My Fair Godmother

My Fair Godmother, by Janette Rallison (Bloomsbury, 2008, 304 pp in ARC form, for readers 10 and up).

A fairy Godmother sounds like a nice thing to have. But what happens when your fairy godmother is only fair (cause of not doing so well at Fairy Godmother School), and she's a gum-chewing, cell-phone carrying, shopaholic to boot? Sixteen-year-old Savannah Delano gets to learn the hard way.

Savannah certainly needs help. In her own words:

"Here's my definition of a bad day: Your boyfriend of four months-who until 12 seconds ago, you thought was the most perfect guy to set foot on earth-breaks up with you.

My definition of a truly horrible day: The aforementioned boy dumps you for none other than your sister.

The definition of my life: He does all of this right after you inform him that you blew your last dollar buying your dream prom dress. he asks if you can get a refund. It turns out he'll be taking your sister."

So when fairy godmother wanna be Chrissy turns up, promising to make things end happily ever after, Savannah doesn't say no. Instead, she says, thinking out loud, "I just with that somehow my life could be like a fairy tale." And with a flash of her wand, Chrissy sends her off to be Cinderella. But this Cinderella still has months of drudgery to go until the ball...Her second wish lands her in the role of Snow White, which isn't much better. Will the third time be the charm? Her sister Jane and ex-boyfriend Hunter end up enmeshed in Savannah's medieval turmoil, along with another boy, one Savannah had barely thought about back in the real world, and together they must make the happy ending come true, or else risk never returning home.

This is a great romp through the cliches, pitfalls, bitter realities and ultimate romantic triumphs of fairy tale land. I'd give this one to anyone who loved Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted, or Sarah Beth Durst's Into the Wild. In short, I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a scintillating escape from reality.