The success of the Harry Potter books has, predictably, led to a crop of stories about magic and wizardry. Sally Gardner’s novel The Smallest Girl Ever (Orion Dolphin pound;3.99), her second in a series about children with magic powers, does not suffer by comparison. Like Harry, Ruby is the child of wizard parents who are killed; however, unlik Harry’s parents, Ruby’s are deserving victims of their own arrogance.
Ruby is so low in self-esteem that she literally shrinks under the unrelenting blows to her confidence, until she meets Aunt Hat. An entertaining feast for developing readers in the first stages of fluency, with an underlying moral about hidden talents.
