Monday 12 October 2009

Glitterwings Academy 11: Friendship Dance by Titania Woods



October 2009, Bloomsbury
128 pages, Hardback
Review copy

Children's, girls 7+

Clouds: 4/5
Cushions: 2/5
Pencils: 5/5
Smiles: 4/5
Tissues: 1/5
Yunaleska's recommended rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

When this landed on my doorstep, unrequested, I smiled. I'm hoping to request most of the GA series as they are released in paperback. Hardback is one better!

Making her debut entry into the fairy boarding school in Flying High, Twink has grown up. She's now in her third term of her third year at the academy. Having only read the first book, I expected to feel like I'd missed out on Twink's adventures. That expectation was unfounded. Not only did it feel like I've been with Twink every term at the academy, but you could tell she had grown up. The style of writing, how Twink and her fairy classmates behave and speak shows a marked difference in age. This is a positive aspect of the series.

Children of the relevant ages will relate to Twink in the problems she has as being the only student at Glitterwings to participate in the Friendship Dance, a special dance for Queen Mab's birthday. Most students, Twink included, believed one of the older students would be picked. But the sparkle-seeker chose her. It chose to take her to the luxurious palace, where Twink has to practice with seven other fairies before the big day. The problem is her partner Chauncey-Oberon is far from friendly towards her or anyone else. Twink's, with her kind nature, is convinced that there has to be a reason why he acts dismissive and doesn't like joining in the fun. When an incident arises involving wasps, who are feared by the fairies, Twink gets to find out Chauncey-Oberon's true nature. Will the dance go without a hitch? Will they get to experience the deep magic from the dance which everyone seems to expect?

Titaina has made a unique school series. I like an alternate word to cool - glimmery. It's a word used in the first book, and one which I imagine is used in all the others. She weaves in other fairy, magical related words into the descriptions which aptly fit the story. These small details make Friendship Dance a delight to read.

Enter the glimmery realm of Glitterwings Academy here.

Titania Woods, known as Lee Weatherly can be found here.

Liked this? Check out Twink's first adventure at the GA in Flying High.

2 comments:

Live, Love, Laugh, Write! said...

This sounds really cute! I'm going to go see if my library has the first book...

Nayuleska said...

I hope they do!