A Box Full of Phaeries, Phreddes and Fruit, by Jackie French

In her introduction to each of these three books Jackie French avows that stories can be eaten in much the same way one would eat a banana or a plum. And she’s right. The stories she shares in this delightful trilogy are ones which kids are likely to devour.

In the first book, A Phaery Named Phredde, Pru meets a phaery (NOT fairy), called Phredde, who soon becomes her best friend. If you think that’s strange, then what about the pair having a teacher who is a vampire, and Pru’s brother becoming a werewolf? Anything is possible in the Australia created by French. In each of the five stories in the book, Pru and Phredde have wild and wonderful adventures which will amuse and delight eight to tweve year olds.

In the following two volumes, Phredde and a Frog Named Bruce and Phredde and the Zombie Librarian, Pru and Phredde have even more adventures, including meeting a talking frog who is really a phaery prince (and does NOT want to be kissed by a princess), and escaping the clutches of a zombie librarian intent on feeding them to her blood-starved books.

With the three books packaged together in a slipcase, this set would make a great gift for a hungry young reader.

A Box Full of Phaeries, Phreddes and Fruit, by Jackie French
Angus & Robertson, 2003