Thistle and the Shell of Laughter

The Fairy Chronicles #3

by J.H. Sweet, Tara Larsen Chang (Illustrator)

Thistle and her fairy friends must face Killjoy Crosspatch, the Spirit of Sorrow, who has stolen the Shell of Laughter from Staid, the elf, and return the shell to its rightful place before all laughter becomes a thing of the past.

Genres: Childrens, Chapter Books, Fiction

117 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Amelia Mapstone · Rating 4 out of 5]

It had me smiling all the way, with a little laughter at some of the funny creatures J.H has made up, and taken from old stories too! Genius!

[Logan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now that I’ve finished the first 13 books of this series, I’m going to go back to rate and review each one. I’ve not read beyond the first 13, and I don’t plan to. Because I yam who I yam and because this series is beloved from my childhood, I’m probably going to be more thorough than necessary for a relatively unknown series for seven-year-olds. These reviews will contain very mild spoilers – nothing beyond what is mentioned in the blurb on the back or on goodreads – unless otherwise stated.

3/5 stars

Sticking to the formula of the series, the four girls from the first two books (Marigold, Dragonfly, Thistle, and Firefly), along with Thistle’s mentor, Madam Robin, are tasked with helping an elf named Staid retrieve the recently stolen Shell of Laughter. If Staid does not retrieve the Shell quickly, several Scandinavian countries will be without laughter for an entire year. Grace (aka Thistle) is assigned to lead this adventure.

This book is so solidly middle of the road that I don’t have much to say about it. Grace’s personality feels cartoonish: her main personality trait is she likes to laugh. She’s described as fierce and protective, but we don’t get to see a lot of that in action in this book. Much of her action in this book involves laughter, which yes, does fit the plot, but it made her seem very one-dimensional.

On the positive side, I enjoyed the introduction to new magical creatures, like witches and leprechauns. The art, again, is stunning (though the art of Killjoy Crosspatch made him look so pathetic that it was hard to take him seriously). The overall plot was good too, though nothing stand-out. Again, very middle of the road. I liked Staid the elf a lot and that he was depicted as unusual for elves. I appreciated that sorrow and grief was a major aspect of this story, though the solutions were at times simplistic. The overall vibes were enjoyable.

Various minor spoilery things that I liked in this book include:
- Staid recounting his scary encounter with Mother Nature
- Staid being a foil to his brother. I wish we could’ve encountered his brother, though
- Mother Nature’s later appearance in the story

Given how little I have to say about this book, I should perhaps give it a 2.75 out of 5 stars rather than a 3, but something about it was enjoyable enough for me to feel like it deserves 3.

Overall, formulaic and not particularly remarkable, but not bad either.

[Salwa Balfas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cukup menikmati ceritanya dengan ilustrasi yang bagus dan berwarna.
Bagus untuk koleksi bagi yang suka kisah tentang peri, sayangnya buku ini sepertinya tidak diterjemahkan semua (hanya 4 dari 13 yang kutahu).

[Corrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

cute story, i like the emphasis on balance between joy and sadness and how they are both important emotions

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another fun story in the Fairy Chronicles series. Our oldest discovered this series while we were at our local library and since they only had three of the books, I bought her a few more of the books. She really likes them and I like that they are longer and more complex than the Rainbow Magic books that she so loves. This story included an exciting adventure and an interesting perspective on laughter and sorrow.

[Heavenlypeachgarden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely magical. I decided to resd his when I was highly depressed. It's beautiful langauge, friendly characters, imagination and optimism made me feel better. It captures the imagination if young nd old. I can' wait to read the rest of this series.

[Lexi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series of books are really easy but there fun, most times i like hard things but this one was just a quick one.

[Zoey Hemmeter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked that Thistle did the tickling thing with Snickers to help the people and break the spell.

[Just_me · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another cute fairy story