Philippa Fisher and the Dream-Maker’s Daughter: Another sweet story

Philippa Fisher and the Dream-Maker’s Daughter by Liz Kessler

Philippa Fisher and the Dream-Maker’s Daughter is the second book in Liz Kessler’s trilogy about Philippa Fisher, a lonely 11 year old girl with eccentric hippie parents. When we met her in the first book, Philippa Fisher and the Fairy Godsister, she had come to the attention of the fairy godmothers because her best friend had recently moved away and she was sad. A young inexperienced fairy named Daisy was assigned to grant Philippa three wishes. Both Philippa and Daisy learned a lot and became best friends. But Daisy had to go back to the fairy organization after the case was over.

Now it’s summer and Philippa and her family are going on vacation. Daisy has been assigned to take care of a girl named Robin whose mother recently died. Daisy breaks the rules and rigs things so that Philippa’s family will spend a week in Robin’s town. When the girls meet, it’s clear that Robin has secrets, as do the adults in her life. When Philippa and Daisy get involved, things get a little scary and dangerous, especially for Daisy.

Similar to the first book, Philippa Fisher and the Dream-Maker’s Daughter is a sweet and amusing story about friendship. There is less of the I-wish-I-was-popular angst this time, which I was glad for. Philippa dealt with that issue in the previous book, though she’s still realistically aware of her own lower status in her peer group. In addition to the friendship theme, this story deals with loss and grief and it’s a little darker than Philippa Fisher and the Fairy Godsister, but not too dark for most children. This trilogy probably won’t appeal much to adults unless they’re reading it with a child. It is a good choice for girls in the 9 to 12 age range.

The audio version read by Kate Reinders and Julia Whelan is an excellent production. It’s 5.25 hours long and produced by Brilliance Audio. I thought the narrators did a great job with the character voices.