Gail Carson Levine is the Newbery Honor winning author of Ella Enchanted, and also the author of Fairest and Ever. She lives in Brewster, NY, with her husband and an Airedale named Baxter. This novel was released as a part of the Disney Fairies franchise; there is also a sequel, called Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand.

Prilla is a brand-new fairy; she still hasn’t figured out what her talent is. She is in the process of being introduced to everyone on the island (in hopes that she will find her talent) when there is a hurricane, and Mother Dove’s egg is smashed. Only the heat of the dragon — which can only be obtained by trading with him — can save the egg, and save Neverneverland at the same time. Prilla and a couple other fairies are sent on a quest. Will they be able to accomplish everything? Will they fix the egg? And will Prilla ever find out what her talent is?

This is a 180-page book, but it’s illustrated with some lovely watercolors by David Christiana. (Not that I’ve heard of him, but I thought I’d put his name in the review anyway.) Overall, the book was definitely written for young children, but it’s still written by Gail Carson Levine. Older fans would still find it enjoyable reading, provided they like Disney movies in general. It would probably be a fantastic book for reading out loud to younger children, as well, and a good introduction to Ms. Levine’s works. I believe that she’s also written some shorter books called the Princess Tales; those could be a bridge between the Fairy books and her full-length YA works.

The easiest way I can describe this is Peter Pan fanfiction. Tinker Bell is a character (a moderately important one) in the book; Peter Pan and Capt. Hook show up briefly. I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I haven’t read the actual original Peter and Wendy. Many of the elements in this book may have come from things in Peter and Wendy, or they could have been made up by Ms. Levine herself. I don’t know, unfortunately, although it makes me want to remedy that lack as soon as possible. I have, of course, seen the Disney movie, and I don’t remember anything in the Disney movie other than about Tink herself and the lack of belief. At the moment, therefore, I’m going to believe that Ms. Levine invented much of this book herself.

I thought this was a very cute book; it used many elements of traditional fantasy (things in threes, quests, dragons with hoards, fairies) in a way that, while it wasn’t novel, was certainly well-done and interesting. Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg is certainly worth reading; it’s rather representative of what Ms. Levine has written: it’s related to a fairy tale, it involves a main character who hasn’t figured out parts of her life yet, and it has multifaceted characters. It was a very fast read; there’s probably about 50 pages of normal-sized print. I’d recommend it for fans of Gail Carson Levine, fans of Peter Pan, and people with children to read to. 4.5/5 stars.