Wonderful! A total charmer. Fun and witty writing, and a unique take on contemporary fairies, who are very traditional but also fit perfectly into a plot involving a modern American heroine and her family. I'm looking forward to seeing what else Booraem has written. ( )

A rollicking adventure that swept me away with its clever banter, quirky humor, and fascinating characters. Mellie is my favorite type of heroine: gusty, determined, and snarky. This is a truly innovative take on fairies-- or, rather, Small Persons With Wings.

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Mellie Turpin has been suffering for her entire school career. Not only has she always been teased about being overweight, but she made the mistake of promising her kindergarten class that she’d bring in Fidius, her fairy friend, for show-and-tell. When Fidius disappeared the night before show-and-tell, Mellie was declared a liar and earned the sticky nickname “Fairy Fat.”

Now that she’s thirteen, Mellie has learned to suppress her imagination, but she’s still smart and overweight and she’s still being bullied and ostracized at school. She dreams of the day when she’ll be a famous scientist while the popular pretty girls who tease her will be the nobodies. When Mellie’s grandfather dies and her family moves to Baker’s Village to fix up the inn they’ve inherited, Mellie is happy to be starting a new life. But she never imagined that her new home would be infested with Small Persons With Wings (they hate to be called fairies). It seems that these Small Persons have a special relationship with Mellie’s family.

I picked up Ellen Booraem’s Small Persons With Wings to read with my nine-year-old daughter, Tali. We got about one third of the way through the book before Tali lost interest. Though the reading level, according to Amazon, is for children ages 9-12, the story, with its tampon jokes and talk about kissing boys, was too mature for her. So I attempted to finish the book by myself. I got just over halfway through the story before skipping to the last chapter.

The writing was clever and snappy and the characters were all well-drawn, but I found that Mellie’s moping and her cynical sarcastic voice were unpleasant. I felt sorry for Mellie, but her personality didn’t inspire any other feelings in me. There was not much about Mellie to admire, and feeling sorry for the heroine is just not enough. The fairies — excuse, me, the Small Persons With Wings — were even more obnoxious.

Small Persons With Wings may be just the right thing for a young teenager who enjoys tales of pitiful ostracized girls who eventually win out over the pretty popular girls at school. I never really enjoyed this theme and, frankly, I don’t really want my daughter to revel in tales of girlhood vengeance, either. I won't hesitate, though, to pick up a different book by Ellen Booraem. ( )

For generations, the Turpin family has been providing sanctuary for Parvi, known in some circles as fairies. In return for this protection, these Small Persons with Wings gave the family a magical moonstone. Trouble begins when the Parvi want their moonstone back, but the Turpins can’t find it. As the Parvi become more and more angry, this clever fantasy becomes more hilarious.

for all believers in the magic of fairies ( )