DRAGONFLY SECRET

A fairy helps disperse the clouds gathering over a family in this lightweight debut. Nathan, 12, and his younger sister, Jessie, adore their cantankerous, octogenarian grandfather, and worry that, if bossy Aunt Louise gets her way, he'll be consigned to a nursing home. The situation becomes dicier when a psychologist arrives armed with a battery of tests, and Gramps, cleaning his windshield after a trip to the country, finds a dragonfly-sized fairy, injured but still alive. Agreeing to keep the discovery secret, Nathan, Jessie, and Gramps nurse the fairy back to health and eventually transport her and her newborn back to their pond—all the while struggling to project an air of innocent normality. The fairy falls somewhere between Tinkerbell and a wild creature; silent except for chirps, tame enough to perch on a finger, she seems in no hurry to escape, and doesn't even really seem to notice humans until the very end. Does she work magic? Though the children's wishes have a way of coming true, and Gramps is finally judged mentally sound, Gold leaves the question open. Too many stock characters and predictable situations keep this well below the level of such books as Luli Gray's Falcon's Egg (1995), but the mild suspense and breath of magic may please some. (Fiction. 9-11)