I’d swear the title to the first of these is Half Magic, but I looked that one up and the summary’s nothing like I remember. There’s this little girl who gets shipped off to her…grandmother’s house, or something. I think she finds a little wind-up cat that talks and becomes her friend. She discovers that she’s half fairy and can kiss her elbow and fly by holding her breath.
The other one’s a fairy tale too, pretty much; a woman meets some little flower-fairy types. She wishes for a child and has one with a little tuft of blue hair. Erm…the bad guys are wasps and the evil fairy queen is also rather waspy. The fairy main female is a sugar fiend, and the fairy-elfy main male character is a fan of potato chips.
Help?
I can’t think of the title of the first one but it sounds like a Ruth Chew book.
No idea on the second.
I can state with certainty that Half Magic is an excellent children’s book which I highly recommend. However, it is by Edward Eager and is nothing at all like what you describe.
(Of course, multiple books might share the same title…)
No idea what the first is; I can’t remember the title of the second, but I’ve read it–I remember that the little girl with the blue hair is named Bindi (which was the name of my best friend at the time I read the book).
The second book is called “The Fairy Rebel,” by Lynne Reid Banks.
I remember the kiss-your-elbow one! It definitely wasn’t an Edward Eager story. But I don’t remember the title or author, sorry. It had a pink cover, though, and I’m pretty sure it was by a woman.
I still think of that one, and have asked my daughter if she can kiss her elbow (mind games for toddlers, heh heh).
I’ll ask my mom, the all-knowing librarian.
The first is “No Flying in the House” by Betty Brock
a wonderful book…
“Half Magic” by Edward Eager is a different, but also wonderful book, and I’d highly recommend it.
Wonderful! Thank you all…I’m a big fan of children’s books, even now, and those were two I remembered pretty fondly. They had “No Flying In The House” on that website, but I couldn’t find the other one.
Thanks again!