The Blurb On The Back:

Kat the Jungle Fairy looks after the beautiful, lush jungles in the fairy and human worlds.  But when Jack Frost steals her magical objects, all jungles are in danger!  Can Kirsty and Rachel help save the homes of all the tropical plants and animals?

RAINBOW MAGIC – KAT THE JUNGLE FAIRY was released in the United Kingdom on 4th August 2022.  Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

You can order RAINBOW MAGIC – KAT THE JUNGLE FAIRY by Daisy Meadows from Amazon UK, Waterstone’s or Bookshop.org UK.  I earn commission on any purchases made through these links.

The Review (Cut For Spoilers):

It’s the end of term and Kirsty and Rachel’s schools have each organised a visit to Jungle World (a theme park and zoo).  The girls are looking forward to meeting up again and their schools have agreed that they can spend the day together but as they start to explore the park, they are confused to find that some of the jungle zones are much colder than they should be.  

Then they meet Kat the Jungle Fairy who tells them that Jack Frost and his goblins have stolen Kat’s magical objects – a golden sundial (used to make sure the weather is right for the jungle environments), a woven garden basket (which makes sure there’s enough food for each jungle animal) and a red orchid (which protects the jungles from the outside world).  Kat needs Kirsty and Rachel’s help to get the objects back but that won’t be easy as first they have to find where they are and in the meantime, the jungles of the world will be in terrible danger!

The 57th book in Daisy Meadows’s (the pseudonym for Narinder Dhabi, Sue Bentley, Linda Chapman and Sue Mongredien) RAINBOW MAGIC illustrated fantasy series for readers aged 5+ is a solid affair that emphasises the importance of jungle habitats.  However the illustrations are a little basic as is the depiction of jungle life and its importance, although I did like how some of the goblins are given personalities rather than being a uniform blob.

RAINBOW MAGIC is a juggernaut in terms of books for younger readers and I picked this up having previous read RAINBOW MAGIC – FRENCHIE THE BULLDOG FAIRY, which I found to be cute and informative.  It’s very much a series aimed at girls rather than boys, not least because the main characters are all girls and the villains all appear to be boys, which is a bit disappointing.

I liked the friendship between Rachel and Kirsty, which survives the fact that they go to different schools, although the fact that their schools are happy for them to spend the day together is a bit contrived.  The way the girls work with Kat to get the objects back is smartly done and I particularly liked the fact that although it would be easy to show the goblins as all being naughty or evil, the book allows them to have different motivations, as seen by one goblin who likes to grow things.

The illustrations are a bit basic and didn’t really get across a sense of character.  I also thought that the ecological message about the jungle ecosystems didn’t come across particularly well and while it may form the basis for talking about what’s happening in the jungles, the idea that all the animals are friends and it’s goblins who are destroying the habitats may leave young readers confused.

The book Is billed as being three stories in one, but actually it’s more that the book is divided into three sections – one for each of the magical objects.  However given that this is aimed at younger readers, I think it will help them to build up confidence in their reading skills.

All in all, this is a perfectly solid read but not an especially inspiring one, although if you have a fairy obsessed younger reader in your household then they will probably enjoy it.