As a child, Mellie’s best friend, a Small Person with Wings (not a fairy) named Fidius, became furious with her and disappeared the day she suggested taking him to school. Mellie’s allegiance to Fidius made her the butt of jokes, so she became determined to focus on reality: facts, history, science. But when the family moves into her grandfather’s dilapidated inn, it is so overrun with Small Persons (or Parvi) that their existence is undeniable. Parvi are a curious bunch, enamored with their glitz and glamour and whiskey, but mostly good-hearted. They plead with the family to return a powerful stone that will allow them to regain the true magic they lost centuries ago—but a Parvi faction prefers their Magica Artificia and uses it to play devious tricks. Together with her parents and Timmo, the nosy neighbor kid, Mellie’s odd predicament is to return to the world of the fanciful by facing what is real. This clever tale also wraps a story of acceptance, both of self and family, in the fairy dressing. Grades 5-8. (from Booklist)
