There are a lot of chapter book series about fairies. It’s not all rainbows and magic. Only two are about Tinker Bell even. Stella and the Night Sprites is not your average fairy series. Which is good.

Stella Sees Fairies With Magic Glasses

Stella being the main character. In most fairy series, the main character either is a fairy or the kid can just see fairies and they found one. Magic glasses is a really cool device. This means:
1. She can’t see them all the time, like when she’s in bed.
2. She’s the only kid character (so far) that can see them. So she chooses to keep them a secret.

The Fairies Aren’t Nice In This One

That doesn’t mean they’re mean. They’re not mean, but their jobs could come off as such. Some of them tie knots in hair. Some of them take tooth fairy coins. Different reasons. They don’t even realize what they’re doing is bad. That’s just their whole existence and it hasn’t been challenged yet. Here’s some examples:

Stella frowned, “Why do you want to tie knots in my hair?”
“I told you, I’m a knit-knotter,” the girl said. “That’s what knit-knotters do. We tie knots in children’s hair!”
“That’s mean!” Stella said. “Knots hurt!”
The girl looked puzzled, “They do?”
***
Stella folded her arms. “Night Sprites are mean.”
“Huh?” The sprite stopped smiling. “B-b-b-but these things are just jokes.” Her bottom lip wobbled. “We’re only having fun. We do other stuff too! Watch!”
***
“You shouldn’t take things that don’t belong to you,” Stella whispered.
“I didn’t take the coin!” the sprite yelled. “I swapped it.” She pointed to a sharpener in Stella’s hand.
“You mean you swapped the coin for this?” Stella asked. “A pencil sharpener isn’t the same as—”

Stella Still Befriends (And Helps) Them

I think this is the craziest part to me. The Night Sprites have problems that needs to be dealt with, but it’s not them. They’re not the ones that need to be gotten rid of.

In book 1, another fairy made a deal with the Knit-Knotters to tie a bunch of knots in hair to fuel her hair styling business (some fairies are big like humans). So Stella finds a way for the Knit-Knotters to tie knots in hair and keep them out of her hair.

In book 2, Tooth Bandits just trade for tooth fairy coins because they’re shiny and great for decorating their scooters with. So Stella shows them other shiny things they can decorate their scooters with.

They’re Not Even Called Fairies

They’re called sprites. Historically an interchangeable term in Britain for pixies (pixy/pisky). “Fairy” being more common in Ireland (historically). All’s to say good on British author Sam Hay for this checking out. I assume you’re required by law there to keep this on the up and up, lest your first-born get swapped with a Changeling or some other fae creature.

The actual point I wanted to make here is that “Sprite” is a choice, and a good one. “Fairy” is very associated with “good” in kidlit and Night Sprites are less good. Also “Night” rhymes with “Sprite”. So there’s that, too.

Conclusion

This isn’t a usual Series Spotlight post because I’m holding out hope we get more of Stella. There hasn’t been a book 3 in about nine years, but I’ve seen series go longer without a new release. Buying books can always reinvigorate interest in a series, especially a publisher’s interest. Maybe next time you get a chapter book, you should grab two. These two.