What do you think?
Rate this book
Pixie Tricks #2
The Greedy Gremlin
Sprite and Violet are hot on the trail of Hinky Pink, a troublesome fairy who can control the weather. But soon they are sidetracked by an urgent crisis. Violet's cousin Leon mysteriously disappears inside his favorite video game, and the tricky gremlin Jolt is certainly to blame.
Library Binding
First published May 1, 2000
21 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
About the author
Tracey West
725 books541 followersTracey West is the New York Times bestselling author of Dragon Masters, a series in the Scholastic Branches line. She has written more than 400 books for kids, including the Pixie Tricks series and the Underdogs series with Kyla May.
Some readers also know Tracey for writing books based on animation such as Pokémon and LEGO Ninjago.
She currently lives in the western Catskills of New York with her husband, Bill; their adopted dogs; and a whole mess of chickens.
Some readers also know Tracey for writing books based on animation such as Pokémon and LEGO Ninjago.
She currently lives in the western Catskills of New York with her husband, Bill; their adopted dogs; and a whole mess of chickens.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 11, 2015
The key moral of this book seemed to be, if you're a gamer, not even decent literature can drag you away and make you want to read... but being stuck on a level and needing to get through... well, that's what reading skills are for, so you can read the cheats... it's probably true, maybe it just made me feel sadly disillusioned about what the world is coming to... maybe I overthought the book, but that's very unlike me...
Apart from that I found the book needed a good edit (it flowed badly when read out loud), and an expansion of the vocabulary used, it's a fine line between writing for children and it sounding like it was written by children. This falls too much in the latter for my taste.
Apart from that I found the book needed a good edit (it flowed badly when read out loud), and an expansion of the vocabulary used, it's a fine line between writing for children and it sounding like it was written by children. This falls too much in the latter for my taste.
December 30, 2020
Love this whole series. Definitely recommend for kids or even adults who like good ol' nostalgia.
November 2, 2016
Uhm, Violet doesn't like video games? And Jolt doesn't like reading? Why can't you love both?
What's great about Pixie Tricks is that, because each book is centred around a different escaped pixie, you can read them out of order and still really enjoy them. Which is what happened to me when I first started the series. The Greedy Gremlin started it all.
What's great about Pixie Tricks is that, because each book is centred around a different escaped pixie, you can read them out of order and still really enjoy them. Which is what happened to me when I first started the series. The Greedy Gremlin started it all.
February 19, 2024
Caveat- I am reading this series out of order. First I read Book #3, and second I read Book #2. This series hasn't been compelling enough for me to seek it out, so it's more an ad-hoc as I find is at the library or book sale.
This book was cute. The characters were fine- the two main characters weren't memorable and seemed to exist only to move plot points, but the side characters were kind of funny. The plot moved at a good pace, keeping my kids attention. The solution was fun. We were able to read it in one night (about an hour), and
The kids liked it. My 7yo video game fan thought it sounded cool to be trapped in a video game and he was definitely picturing himself in the book. My 6yo is happy to try to trick any pixie any day, so she was happy.
This book was cute. The characters were fine- the two main characters weren't memorable and seemed to exist only to move plot points, but the side characters were kind of funny. The plot moved at a good pace, keeping my kids attention. The solution was fun. We were able to read it in one night (about an hour), and
The kids liked it. My 7yo video game fan thought it sounded cool to be trapped in a video game and he was definitely picturing himself in the book. My 6yo is happy to try to trick any pixie any day, so she was happy.
November 7, 2022
3.5/5
I haven't read the first book, but quite enjoyed this second book in the Pixie Tricks series about a girl named Violet who's on a mission to send rogue pixies back to the Otherworld. In The Greedy Gremlin, Violet encounters a gremlin who has trapped her cousin in a video game - the only way to save her cousin and send the gremlin back to the Otherworld is to trick him into reading a book.
----------------------------------------------
Part of a personal challenge to read all of my boyfriend's and his sister's childhood books before we donate and give them away.
I haven't read the first book, but quite enjoyed this second book in the Pixie Tricks series about a girl named Violet who's on a mission to send rogue pixies back to the Otherworld. In The Greedy Gremlin, Violet encounters a gremlin who has trapped her cousin in a video game - the only way to save her cousin and send the gremlin back to the Otherworld is to trick him into reading a book.
----------------------------------------------
Part of a personal challenge to read all of my boyfriend's and his sister's childhood books before we donate and give them away.
November 11, 2021
My students really loved the second book in the pixie tricks series. I teach first grade and there were several times where they were laughing out loud as I read through the book. Nearly every time I finished a chapter and said we were done for the day they begged me to read one more.
Want to read
July 20, 2020Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
skimmed
January 25, 2021Medium-sized text, lots of illustrations.
July 12, 2021
A nice chapter book about things that interest kids--video games. Enough tension to keep youngsters turning pages without frightening them.
Read
July 24, 2021enjoying this series as much as my sons do !
September 6, 2021
Enjoyed the 2nd book in the series more than the first one.
April 14, 2022
Continuing only because my daughter likes them. This story was slightly more interesting than the first book.
Read
May 8, 2022Eek. Leon got trapped in a video game 😧 Will Leon be trapped in the game forever?
July 13, 2023
Day 13; 2023. Easy chapter book. Fantasy. 1st or 2nd grade level.
October 31, 2024
My 5 year old went all in for this book. She didn’t want us to put it down. I don’t think she fully understood what was going on but she was enthralled and couldn’t wait for the next book.
August 25, 2021
Like Poppleton of the Acorn series, Scholastic has decided to rebrand the Pixie Tricks series (from the early 2000s) into a new Branches book. I prefer many of the other branches series to this. Dragon Masters, Last Firehawk, Time Jumpers, and Once Upon A Fairy Tale are all better series IMO.
8-year-old Violet has to help a fairy named Sprite trap all of the escaped Pixies in his book. Each pixie is a nuisance in a different way, and the book explains how each is to be trapped. Presumably, they trap one pixie per book. Probably best to read in order, though there is an explanation in the first chapters that explain the previous book.
88p
8-year-old Violet has to help a fairy named Sprite trap all of the escaped Pixies in his book. Each pixie is a nuisance in a different way, and the book explains how each is to be trapped. Presumably, they trap one pixie per book. Probably best to read in order, though there is an explanation in the first chapters that explain the previous book.
88p
January 22, 2015
The Greedy Gremlin is the second in a juvenile series called Pixie Tricks. The series premise is that fourteen fairies of different sorts (pixies, sprites, gremlins, etc) have managed to escape from their world into the world of humans. And they are all out to cause trouble. A fairy named Sprite is sent by the Fairy Queen to trick them all and send them back where they belong. He teams up with a clever girl by the name of Violet and each book is an installment in their quest to trick all fourteen fairies.
This particular story features their "battle" with Jolt--a gremlin who loves machinery and gadgets of all sorts and who loves making them work improperly. He becomes fascinated with video games and when Violet's cousin Leon tries to keep Jolt from playing his game, Jolt magics Leon onto the screen. So not only do Sprite and Violet need to trick Jolt to send him back to the land of the fairies, but they also need to save Leon from being destroyed in one of the levels of Action Kingdom.
This is a fun chapter book that children should enjoy thoroughly. The main premise (tricking fairies into doing something that will send them back home) reminds me of Mr. Mxyzptlk in the Super Friends cartoon. He was also a trickster--causing all sorts of trouble while not really being a super villain. In order to send him back to his own dimension, the Super Friends had to trick him into saying/spelling his own name backwards. Enjoyable story and easy to read for kids.
Posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting.
This particular story features their "battle" with Jolt--a gremlin who loves machinery and gadgets of all sorts and who loves making them work improperly. He becomes fascinated with video games and when Violet's cousin Leon tries to keep Jolt from playing his game, Jolt magics Leon onto the screen. So not only do Sprite and Violet need to trick Jolt to send him back to the land of the fairies, but they also need to save Leon from being destroyed in one of the levels of Action Kingdom.
This is a fun chapter book that children should enjoy thoroughly. The main premise (tricking fairies into doing something that will send them back home) reminds me of Mr. Mxyzptlk in the Super Friends cartoon. He was also a trickster--causing all sorts of trouble while not really being a super villain. In order to send him back to his own dimension, the Super Friends had to trick him into saying/spelling his own name backwards. Enjoyable story and easy to read for kids.
Posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting.
July 7, 2008
it was cool when they were traped in the vidio game
January 28, 2010
I liked this book because Violet's cousin goes into the video game. Jolt thinks Violet's cousin is so grumpy that he turns him into a video game character. What a funny idea.
August 6, 2010
I liked how he trapped someone in a video game.
October 22, 2010
Stella's review
I loved this book so much I wish it could be as long as a Harry Potter.
*************************************************************
I loved this book so much I wish it could be as long as a Harry Potter.
*************************************************************
November 16, 2013
Not my favorite book from the series but still a great book to read. I would recommend it to the young reader or parents to read to their children.
March 3, 2016
this book is about a gremlin that is a bad dude.my opinion is that he needs to stop playing video games. i recommend this book to kids who likes games.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews