The Gold Dust Letters (by Janet Taylor Lisle)

Angela's skeptical friend Georgina wants to get to the bottom of the mystery; her animal-lover pal Poco asks the family cat if she's seen anything suspicious. Angela herself is happy simply to believe in the gray-eyed fairy named Pilaria.

The friends' attempts to investigate seem thwarted at every turn by Angela's gruff father, a busy businessman who dislikes noise and mess. Will Angela and her friends see the fairy, or will they discover that the magic has been right in front of them all along?

The first in the pretentiously titled series Investigators of the Unknown, THE GOLD DUST LETTERS explores magic in everyday life. The irony, though, is that there's very little magic to be found. Almost all the magic Angela witnesses has a prosaic explanation. But Angela's story might inspire others to imagine magic in their own lives.

Regardless of the magic quotient, this is an effective portrayal of friendship and family life. Although there's no happy ending to Angela's family problems, the solutions are realistic. The simple character portrayals, as well as the use of concrete language and easygoing humor, make this a good choice for kids ready to graduate from early readers. The dialogue is sometimes banal ("There's always more inside no matter how much you look and look and can't see how there could be"), but Janet Taylor Lisle has a feel for middle-graders' humor, friendships, and fantasies.