Fairy Killer

by J.T. Petty Narrated by L. J. Ganser

Overview

When she is attacked by a nasty fairy, Clemency Pogue remembers a lesson from Peter Pan. “I don't believe in fairies!” she shouts-seven times before the creature finally drops dead. But then a hobgoblin appears and gives Clemency the bad news. Seven fairies have died, and most of them were good. Now it's up to Clemency to travel the world and make things right.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Inanity abounds in Petty's debut novel, a snippet of a tale that borrows from the sagas of Peter Pan and Rumpelstiltskin. After a nasty fairy stings Clemency repeatedly with a burning wand and causes the 10-year-old to tumble into a deep gorge, she recalls that there was "in the story of the little boy who never grew up, instruction for the extermination of fairies" and declares, "I don't believe in fairies!" Because she utters this sentence seven times, Clemency inadvertently kills not only the fairy tormenting her, but six others as well. A hobgoblin appears and, when Clemency unknowingly utters his name and becomes his master, he agrees to accompany her to the sites of the fairies' demises. Tunneling through the earth at a rapid pace, the two visit the children whose lives have been affected by the diminutive creatures' deaths, including a boy in Salt Lake City who woke up to find that the Tooth Fairy hadn't retrieved his tooth-and was lying dead on his pillow; a lovesick lad in Brazil whom the Fairy of Love and Tenderness was helping to write a poem to his beloved when that fairy was struck dead; and a girl in Siberia whose infected ear contains a pea and the body of the Fairy of Noninvasive Surgery, who had died while attempting to remove the legume. Though Petty works some clever wordplay and comic elements into his narrative, readers are likely to find Clemency's path to reversing the curse lengthy and laborious. Ages 8-12. (May) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6-Clemency Pogue is a good listener, which is why she knows what to do when a malicious fairy attacks her in the woods. Remembering an incident from Peter Pan, she cries out, "I don't believe in fairies!" Unfortunately, she utters those words seven times before the fairy falls down dead, and a hobgoblin pops up to inform her that six other fairies have been slain as well. After Clem inadvertently utters the hobgoblin's secret name, placing him in her power, the two set off into the world to find the fairies' true names and bring them back to life. Despite the occasional self-conscious attempts to be overtly glib, this satire of "tough fairy" stories la the "Artemis Fowl" books (Hyperion) is lighthearted, with touches of mischief and merriment. Davis's black-and-white illustrations add to the accessibility of this short, action-filled tale.-Farida S. Dowler, Mercer Island Library, WA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171052546
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	02/04/2008
Series:	The Clemency Pogue
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

Clemency Pogue was a child who listened to the stories she was told. It was a quality that saved her life once, and started her on a great adventure.

These stories were spun for Clem by her parents, who were good, kind, and creative people. Unfortunately they worked far away in the mansion of a very rich, very fancy man on the other side of the forest. In the gray of every morning they would march off to work, leaving Clem to her own devices until twilight time, when they would rush back home, her father carrying the evening's meal, her mother percolating with richly embellished stories distilled from the day's events.

"We met a polo player today with a face longer than his horse," she would say, or, "This afternoon the millionaire's nephew was pushed into a river by the lady he was courting. The young man was kidnapped by beavers and ended up as part of a dam. The millionaire is waiting until tomorrow to pull the boy out because the fishing on the other side of the dam is so good."

As Clem's mom unraveled these tales, her father would prepare the meal he had brought home, piling cornucopious gobs of savories and sweets onto the big wooden kitchen table. During dinner Clem would describe what discoveries and imaginations had occupied her day.

"Today," she would say, "I made cold sassafras tea that was sweeter than makes sense. So sweet, so sweet that when I left it alone, it was overwhelmed by its own sweetness. It bubbled and fizzed and could very well change the world."

After supper, from huge earthen mugs, they would drink steaming hot cider or tea or chocolate, and Clem's dad would sift through one of the many old and good stories he knew.

Her dad's stories were far too fantastic and sensible to have taken place in the world we take for granted. He told the old stories like Peter Pan and Wendy. He told stories that he made up as he went along like The Epic of Gilbert and His Ambulatory Tub. He told stories that were combinations of the two, mongrel tales like The Tragi-Comic Blinding of Three Mice.

The steam from her hot chocolate rising to tickle the cuddle of her chin, Clem sat listening to her dad:

"...and as soon as Wendy had spoken, Tinkerbell dropped dead. Dead as a gossamer-winged doorknob.

"'What have I done?' cried Wendy.

"'You've killed her, you brute!' said Peter. His shadow covered its eyes in horror.

"'But how?' she asked.

"'Why, you disbelieved her to death.' Peter explained, 'Fairies are strong, but such delicate things. Not too much more than intentions with wings.'"

Clemency listened, and a good thing, too.

Copyright © 2005 by JT Petty

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