In this somewhat darker follow-up to the fanciful Philippa Fisher’s Fairy Godsister (2008), lonely Philippa, just shy of 12, is ensconced on a rainy cottage vacation with her lovable hippie parents and faced with some mature issues of grief and death. Missing her new best fairy friend Daisy, the prickly “godsister” of her former adventure, Philippa chooses her family’s vacation to Ravenleigh Woods after a butterfly suggestively lands there on the map. The butterfly, of course, is her own dear fairy, trying to send discreet messages to Philippa to involve her in the life of a bookstore owner’s daughter, Robyn, whose family, in happier times, used to live in the cottage the Fishers have rented for vacation. Robyn’s mother has recently died, leaving her father rigid with sadness and so determined to protect his daughter from the natural grieving process that he “stunts” her by actually filtering her bad dreams with a “dream catcher.” Kessler addresses hefty themes in this compelling story—nightmares, the scary dad—and allows the girls’ friendship to assuage painful feelings of growing up. (Fantasy. 8-12)
