‘Magic? Who Needs It!’ is a fast-paced, modern fairy tale set in drought-ravaged countryside. It is family-friendly and includes subtle life lessons for children, a hint of romance, humour, emotional moments and several complications and resolutions. It contains a mini-dictionary at the end of the book for the reader’s convenience.

As a result of the severe drought, a community of fairies and elves is forced to leave their town or perish due to the lack of water. When they are too exhausted to fly any further, they land in a field of desert roses. With no building materials available, they build an entire town out of the seeds of the desert roses which they form into tiles.

When the drought finally breaks, the seeds sprout and cause complications which the townsfolk solve by practical means because the fairies and elves don’t have magical powers as a result of an ancestor’s misdeed bringing down a curse upon the town’s residents and their descendants. In the end, the walls and roofs made from desert rose bonsais become a tourist attraction, which leads to a descendant of the leprechaun who placed the curse offering to reverse it - an offer which they would have liked to accept but they couldn’t meet the condition placed on it.

The arrival of tourists is also an opportunity for a disgruntled gnome to avenge a perceived wrong through vandalising the desert rose plants. He is caught when the Mayor’s aides play detective.

There are potential disasters during the exodus and when the elves are trying to position the Town Hall bell; problems created by visiting goblins which are solved-or so the Mayor thinks-when she contacts the Ogres Guild; children raising money by acting as tourists so they could go to an interschool athletics competition; and a school camp.

Everyone agreed that life couldn’t possibly be better in their picturesque town among the desert roses–not even with magic.

NOTE FOR EDUCATORS: This book can be used by upper elementary, primary, and ESL educators in their classrooms or online. To accompany this book, there is a Student Booklet containing a variety of English activities (including Reading Comprehension), and an Answers booklet. These PDF booklets are free of charge. The Student Booklet is available via www.LG-Books.com/fairy\_tale.html. The Answers booklet is available to teachers by contacting the Author at [email protected].

Please Note: If you are considering purchasing copies of Magic? Who Needs It! , please be aware that the retailer might be selling a version that doesn’t match the Student Booklet or Answers booklet. The version that matches those booklets has (020221) at the bottom of page 179. Contact the Author if in doubt.