Magical Mail

Gr 4—6—Faith is a rather ordinary child, born into an extraordinary family that includes a beauty-pageant winner, a kickboxing instructor, a doctor, and a preschool chess champion. Faith's only talent is losing her hair clips, and she is timid by nature. Everything changes the day a substitute teacher seems to know her already and assigns her a task for someone who is "brave, clever, and capable." Faith, who doesn't believe she is any of those things, discovers that she can actually be a hero. It seems that the Gingerbread Man has stolen incriminating letters from some characters such as the Tooth Fairy, Blackbeard, and the Big Bad Wolf, and is out to ruin their reputations by selling them to a newspaper. Faith's job is to return the letters to their rightful owners after she escapes school by jumping into a desk drawer and landing in another world, inhabited by the owners of the letters. Lending aid is her teddy bear, Bus Bear, who changes into whomever Faith needs at any given time whether it be a taxi driver or a talking sea turtle. Fast-paced, funny, and fantastical, Magical Mail will intrigue anyone who loves stories that begin with "Once upon a time" and truly wishes to be someone special.—Kathy Kirchoefer, Prince Georges County Memorial Library System, New Carrollton, MD