Girls to the Rescue, Book 1

Edited by Bruce Lansky
Meadowbrook Press
Age Groups: 8-12
My Rating: B+ (4 stars)
Ten short stories about girls who are all creative and resourceful and who all "save the day" in some sense--but not like superheroes, of course. An example is the Japanese girl named Kimi in the story Kimi and the Ogre. Kimi saves the day by getting her foolish brother Taro out of trouble and danger with her quick wits, not strength or superpowers like in comic books.

It was hard to pick since there were so many  good ones, and all the characters were so fully developed, but my favorite short story was
the first one, called The Fairy Godmother's Assistant, by Bruce Lansky. It is about a fairy godmother's assistant, as the name suggests, who is left in charge after the old fairy godmother goes on vacation. The assistant does not know any magic, but manages to do just as well a job (maybe even better!) as the fairy godmother. Learn how she does it by reading the story!

These stories are fine for bedtime stories for ages seven and up, but my one complaint was that they are a little short (I didn't realize short stories as short as these could be so entertaining!) , and though older kids would probably breeze through it,  the fact that it's short should not stop anyone from enjoying this collection of wonderful pieces.