Uh-oh, Cleo, by Jessica Harper

First chapter books need to be very well done, or else they bore me tremendously.  There's nothing wrong with Uh-oh, Cleo.  It's a simple story about a little girl with a big family, and a trip to the emergency room for stitches.  The author does a fair job at laying out distinct personalities without relying too heavily on stereotype, but it's not the book for me.  I feel like I should appreciate the little songs and rhymes the mother invents for her children, but Frances just does that so much better.

I'll keep it in mind in case a parent asks me for a story about going to the doctor or the hospital.

Gruffen, by Chris d'Lacey

An early chapter book, just beyond the level of a reader.  Shallow story, with inexplicable magic clay molded and kilned to create magic dragon helpers.  I certainly hope that d'Lacey's other series, the Last Dragon Chronicles, written for older readers, is more substantial than this.

This book may appeal to girls who have completed the even-shallower  Rainbow Magic Fairy series.  The first in a series.

Inky the Indigo Fairy, by Daisy Meadows.

 These books fly off the shelves at my library where they are waved about in joy by five and seven year old girls.  As a dutiful children's librarian I took it upon myself to figure out what kind of paper I'm peddling.

Ouch.  The content is even more vacuous than I feared.  I'm a couple decades too old, and have never been girly enough to handle this kind of sparkle.  I've listened to parents moan about how their intelligent little girls insist on being read these stories aloud.  Their greatest chagrin stems from same inane plot recurring in each and every book.

The positive spin on the series is that they motivate many new readers to persevere through 60+ pages of text on their own.  That's no small feat.