Lily rolled over in bed. She stared up at the starry painted ceiling. Today was the big day. The day she tried out for a place in Amelia’s Angel Academy.
The trouble was, there were two of them trying to get into the academy. And there was only one place left. It was between her and Tisa.
With an anxious sigh, Lily glanced over at Tisa’s bed. It was empty. Oh no! She was probably practising already.
Lily really, really wants to be an angel. That means being accepted at Amelia’s Angel Academy. There are two candidates and only one place, and from her late morning waking, things just keep going wrong. Tisa, the other girl vying for the Academy place, is ultra-determined that she will win. Whoever wins the place will learn all there is to learn about being a proper angel. As the testing progresses, Lily becomes surer that Tisa is going to win. But there is more than one way to test a trainee angel.
In ‘Lily has a Secret’, Lily does a good deed, but it seems sure to get her into trouble. She rescues a kitten, but having a kitten in the Academy is Against The Rules. And her former nemesis, Tisa, is becoming more and more impatient with her as their rehearsal for the concert is constantly disrupted. Illustrations of Lily and her adventures are scattered throughout.
The Littlest Angel is a new series from New Zealand writer Elizabeth Pulford. They are shiny-covered, with coloured pages and will surely appeal to young independent readers, particularly girls. Who doesn’t long to be able to fly and to help people achieve their dreams? Lily is exceptionally pure-hearted, but this same heart that endears her to almost all at the Academy also gets her in all sorts of scrapes. She tries valiantly to follow all the rules, but there always seems to be a reason to break them. If it’s not her wings being torn, then it’s some other calamity. Fortunately there are people to help her when she thinks she is in trouble. Slowly she is coming to know and understand Tisa, a very different child/angel, who bends the rules in other ways and always seems to be cross. Recommended for early primary independent readers.
Lily Gets Her Wings , Elizabeth Pulford, ill Aki Fukuoka Scholastic NZ 2012 ISBN: 9781775430223
Lily Has a Secret , Elizabeth Pulford, ill Aki Fukuoka Scholastic NZ 2012 ISBN: 9781775430230
review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author