Piper Green would like to be the one receiving the pony that comes to her island, but finds another way to get her wish from the Fairy Tree.

Never A Dull Moment

This is the third book in the Piper Green series, and it may be my favorite. I was very much taken by the first book, in which we met Piper, learned about her island life, had an adventure, and were introduced to a hollow tree that might have a touch of fairy magic about it. The second book perhaps suffered a bit from sophomore slump. We got more Piper, a mild plot, and a little uncertainty about what to do with the whole magic fairy tree angle.

This book, though, doubles down on all of the Piper Green series strengths. It has a perky high energy; it has a bit more mature and focused Piper; there are multiple plot threads that all tie up together very nicely at the end; and it has just the right amount and type of fairy magic.

Piper wants to have a horse, which is both too pricey an option, and impractical on a little island. The fairy tree gives her, (through the "magic" secret hollow), a bosun's whistle. Piper knows the tree gives her what she needs rather than what she wants, but the connection between a whistle and the dreamed of horse isn't evident. Through a very cleverly nested set of events the connection ultimately becomes clear in a cheerful, sensible and very satisfying way. In the meantime, Piper sometimes annoys people with the whistle, but also has a number of adventures with her Dad that highlight the good side of Piper's creativity and impulsiveness and also show us that Piper is growing up and becoming more aware of the world around her. (Potter isn't afraid to show Piper's Mom and Dad as occasionally frustrated, annoyed or cranky, and while this is pretty mild realism I think it gives the books the extra bit of weight it needs to balance Piper's sometimes irresponsible behavior.)

The upshot is that Piper becomes a bit more than just another spunky, independent girl hero, the magic angle doesn't overshadow the real action in the book, and the story hangs together well. Even the illustrations seemed to work better in this book, and that may be because the artist had more to work with.

This is what I guess you would call an advanced chapter book. It's more challenging and better written than lots of books I've seen described as chapter books, but it isn't beyond the ability or interest of an early elementary level reader. There's a lot about Piper, her island home, her adventures, and her generally enthusiastic approach to life, that should appeal to a littler reader. This is a happy find and in my mind it compares very well to Ramona, Judy, Junie, Clementine, and Ivy & Bean.

(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)