To the point that she backstabs Phillipa just as Phillipa thinks they might be becoming friends? Why does Daisy give two hoots about her popularity at an elementary school? What a petty fairy, I'd hate to have her assigned to my case. I get that part of the book was about Daisy learning compassion for humans, but honestly, the whole thing really rubbed me the wrong way. I mean, the whole book I kept thinking that even at the point when Daisy comes around and wants to help Phillipa, there's no way to make that feel believable, since Daisy really has to complete this assignment successfully in order to live. I couldn't shake the feeling that nothing Daisy did was truly sincere, when the stakes were so high for her. The first person POV tried hard to make it seem that Daisy was really having a change of heart, but I have doubts.

Overall, great idea, not excellent execution. The stakes were just too high and the clashed with the frivolity of the rest of the plot!