Tag Sinéad O'Hart

Lola and Larch Save the Sunshine Spell / Mirabelle and the Picnic Pranks

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Lola and Larch Save the Sunshine Spell
Sinéad O’Hart
Nosy Crow

Despite her grandma’s excitement about the size her marrows have grown to overnight, Lola suspects something isn’t right and then Larch is sure she’s seen a plant from the wheelbarrow waving at her. Lola’s convinced something weird is afoot, especially when Grandma’s polytunnel smells decidedly odd, tomatoes grow so much they explode and the veggies start leaping about.

Lola and Larch decide to make a foray into the forest to investigate. Shock horror: the fairy kingdom is almost completely overgrown; Their encounter with King Ash (the fairy king) leads to a suggestion that the dastardly Euphorbia Spurge is behind what’s happened; furthermore he insists that Larch remains rather than return to the human world with Lola.
It’s a tearful Lola who sets off back to her Grandma’s but on the way a tiny fairy, Con, gives her a special leaf that will enable her to talk to Larch without being able to see her so long as Larch too is holding a similar leaf.

That night Lola is awoken by Larch’s voice coming from the special linden leaf and before you can say ‘Sunshine Spell’ she’s up and out to a forest rendezvous with Larch.

Then with Euphorbia’s purple magic swirling around them, the two friends head for her house. A difficult journey for Lola, but they must get there and retrieve the distilled sunlight that’s a vital ingredient for the all important Sunshine Spell that will break Euphorbia’s magic. Can they save the day once more?

Another mix of enchantment and friendship that will delight fans of the first story in the series, again with Rachel Seago’s black and white illustrations that bring out the humour throughout this second adventure.

Mirabelle and the Picnic Pranks
Harriet Muncaster
Oxford Children’s Books

Mirabelle has promised her Mum that she’ll be on her best behaviour when their new neighbours, Fredrick, Felice and their son Oswald come for a barbecue. So how come her brother Wilbur discovers frogspawn in his drink when they all sit down for the feast? Not only that but the kitchen floor is awash after Mirabelle’s mopping.

When Mum comes in with a pile of dirty crockery she goes flying, dropping what she’s carrying and smashing it to smithereens. The result is that Mirabelle is sent up to her bedroom. From there she watches as her brother and Oswald head for the sprinkler. Longing to join them but realising she’d be spotted, Mirabelle finds a sneaky plan has come into her mind; one she just can’t ignore. Out comes her potion bottle necklace, her swimming costume and her special fairy wings, off comes the lid of her shrinking potion bottle and …

Having eventually succeeded in descending to the garden, Mirabelle starts to wish she’d stayed in her bedroom. Indeed before long she realises that the whole escapade is a big mistake. Then she hears her distressed-sounding mum shouting that her daughter isn’t in her bedroom. Can Mirabelle restore herself to her normal size and if so, what will her parents and the visitors have to say? Let’s just say that one of the latter surprises everyone at her reaction.

This sixth story starring the mischievous Mirabelle will delight her countless young fans who will be rooting for her throughout. Anyone for trifle?

Lola and Larch : Fix a Fairy Forest

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Lola and Larch : Fix a Fairy Forest
Sinéad O’Hart, illustrated by Rachel Seago
Nosy Crow

Lola’s mum is a forest ranger and during the working day she and her little brother Noah are often looked after my Grandma. One stormy night on the way home from Gran’s in Mum’s car, something causes Mum to brake suddenly, something that looks like a rabbit but has a kind of shine to it. They take the little thing home to care for it overnight and the following morning the rabbit isn’t in the cage, instead there’s a tiny fairy wearing a rainbow pendant … a tree fairy, albeit with mixed up magic, and she urgently wants to get back home. This sometimes rabbit, sometimes fairy tells Lola that she’s called Larch Mugwort, she’s lost and must protect the other fairies from Euphorbia Spurge, the “baddest fairy in the forest”. Larch is also a bit of a rebel and having seen a strange dark thing the previous night in the forest, suspects it’s something malevolent to do with Euphorbia. Meanwhile Lola’s mum has started putting up ‘FOUND’ posters of a rabbit in the hope of finding Larch’s owner.

Next day Lola takes Larch to school in her bag and it will come as no surprise that at her teacher’s behest, Lola’s Gran comes and collects the creature; the problem is she arrives with a strange woman who claims that Larch belongs to her.

Lola has to think quickly to avoid having to give up Larch and once they’re back at Gran’s, Larch tells Lola that the stranger was in fact Euphorbia Spurge.

There follows a lot of shape changing, the marching of a beetle army, a pitting of wits, a coming together of fairies, a confrontation between Euphorbia and King Ash (Larch’s father) and more. However all ends satisfyingly with a declaration by Larch about being different and a final picnic.

With friendship and magic aplenty, this is funny, sweet and a great start to a new series for younger readers. Rachel Seago’s plentiful black and white illustrations are a quirky delight and help break up the text for the less confident. Anyone for pancakes?

The Time Tider

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The Time Tider
Sinéad O’Hart
Little Tiger

Time tiding – the art of locating and capturing a warp of unspent time lies at the heart of this fantastic book.

Constantly on the move, twelve year old Mara and her father Gabriel live in a battered old van, packed with glass vials and other strange items. This is how Mara’s life has always been, though she has never understood why. Her only bedroom is a bunk, she’s never been to school, or made any friends. It’s something to do with her father’s job, although Mara doesn’t know what that really is, though he often hurries off to secret meetings. On such occasions he returns with sufficient money for half a tank of petrol or a visit to a cafe; but what he’s traded she knows not. With their travelling lifestyle, often moving by night, the two are able to avoid those her father suspects are following them.

One morning having woken to find her father out, Mara comes across Gabriel in the middle of one of his meetings: the transaction she sees and what ensues immediately, trouble her deeply. She really HAS to know what her father actually does: after all, people ‘don’t just vanish do they?’ On his return she starts to question him but he tells her very little before their van is under attack. Telling his daughter to drive, Gabriel hastily gives her some instructions and jumps out.

Finding herself abandoned with his old bag in which is a handbook containing a strange set of instructions, ‘For the Attention of the Newly Appointed Time Tider’, it’s up to Mara to attempt to do as her father said, the first thing being to find someone called Lenny, of whom she has only a very vague recollection.

Then she encounters a boy called Jan who tells her that he knows Lenny but has bad news about the man and other things. The two become friends, Jan joins the search, which grows increasingly dangerous; but it’s hard to know who can be trusted so the pair rely largely on their instincts.

As the plot twists this way and that, the author poses a number of important questions for readers to consider about power and how it can corrupt, and the lengths one would go to for somebody you love. There’s also the issue of how isolating fear and grief can be with the result that your focus is on what you’ve lost at the expense of what you still have.

With Sinéad O’Hart’s skill at world building, the story is hugely exciting and compelling. Mara is such a credible character – hugely determined and despite her self-doubt, very capable.

I’ll say no more, rather I’ll leave you to ponder : If you could extend your life or that of a loved one, no matter how the possibility arose or the consequences for others, would you do so?