IN A BLINK

Four friends become lost girls when they land in Never Land.

Kate, Mia and Lainey are best friends who go on the ride of their lives when Mia’s little sister, Gabby, grabs a fairy and they land in Never Land, with no way to return to their soccer-playing life. Now they are just Clumsies in the land of fairies, and they must rely on Tink (yes, that Tink) to help them find their way home. All fairies in this world have a talent; Tink is a fixing fairy, though a rather grumpy one. Tink’s plan to send the girls back goes awry when Kate jealously steals fairy dust and flies away. The worldbuilding is weak (convenient changes happen to the island whenever the plot demands it), and the characters develop in ways that strain credulity (Tink quickly flips from irritation to shedding a tear when the four girls prepare to leave). Bland black-and-white illustrations show three of the girls as whisper-thin, stylish middle graders, with only Gabby having a real personality and healthy shape. The cliffhanger ending lets everyone know that this is the first of many adventures in Never Land.

Fairy-crazy girls will embrace this series. Others will see it for what it is: a lightweight offspring of other watered-down Peter Pan stories.