Stargirl Academy

Emma’s Glittering Spell

Written by: Vivian French

Illustrated by: Jo Anne Davies

Welcome to Stargirl Academy, the magical school in the clouds! Previously a rather old-fashioned establishment, it has been reopened by its head teacher to train children to be modern day fairy godmothers. Fairy Mary McBee selects a group of girls: Lily, Ava, Madison, Sophie, Emma, Olivia – and Melody and Jackson who think they’re better than everyone else. The girls learn lots of spells – shimmering, starry, shining, sparkling, glittering and twinkling ones – which they use to fix problems and help people in trouble. For every successful mission they gain a star, and once they have six stars they will be fully qualified stargirls! Emma leads the fifth mission: she wants to help a family who have moved in two doors down – the baby cries all night and the older children can’t play in the garden because it’s overgrown. Mr Appleby would be the perfect person to help as his immaculate garden is right next door, but he’s been complaining about the noise. Melody and Jackson perform some very risky magic and, against his will, Mr Appleby finds himself mowing the noisy neighbours’ lawn! Thanks to Emma’s skilful glittering spell and Mr Appleby’s good nature, all is well, but Fairy Mary is furious with Melody and Jackson and they don’t receive a star. The other girls however, are rewarded – only one more to go!

You can buy this book from your usual bookseller, or borrow it from a library. If you’d like to buy a signed copy, you can do so through Viv’s local bookshop – The Edinburgh Bookshop. You can email them here.