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Fairy Realm #9
The Peskie Spell
Enter the Realm of Mischief...
The magical world of the Realm has a terrible problem -- a plague of mischievous, troublemaking Peskies. A wild west wind has brought the tiny creatures down from the hills in the thousands. They're making life in the Realm impossible, and eating up all the magic!
It's been hundreds of years since the last Peskie plague, and even Queen Helena doesn't know what to do. Then Jessie comes up with an answer: an old, forgotten spell that will lead her and her friends on a fascinating journey -- and straight into trouble.
The magical world of the Realm has a terrible problem -- a plague of mischievous, troublemaking Peskies. A wild west wind has brought the tiny creatures down from the hills in the thousands. They're making life in the Realm impossible, and eating up all the magic!
It's been hundreds of years since the last Peskie plague, and even Queen Helena doesn't know what to do. Then Jessie comes up with an answer: an old, forgotten spell that will lead her and her friends on a fascinating journey -- and straight into trouble.
118 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
About the author
Emily Rodda
299 books2,135 followersEmily Rodda (real name Jennifer Rowe) was born in Sydney, Australia and graduated from the University of Sydney in 1973 with an MA (Hons) in English Literature. Moving into a publishing career, first as a book editor, and finally as a publisher at Angus & Robertson, Rodda's first book was published in 1984.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
June 17, 2013
True rating: 4.5 stars.
One of the most action-packed entries in the series, and one of the most interesting in that we get to experience the Ribbon Road, meet Peskies and dryads, and visit the beautiful but potentially deadly homeland of the latter. Rodda's subtle description of our heroes' time in Dally Glade is excellent -- the Glade comes across as an eerie otherworld, alluring and dangerous, just how fairyland should be depicted. The illustrations, particularly of the dryads on the cover and at the start of chapter 6, and of the magnificent palace library, are as good as ever, and always one of the highlights of these books.
Side note: I noticed a reviewer lamenting the lack of depth in the characters in The Peskie Spell. Yet she admits she jumped from book 1 to book 9! These books, like nearly every numbered series, are meant to be read in sequence. We learn a little more about the characters in each story, and by the ninth book the reader should know them very well indeed. In short chapter books especially, it is a waste of time and plot to continually rebuild a character from scratch. It is the responsibility of the reader to read the books in the order the author wishes them read.
April 16, 2009
i wish that i could go into a magical world like that lucky girl!!
February 22, 2021
The Fairy Realm series are wholesome lighthearted reads featuring a secret fairy realm found through a doorway at the edge of the garden. There's magic and mythical creatures and miniature horses that talk (because what else would you find in a secret fairy realm? duh.) It's reminiscent of Shirley Barber's gorgeous picture books albeit with less impressive artwork (Shirley Barber is incredibly talented). It's a good series for tween girls. I loved this series as a kid, they were imaginative and magical and I loved every minute. I'm pretty sure this series is what started my love of charm bracelets too.
The Peskie Spell
This one is action packed. Jessie is anxious and jittery and positive that her feelings are being caused because something is going on in the Realm. When she goes to check she finds the door in the bottom of the garden is locked and she can't get through. Granny isn't supposed to be back for the weekend and Jessie is flustered with worry. She shares her worry with Flynn, Granny's cat and Realm protector and Flynn leads her to Granny's room where a secret Door to the Realm hangs.
When she gets there, it's obvious what the problem is - it's a peskie plague! Peskies are nasty little critters that eat magic and cause bad luck. Nothing goes right with peskie's around and the Realm is panicking because no one knows how to get rid of them. There hasn't been a peskie plague in over 100 years.
When Patrice, Maybelle and Giff explain the key to ending the plague lies within an old song no one can remember, Jessie realises she knows the song! They can get all the ingredients bar one, a sky mirror flower - which Giff has at least heard of but knows nothing about - so they head to the library to find out more. And are disappointed to find that the sky-mirror tree resides in Dally Glade which is days away.
Luckily, Jessie picked up the bookmark when the gang got kicked out of the library - it's a Ribbon Road - a super fast way of travelling to distant locations - kind of like a speedy travellator. They arrive and start walking only to find that they've been walking for hours and the sun is about to set. The dryads that inhabit Dally Glade have been enchanting them but were about to kick them out because no one is allowed there after dark. They listen to the pleas of the group and the sky mirror dryad agrees to give a flower to them to help.
Jessie leaves the gang to put together the recipe and returns home in time for Ms Stone's lesson on bad luck and superstitions. Unfortunately for Ms Stone Jessie brought back a few Peskies in her backpack. Everything that could go wrong - goes wrong and the whole class get sent home for the day. Jessie is relieved right up until she hears from the Realm that the recipe didn't work.
Rosemary is occupied with making apple cakes but finds she needs red apples instead of green. Her insistence that you need to be careful when trying new recipes, Jessie repeating the rhyme and flipping through Robert's sketchbook and the scent of a the sky dryad plant from a bright blue flower rather than a pink one all spark in Jessie's mind and she knows what's wrong with the recipe. She heads to the Realm and manages to save the day.
Before she goes home, Queen Helena gifts Jessie with a five petaled daisy charm to commemorate her visit. I really enjoyed this addition. There's so much happening and the fast pace really kept me riveted. I liked the way the mystery/quest unfolded and I liked the way Jessie worked everything out. I still missed Granny in this one though but everything else was great. 5 stars.
The Peskie Spell
This one is action packed. Jessie is anxious and jittery and positive that her feelings are being caused because something is going on in the Realm. When she goes to check she finds the door in the bottom of the garden is locked and she can't get through. Granny isn't supposed to be back for the weekend and Jessie is flustered with worry. She shares her worry with Flynn, Granny's cat and Realm protector and Flynn leads her to Granny's room where a secret Door to the Realm hangs.
When she gets there, it's obvious what the problem is - it's a peskie plague! Peskies are nasty little critters that eat magic and cause bad luck. Nothing goes right with peskie's around and the Realm is panicking because no one knows how to get rid of them. There hasn't been a peskie plague in over 100 years.
When Patrice, Maybelle and Giff explain the key to ending the plague lies within an old song no one can remember, Jessie realises she knows the song! They can get all the ingredients bar one, a sky mirror flower - which Giff has at least heard of but knows nothing about - so they head to the library to find out more. And are disappointed to find that the sky-mirror tree resides in Dally Glade which is days away.
Luckily, Jessie picked up the bookmark when the gang got kicked out of the library - it's a Ribbon Road - a super fast way of travelling to distant locations - kind of like a speedy travellator. They arrive and start walking only to find that they've been walking for hours and the sun is about to set. The dryads that inhabit Dally Glade have been enchanting them but were about to kick them out because no one is allowed there after dark. They listen to the pleas of the group and the sky mirror dryad agrees to give a flower to them to help.
Jessie leaves the gang to put together the recipe and returns home in time for Ms Stone's lesson on bad luck and superstitions. Unfortunately for Ms Stone Jessie brought back a few Peskies in her backpack. Everything that could go wrong - goes wrong and the whole class get sent home for the day. Jessie is relieved right up until she hears from the Realm that the recipe didn't work.
Rosemary is occupied with making apple cakes but finds she needs red apples instead of green. Her insistence that you need to be careful when trying new recipes, Jessie repeating the rhyme and flipping through Robert's sketchbook and the scent of a the sky dryad plant from a bright blue flower rather than a pink one all spark in Jessie's mind and she knows what's wrong with the recipe. She heads to the Realm and manages to save the day.
Before she goes home, Queen Helena gifts Jessie with a five petaled daisy charm to commemorate her visit. I really enjoyed this addition. There's so much happening and the fast pace really kept me riveted. I liked the way the mystery/quest unfolded and I liked the way Jessie worked everything out. I still missed Granny in this one though but everything else was great. 5 stars.
July 31, 2017
I thought it was well-thought out, but they honestly could have left Giff behind. After mentioning the sky-mirror tree he became useless. I don't know why Rodda tries so hard to include him when he doesn't contribute much.
December 7, 2024
The Peskie Spell by Emily Rodda is a magical, fun adventure filled with fairies, mischief, and a brave heroine.
May 28, 2025
re-read as an adult: probably the one that was most thought out! a lot of things were set up early to solve the problem, and this is Jessie at her most practical!
Read
July 25, 2025read this in 5eme (7th grade)
January 21, 2016
This book in the Fairy Realm series has a sort of odd plot; a whole bunch of trouble-making creatures called peskies have appeared in the realm. They cause trouble, cause accidents, and eat magic.
It's up to Jessie to save the day, again. This time she has to rely on a song of her grandmother's in order to make a potion that will cause the peskies to leave. The actual effects of the spell are almost genocidal in nature, however, and perhaps a little strong for the age group this book is intended.
It's probably overall the weakest book in the series.
It's up to Jessie to save the day, again. This time she has to rely on a song of her grandmother's in order to make a potion that will cause the peskies to leave. The actual effects of the spell are almost genocidal in nature, however, and perhaps a little strong for the age group this book is intended.
It's probably overall the weakest book in the series.
September 7, 2016
We got this from the library after reading the first Fairy Realm book The Charm Bracelet. It stood alone without any problems. I quite enjoyed this, the story is intriguing and though I find the characters a bit flat they seem to be perfectly pitched for Una (at six), just enough detail to be invested, not so much that she gets confused.
August 24, 2016
This is how this story starts. Their were tiny little green bugs everywhere in the realm. Jessie had to help get rid of them and soon they found a spell to get rid of them. I sort of like this story and sort of not. Its weird that Jessie's realm friends say to her we can get rid of these green by ourselves.
January 14, 2008
Another good read in the series.
July 25, 2008
i don't think i liked this one as much either. it was different and it got boring in some places. but yeah, you have to get through this one to read #10.
March 8, 2010
Really good! Brilliant storyline, very interesting!
June 30, 2011
I liked the ending to this one.
April 26, 2012
All right
March 9, 2013
Very good book, certainly a hair raising adventure. One more book to go in this cute little series.
September 26, 2014
It was cool how there was a girl for each tree.
November 4, 2008
love it
August 16, 2009
My daughter digs this series; they're fun.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews