Princess Emily and the Substitute Fairy (The Tiara Club Series) »

Vivian French was best known in school for being extremely skinny and for talking a lot. At school she developed an attachment to words and later became an actor, then a storyteller, and finally a writer of children's books. She is the author of more than two hundred books. Ms. French lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, and has four grown daughters.

Princess Emily is delighted when a new Fairy Godmother arrives at the Princess Academy. Fairy Angora can grant the girls special wishes, but her magic creates some unexpected surprises!

Children's Literature

Princesses are in at the moment so there are many series books about them. Some are totally fiction like this series and others are based on history, such as the ones by Joan Holub in the "Ready-to-Read" series. "The Tiara Club" is more contemporary with the usual kinds of issues surfacing at the Princess Academy. The opening pages are amusing with its list of items that princesses are expected to bring to the Academy. Princess Emily receives a beautiful gown and tiara for her birthday—just perfect for the final assembly when the princesses will learn if they have accumulated enough tiara points to join the Tiara Club. Emily and her friends are worried; they have received some demerits and are not sure that they will graduate. The girls are really upset when they learn that their favorite person, Fairy G, is ill and has left the Academy to recuperate. Fairy Angora is there to take her place, but she is not a fully trained Fairy Godmother. When the wishes the girls make suddenly go wrong, Emily shows what she is made of and in the end, she and her friends achieve more than they had dreamed possible. A sweet story and one that will surely appeal to the girls in the targeted age group who have daydreamed about being a real princess. Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot