Fairy Bad Day

May 2, 2011
Sophomore Emma Jones has been training at Burtonwood Academy for years, expecting to follow in her late mother's footsteps and become a dragon slayer. Being made a fairy slayer is not in her plansâfairies are harmless and lame ("...the worst she'd ever seen them do was change the food labels at the supermarket"), nearly impossible to kill, and they love taunting her. Worse, she's forced to train with Curtis, the cute guy who took her dragon job. As Emma tries to change the principal's mind about her specialty, an extremely dangerous seven-foot-tall fairy that only she can see shows up. Now Emma needs to figure out where the creature came from, what it wants, how she's going to kill it, and most of all, how it knew her mother. In a fun mashup of the modern and the magical, Ashby (Zombie Queen of Newbury High) creates nicely developed characters and supports them with strong plotting and zippy writing. Laced with humor, danger, and romance, this book will have readers smiling all the way to the last page. Ages 12âup.

May 15, 2011

Teens with a taste for the paranormal school story and a tolerance for raucous humor will be involved with and amused by this romantic fantasy.

Set in the same world as Ashby's first book, The Zombie Queen of Newbury High (2009), this companion deals with the students of Burtonwood, a school where the pupils aid the Department of Paranormal Affairs by killing demons, dragons and other monsters. Emma, a sophomore ready to receive her assignment, is stunned and furious when she is assigned to miniature, dress-mad, malicious fairies instead of the dragons she expected to slay. Emma sulks and fumes until affairs become too dangerous to credibly insist that she doesn't need help. Then the story gains momentum, and the plot really clicks on. The exciting plot, humor throughout—often provided by the little fairies—and relatively innocent romance between characters will grab readers and keep them involved despite the initially weak worldbuilding. Kids who enjoyed Douglas Rees' Vampire High books will find the same qualities in this punnily titled outing.

Give this lighthearted and lightly satirical book to younger teens and those preteens who won't be put off by the length. (Paranormal adventure. 12 & up)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

August 1, 2011

Gr 7-10-Burtonwood Academy is a training ground for sight-gifted students to hone their skills as protectors in a sight-blind world. Now that Emma Jones is a sophomore, she is about to receive her designation, and she is sure that she will follow in her late mother's footsteps as a dragon slayer. So when Principal Kessler tells her that she has been chosen to slay fairies, she is mortified: Why rid the world of 10-inch beings whose worst offense seems to be switching food labels in grocery stores? The students assigned to the more ferocious elementals-ogres, goblins, harpies-find her assignment hilarious, and her humiliation intensifies when the wisecracking fairies who frequent the mall prove to be tougher to slay than she had anticipated. To top things off, Curtis Green is the new dragon designee. Sure he's cute, but doesn't he know that that was supposed to be her assignment? The two are thrown together when she spots what looks like a vicious dragon on Burtonwood's campus. Turns out that it's not a dragon, but a particularly nasty (and tall) breed of fairy. Emma and Curtis must resolve their differences long enough to get rid of the Darkhel before he opens the magical gate that lets in all the other evil forces. And if, in the process, a little romance sneaks in, what's the harm? The characters are nicely developed, the dialogue is fresh and engaging, the author's irreverent take on good versus evil will hook readers, and the satisfying plot twists will keep them involved till the end. A lighthearted story with plenty of substance.-Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2011
Grades 7-10 Ashby follows the promising Zombie Queen of Newbury High (2009) with a slightly less successful companion title introducing Emma Jones, would-be dragon slayer, on the eve of her induction ceremony. Much to her distress, she is tapped for fairy slaying, while her archrivalhandsome Curtis Greengets dragons instead. Less focused on magic and more on the comfortably predictable romance between Emma and Curtis, this slight but entertaining read has a few genuinely funny moments, mostly involving the irritating fairies Emma must conquer with candy, nail files, and salt. Imagine Ghostbusters, but with a jolt of high-school attitude.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)