Mummy Fairy and Me

About the Mummy Fairy and Me series

Sophie Kinsella's only venture into younger children's fiction began as bedtime stories she told her own kids: Ella's mother has a secret that no other grown-up at school knows about — she's a fairy, complete with wings and wand, who is absolutely terrible at controlling her own magic. Illustrated throughout by Marta Kissi, Mummy Fairy and Me (published in the US as Fairy Mom and Me) is pitched at early chapter-book readers rather than Kinsella's usual adult audience, trading Becky Bloomwood's shopping chaos for a gentler kind of chaos: spells that misfire, a mother trying to parent normally while hiding wings under her coat, and a daughter who has to manage the fallout at school.

Across four books, Ella and her Mummy Fairy navigate school fairs, a baby brother, and a run of magical mishaps involving unicorns and mermaids, each book built around a single contained adventure rather than an ongoing plot. The series shows a different, warmer side of Kinsella's signature interest in well-meaning people who can't quite keep their impulses under control — reframed here as a loving, funny portrait of a mother-daughter relationship rather than a comedy of adult overspending.

How to read this series

Each book is a self-contained adventure, so strict reading order isn't essential, but publication order gives the most natural progression: Mummy Fairy and Me (2018), Fairy-in-Waiting (2018), Unicorn Wishes (2019), Mermaid Magic (2020). Start with the first book to meet Ella and her Mummy Fairy's basic magical mishaps before moving on to the more specific unicorn- and mermaid-themed adventures in books three and four. Aimed at early chapter-book readers (roughly ages 5-8), it's best read aloud or alongside a child rather than treated as a typical Kinsella adult read.