How to Ditch Your Fairy
by Justine Larbalestier

Imagine a world where most people have their own personal fairy--a fairy that performs a single random task all the time .  That world is New Avalon, where Charlie has a parking fairy and everyone knows it.  Anytime Charlie is in the car, the driver can automatically find the perfect parking place, no matter where they are going or what time of day it is.  Charlie hates her fairy, hates driving and cars, and hates smelling like gasoline.  More than anything she wants a cool fairy like her friend's shopping fairy, or like Fiorenze's boy fairy, which makes every boy her age adore her.  To get rid of her stupid parking fairy, Charlie has been walking everywhere for two months, without success.  Her determination not to ride in a car has caused her to be late to her sports school where there are so many rules and ways to get demerits, that she is constantly in trouble.  In desperation, Charlie agrees to meet with Fiorenze's mother, the world's greatest expert on fairies, in an effort to get rid of her fairy.  But things are going too slowly, so Charlie and Fiorenze agree to sneak a look at the ultimate fairy book written by Fiorenze's mother, and learn how to switch fairies.  Charlie could hardly wait to to have every boy in school drooling over her, but when it happens, she soon realizes that constant adulation is not all it's cracked up to be.  Fio and Charlie go to extreme lengths to ditch their fairies altogether in a hilarious, if far-fetched, comedy of errors.  This book is filled with Aussie slang, which is a little hard to get used to at first, but the glossary at the end of the book helps.  How to Ditch Your Fairy is a fun read from the 2010-2011 Tayshas list.
             --reviewed by Mrs. Sams