Dewberry and the Lost Chest of Paragon

The Fairy Chronicles #11

by J.H. Sweet, Holly Sierra

Dewberry's fairy spirit is one of great knowledge and wisdom. Unfortunately, wisdom takes longer to acquire than knowledge!

In her constant quest to obtain ever more knowledge, Dewberry uncovers the Legend of Paragon, an ancient ruler, and his three marshals-Exemplar, Criterion, and Apotheosis. Dewberry enlists the aid of her friends, Primrose and Snapdragon, in seeking the Lost Chest of Paragon, rumored to contain a great gift of ancient and powerful knowledge, one she hopes to share with all of mankind.

But when the chest is found, a catastrophe occurs, one so powerful that even fairy magic is nowhere near strong enough to fix the problem. But it was Dewberry's relentless search for knowledge that caused this disaster in the first place, and she will have to do everything she can to make it right again...

117 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now that I’ve finished the first 13 books of this series, I’m going to go back to rate and review each one. I’ve not read beyond the first 13, and I don’t plan to. Because I yam who I yam and because this series is beloved from my childhood, I’m probably going to be more thorough than necessary for a relatively unknown series for seven-year-olds. These reviews will contain very mild spoilers – nothing beyond what is mentioned in the blurb on the back or on goodreads – unless otherwise stated.

3.5/5 stars

J.H. Sweet mixed things up in Dewberry and the Lost Chest of Paragon. There is no Fairy Circle to kick off the events of this story, nor are any mentors involved in the adventure. Instead, know-it-all Dewberry (aka Lauren) ropes Primrose (aka Taylor) and Snapdragon (aka Bettina) into a journey to find the lost chest of Paragon. After doing her own research, consulting no adults nor her Fairy Handbook, Dewberry has come to the conclusion that the missing chest contains “a great gift of knowledge for all of mankind” (17). With the argument that they’re not actually using magic to find this chest, and thus don’t need a mentor’s supervision, Dewberry convinces her friends to join her on a quest to uncover the location of Paragon’s chest.

Of course, the chest does not contain what it seems, and catastrophe occurs. My biggest gripe with the book, and what impacts my rating the most, is that the story does not touch much on how they deal with the catastrophe. It’s a convenient, quick fix. The convenience of it is what really annoyed me. Also, some of the clues were bizarre and under-explained, like why did anyone decide that grebe birds should hold the first clue?

As I think I’ve made clear in my reviews of the other books in this series, I don’t enjoy when the main character has an indistinct personality. Dewberry, however, has such a distinct personality, and I love it. She’s a little terror armed with her intelligence, confidence, and complete lack of foresight and wisdom. She has to face the consequences of her own actions and learns and betters herself because of it! Love to see some character development in this book series for children. Also, loved seeing Primrose and Snapdragon push back against Dewberry at every turn, but ultimately give in to the pressure of her confidence. It’s realistic and gives Primrose and Snapdragon a notable flaw.

Not related to anything about the story, nor does this impact my rating, but what happened to the printing quality of the final three books that were traditionally published? I didn’t own these three as a child, so I purchased them secondhand while doing this read-through. When the first of the three arrived, I wondered if I’d somehow received a bootleg copy, but when the other two arrived from different places, I discovered they’re all of that quality. And many of the illustrations are overexposed, especially in Moonflower and the Pearl of Paramour.

Various minor spoilery things that I liked in this book include:
- Mr. Ruble, the garden gnome, avoiding Dewberry because she’s such an annoying know-it-all. 10/10, loved that
- Pundit Periphery is such a bizarre character with no explanation for why he’s just a Small Man. That was funny to me.
- Mother Nature as an aurora borealis. Stunning! One of Holly Sierra’s better illustrations too
- Dewberry’s consequences felt very appropriate
- I appreciated that Madam Goldenrod owned up to her own faults as a mentor
- Dewberry’s distrust and wariness of trunks and chests by the end of the book. I liked the implication that this distrust could be magically influenced, but also could just be Dewberry wising up

Overall, a story with a wonderfully flawed character who has to undergo some character development, but the story suffers from a convenient quick-fix.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the eleventh book in the Fairy Chronicles series, although they are meant to be read as stand-alone books. We discovered this series of books because our oldest is in the middle of a fairy craze right now. She has finished numerous series in the Rainbow Magic collection and she just loves them all. But these books are a bit longer, and more complicated in their plot lines and I think better overall. The characters are richer and the story is more sophisticated. So where our library has holes in the series, I purchased the books, with the idea that we'll donate them when we are done.

This is a cautionary story about making good decisions and considering the impact of your actions. It involves an exciting adventure and a very dramatic event for the young fairies. Our oldest really loves these books; she reads them every day as part of her reading homework and then we discuss them afterward. I love being able to share and discuss books with her and I hope to do so for a very long time.

[Destyne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like fairies.