Piper Green and the Fairy Tree by Ellen Potter and Qin Leng (illustrator)

I first wrote this review on my iPad, and forgot to save. I know it was just brilliant and I will never replicate it. Sigh...

Ellen Potter, on the other hand, is just brilliant. On the first page we learn that Piper has two brothers. We learn that she is a no nonsense kind of girl. We learn just about everything we need to know about her right off the bat. 

Throughout the book, Leng's black and white illustrations capture the sweetness of the story, and enhance the reading experience for readers making their first forays into chapter books. 

I truly enjoyed this book. I was aware of being charmed as I read through the beginning of the first page. Piper, who narrates this novel, starts out by telling the reader that there are two important things to know about where she lives. 

1. All the kids on the island ride a lobster boat to school.

2. There is a Fairy Tree on the island.

By the end of the first page, this paragraph had me completely hooked.

"If you don't like lobster boats or Fairy trees, you should probably do something else. For example, you can go outside now and look for beetles. My little brother, Leo, likes to do that. He only eats the green ones. He says they taste like bacon." 

Piper's older brother, Erik, has left to go to high school and she misses him a lot. She misses him so much that she decides that she will not take off the earmuffs he gave her before he left. This causes trouble at school and so she decides not to go. As you can imagine, what ensues is even more difficulty for Piper. 

You might have guessed by now that fans of Junie B Jones will like Piper. It's not as sophisticated as the Clementine series, but will entertain those readers not yet ready for that level of text. 

What I especially liked about this book was how quickly I got drawn into it. As I read I became increasingly enamoured with Piper. She is one spunky gal. I liked how loving and close her family was. I enjoyed the humour. I'm pretty sure my readers will like all this too.

I read this from Netgalley. I will most certainly be purchasing at least one copy for our school. Unfortunately it won't be available til August. But you can preorder it. 

There's a sequel in the works. I'll buy that one too.