As Clara flew toward home, she thought about something that had happened long ago, when she was a very young fairy. She had noticed a tiny grasshopper in the tall grass near Lupine Pond. Its leg was broken, so it could not hop or even sing a grasshopper song to summon help. (Grasshoppers use their legs to make their songs!) Clara had known she didn’t have a hope of helping the grasshopper—she hadn’t even started learning charms yet at school. But she couldn’t bear to see the injured insect. But all at once, she recalled a charm she’d heard her big sister, Tinker Bell, recite once, long ago. How did it go?
Clear as crystal, Clara heard Tink’s voice in her head. She closed her eyes, stretched out her arms, and said:
Harm and hurt
And pain no more.
Feel this power,
From my core.
May you be
Sound as a bell.
May my magic
Make you well!
Clara had felt faint and dizzy, and it took a few moments before she was well enough to open her eyes again. She steadied herself and looked at the grasshopper. It hadn’t hopped away. It was exactly where she had first seen it. Her charm had failed!
But the very next moment she heard a tiny little chirrp coming from her grasshopper friend. That could only mean . . .
“Your leg has healed!” she’d cried.
Then she’d heard a voice behind her. “Clara. Clara Bell.”
It was Queen Mab! Clara had nearly jumped out of her wings.
“Were you using magic?”
Clara almost had not dared to speak to the queen. But Queen Mab had asked her a question, and she could not let it go unanswered. “I was, Your Majesty,” she’d said.
“The healing charm is very powerful, Clara Bell. Did you learn it from Tinker Bell?”
“I did, Queen Mab.”
“Tink should know better than to teach that to you. It takes life to heal life.”
Clara wasn’t exactly sure what Queen Mab had meant when she said that. But she had curtsied deeply. “Forgive me, my queen,” she’d said.
“Do not be ashamed, Clara Bell. You are a young fairy right now, but you have a gift for magic. You will be a very great fairy one day.”
Clara could hardly believe her ears. “I will?” she’d asked in a whisper.
“Yes, Clara Bell, you will,” said Queen Mab.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR
Photo by Betsy Morrell
MARGARET MCNAMARA is the Christopher Award–winning author of more than two dozen books for young readers, including the Robin Hill School series. The Fairy Bell Sisters series is inspired not only by her love of the classic sisterhood novel Little Women but by her own experiences growing up with older sisters (and a baby brother). Margaret and her family live in New York City, but they spend part of their summer on an island in Maine very much like Sheepskerry Island.
JULIA DENOS has illustrated several children’s books, including Just Being Audrey, Grandma’s Gloves, Dotty, and I Had a Favorite Dress. She received her BFA in illustration from the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University. The oldest of five sisters (and a baby brother), Julia lives in Massachusetts. You can visit her online at www.juliadenos.com.
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CREDITS
Cover art © 2013 by Julia Denos
Cover design by Erin Fitzsimmons
COPYRIGHT
In the spirit of J. M. Barrie, who created Peter Pan and Tinker Bell, the author has donated a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book to the Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Balzer + Bray is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
GOLDEN AT THE FANCY-DRESS PARTY. Text copyright © 2013 by Margaret McNamara. Illustrations copyright © 2013 by Julia Denos. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McNamara, Margaret.
Golden at the Fancy-Dress Party / Margaret McNamara ; illustrations by Julia Denos.—First edition.
pages cm.—(The fairy Bell sisters; [#3])
Summary: “Goldie Bell competes in Queen Titania’s fancy-dress party on the mainland and needs to overcome various obstacles without the support of her sisters”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-06-222808-6 (hardcover bdg. : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-06-222807-9 (pbk. bdg. : alk. paper)
EPub Edition July 2013 ISBN 9780062228093
[1. Fairies—Fiction. 2. Costume—Fiction. 3. Contests—Fiction. 4. Sisters—Fiction.] I. Denos, Julia, illustrator. II. Title.
PZ7.M47879343Gol 2013
2013000382
[Fic]—dc23
CIP
AC
13 14 15 16 17 CG/OPM 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
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