Pixie Tricks: Sprite's Secret by Tracey West, illustrations from various artists

 Although many people, outside of librarians, probably won't recognize Tracey West's name, she's a prolific author of media tie-ins and paperback series. This has culminated in her wildly popular Dragon Masters series from Branches. Naturally, when I saw another Branches series coming from her, Pixie Tricks, I bought it right away. I requested another copy in my consortium, as I wanted to look at it before using it in book club and was quite surprised when it appeared... and was an extremely tattered and much-read copy with a different illustrator, cover artist, and couldn't possibly be less than ten years old!

It turns out this was actually the first series Tracey West wrote and it's being edited and released again as part of the Branches line. They've done that with several Acorn series, like Poppleton and Pilkey's Dragon, but as far as I know this is the first Branches reissue.

The plot is simple but fun - Violet Briggs discovers a fairy, the Royal Pixie Tricker Sprite. He's come into the human world to track down 14 mischievous fairies who are causing trouble and he needs her help. The first pixie, Pix, wants everyone to play and enchants them to do nothing but play with him. Violet and Sprite work together to trick him back into the fairy world.

The original, published in 2000, was accompanied by stickers designed by James Bernardin. The idea was that as you read each book you added stickers to track the fairies you tricked. The interior illustrations were created by Thea Kliros. The new edition is illustrated by Xavier Bonet. The original illustrations showed dainty, streamlined fairies, more in the Arthur Rackham style, while the new fairies are pudgy and child-like. Violet trades her dark brown braids and bangs for red hair and a pug nose and also a more realistic, child-like figure (the original Violet, like the fairies, was very thin). Bonet's illustrations, while still in black and white, are more extensive than the original, including landscapes and a wider variety of characters. There is more diversity shown as well, with Black characters as Violet's friends and family, as well as others shown in crowd scenes. Pix goes from a classic, jester-type fairy to a pudgy (and rather creepy) child look-alike, who reaches Violet's waist.

I have to admit that I personally prefer the original fairy designs - they look much more magical - and I wish Violet had kept her braids and dark hair (although I agree the baggy cardigan was no great loss). The new edition is not changed much text-wise, but West has smoothed out her writing and done a little tweaking - the original was rather choppy.

Verdict: While more fantastical fairies might have made this a little more of an eye-catcher, it's as fun a concept as when West presented it as her debut and I'm sure a new generation of kids will enjoy tracking down and solving the riddle of how to trick each fairy.

ISBN: 9781338627787; This edition published 2020 by Scholastic; Purchased for the library

This is a previous reprint cover. It's, uh, interesting.