The Triumphant Tale of Pippa North

Gr 4-6–In the highly structured fairy-tale kingdom of Wanderly, everyone from hero to villain must play their assigned part. Eleven-year-old Pippa North is content with her role of commoner. When Pippa is uprooted from the cozy cottage of her family of 10 and sent to the Triumphant academy for heroes in training, it seems like a mistake. Something isn’t right about her new home—the heroes seem less than heroic, and the famed Castle Cressida is crumbling around them. Across the kingdom, 11-year-old Oliver Dash struggles to fit in at Razzle’s School for Meddlesome Boys, where he has yet to receive his magician’s hat despite being one of the oldest students. In his efforts to earn his hat, Oliver unwittingly joins forces with the educator magicians plotting to rise to power and overthrow the social structure of the kingdom. When Pippa writes to her fairy godmother, the winds of the fairy-tale realm carry her request to Oliver, and the two pen pals join forces with other students to defend the castle against the plotters. Fans of Adam Gidwitz and Sarah Prineas will enjoy this middle grade adventure with its determined and resourceful protagonist Pippa, bumbling but hardworking Oliver, and a charismatic cast of supporting characters. This bright and humorous tale is narrated by a book with thoughts and feelings of its own, who interjects with opinions about the plot and the occasional vocabulary lesson.