Tikki Flicker was in trouble for planting forget-me-nots in Pisky Marsh.
‘Don’t do that, Tikki Flicker!’ grumbled Uncle Sedge. ‘Remember the Pixie Code – Good pixies mind the marsh.’
Tikki giggled. ‘But Uncle Sedge, I’m a bad pixie. Putting plants where they annoy you is my most favourite bit of badness.’
‘Nonsense,’ said here uncle. He snorted. ‘Bad pixie indeed! Hmph!’
Tikki flickered away. ‘I am so a bad pixie,’ she said.
Hiding in her favourite ‘look-see’ tree, Tikki Flicker discovers that there is a place for bad pixies to go to if they want to properly learn how to be bad. Tikki is thrilled. The Hags Abademy of Badness sounds like somewhere she would really fit in, unlike here in the marsh where she never feels she quite belongs. But entry to the Abademy requires potential students to be awarded a Badge of Badness. And to earn that, no little annoyance will do, Tikki must perform a big badness. To achieve this she enlists the help of a tiny horse imp and a ‘dryfoot’ (human) boy. Martin Chatterton’s humourous black and white sketches are scattered throughout.
Tiffany Mandrake provides both foreword and afterword for Tikki the Tricky Pixie , warning that the story within is really a secret and that the reader must keep it so. She also explains that badness here is more about providing spice to life rather than doing too much harm. And indeed it’s hard to consider Tikki very wicked when her activities include causing flowers to grow where they shouldn’t, and tricking her uncle. Tikki is a delicious bite of mischief, trying very hard to find her place in the world. Recommended for independent readers.
Tikki the Tricky Pixie, Tiffany Mandrake ill Martin Chatterton
Little Hare 2010
ISBN: 9781921541322
Reviewed by Claire Saxby Children’s book author.
www.clairesaxby.com
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