The Charm Bracelet

Reviewed by Madeline McElroy (age 8) for Reader Views (9/09) This book is about a girl, named Jessie, with long red hair. Jessie is visiting her grandmother at Blue Moon. Her grandmother has a secret garden in her backyard full of trees, flowers and a big hedge. Jessie doesn't know that her grandmother is a magical fairy queen from a Fairy Realm. One day Jessie went into the secret garden and heard voices coming from the hedge calling her. She stepped into the hedge and sees an elf woman and a horse. Jessie couldn't believe where she was! Jessie also saw flowers, trees, and a big magical castle far away. Jessie spent the rest of the story trying to save the Fairy Realm from the evil, wicked Valda, grandmother's cousin who was trying to take over the garden. My favorite part of the story is when Jessie first enters the Fairy Realm. She meets all kinds of new friends and discovers all these new magical things and places. The chapter "Panic!" had a lot of action in it. I enjoyed reading "Fairy Realm: The Charm Bracelet" by Emily Rodda and can't wait to go to the book store to find more Fairy Realm books.

I read this seperately to my 5 and 7-year old girls and they both loved it. The story is simple enough for young kids to follow, with descriptive passages that are enough to create a realistic feeling to the story, but not so long to tax kids' attention spans. The imaginative fairy-tale type elements and situations of the story are perfect for firing young kids' imaginations, but the author avoids violence, and overly suspensefull/stressful situations. It should be noted that in this first "Fairy Realm" book, unlike the others, there is actually a "bad guy" (or girl, rather). The other books involve overcoming hardships, troubles, difficult situations rather than an opposing person. Overall, a wonderful, easy-to-read story that kids from preschool age to young-elementary school age will love (proably girls more so than boys). If I had to guess I'd say it's written at a 3rd or 4th grade reading level.

Young Jessie is absolutely ecstatic when her Mother takes her to the beautiful Blue Moon to visit her beloved Grandmother. However, while there, Jessie discovers a wonderful secret, and enters a Realm located in the Secret Garden. There, Jessie finds a beautiful land filled with magical creatures of all shapes and sizes. Fairies, miniature horses, elves, and other magical beings live among the Realm. And while the creatures are able to enjoy nature and run free, there is a noble Queen who lives in a gorgeous golden castle, and rules over them all. Now Jessie has found out that the Realm is in grave danger, and it is up to her, and her sick Grandmother to save it from an evil enemy before it's destroyed forever as we know it. In this first installment in the FAIRY REALM series, readers are able to enter an exciting world where magical beings run free, and where humans are scarce. Jessie is a wonderful character, who is sweet, while at the same time extremely adventurous, and the descriptions throughout the book are vivid, and enchanting, and will capture the reader from page one. Filled with various black and white drawings throughout, this book is sure to become a treasure to any family. Especially those who truly believe. Erika Sorocco Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

We borrowed this book yesterday, and started reading it to our 6 year old daughter at about 5:30pm. She was so engrossed, she wouldn't let us stop, so dinner was late. She loved working out the mystery of the missing bracelet, the grey kitten, the brave cat Flynn, and exactly what was happening in the Fairy Realm. We stopped every chapter or two to examine the clues, and figure out why something was happening. Unlike so many children's books, where the protagonist is either a passive participant or an adult in child's clothing, Jessie is a real girl with real feelings and a real child's perspective. She worries about her grandmother, acts as a child would act, and perceives things as a child would perceive them. Not that my daughter noticed this, but I watched her experience the story just the way Jessie did. This level of engagement is rare, and reminds me of how I felt when first reading "The Lord of the Rings" or "Ender's Game".All in all, a magnificent introduction to fantasy literature for kids.

I understand that there's more than just magic and adventure, The Charm Bracelet also has lots of new friends, foes & courage.Jessie's grandmother, Jessica, owned a charm bracelet with it's own magic to keep all of her memories alive within...and a pet cat called Flynn, who loved protecting his mistress and the house in Blue Moon. This book mostly talks about rescuing a fairy world and the charm bracelet.