My Epic Fairy Tale Fail by Anna Staniszewski (review)

After discovering that she actually prefers fighting clown monsters and negotiating with mermaids to suffering through middle-school politics (in My Very Unfairy Tale Life, BCCB 7/12), thirteen-year-old Jenny has finally accepted her fate as an Adventurer, a mortal who travels to magical kingdoms, setting right anything that has gone awry. Now she's facing her biggest challenge yet: complete Three Impossible Tasks in the Land of Tales. If she succeeds, she will save the kingdom that is the source of all fairy tales from an evil magic-sucking witch; she hopes that she will also gain a clue to her parents' disappearance seven years ago. Fortunately, her best pals Trish and Melissa are along for the trip this time, and it's their support that buoys Jenny when she fails at the third task and has to return home empty-handed—until she tries again. A light-hearted romp through fairy-tale tropes, this will be a hit among youngsters past the Disney-princess stage who still secretly cling to the hope that mermaids and fairies exist. And they do, at least in Staniszewski's imaginative world, but they tend to be a bit more snarky than one might expect. Jenny's got clever witticisms and preteen sarcasm to spare, and her relationship with her gal pals is authentic in both its trivialities and its earnestness: when the chips are down (or, in this case, when a flesh-eating troll appears) they are there for one another, but it doesn't mean they aren't going to occasionally roll their eyes or snap at each other. The ending points to another adventure, so readers can expect to be charmed by Jenny at least one more time.