HOW TO DITCH YOUR FAIRY

Charlie attends a magnet school for gifted athletes in a world where people are guided by unseen fairies with such special powers as styling good hair and finding loose change. Charlie is frustrated by hers, a parking fairy who guarantees that whatever car she’s riding in will find a premium parking spot waiting at every destination. At 14, she’d rather have a clothes-shopping fairy or an every-boy-will-like-you fairy. Her efforts to rid herself of her fairy lead to a series of escalating mishaps involving the new boy at school, her archrival and multiple demerits. Things go awry when Charlie gets what she thinks she wants, and she must face some uncomfortable truths in order to solve the problems she’s created. Larbalestier’s repetitive use of creative slang will be familiar to those who enjoyed Louise Rennison’s Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (2000, etc.). Fans of Larbalestier’s award-winning Magic or Madness trilogy (2005, etc.) might be put off initially by the glib tone, but this comic coming-of-age novel will entertain teen readers. (demerits and suspensions, “List of Known Fairies Justine Thinks You Should Know,” glossary) (Fantasy. 11-14)