Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: Harper Collns
Release Date: May 13, 2003
ISBN: 0060012366
Awards:
Format Reviewed: Trade paperback
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Genre: Young Adult Fantasy Fiction (ages 12 and older)
Reviewed: 2003
Reviewer: Jo Rogers
Reviewer Notes: Review One

The Wee Free Men
A Story of Discworld
By Terry Pratchett 


     Most science fiction fans are familiar with Terry Pratchett's Discworld Series. Now, he brings the fun to the world of children's books with The Wee Free Men.

    The farm where Tiffany Aching lived was not the average farm. An Aching had tilled the land for centuries. Granny Aching kept things going until her death, especially looking after the sheep. Now, Tiffany's father had it all to do. Tiffany and her sister helped, of course. But Wentworth, Tiffany's little brother, was no help at all.

     While babysitting her brother, Tiffany saw something in the river she had never seen before: two blue men, no more than six inches tall, climbing into a tiny boat. They warned her of something terrible in the calm river. Then, she saw it. It was green, and had eyes as big as soup plates. A monster! Tiffany retreated to her home and, after consulting one of Granny Aching's books, she returned to the river with Wentworth. Using him as bait, she drove off the monster, Jenny Green Teeth, by hitting her in the face with a frying pan.

     Miss Perspicacious Tick, a witch, had seen everything. She was certain that Tiffany was also a witch, but one who is living on chalk, which is anathema to witches, rather than strong stone. She determined to help Tiffany become all she could be.

    Wentworth disappeared and Tiffany decided to go after him, even without the help of her mentor, Miss Tick. Armed only with her frying pan, the blue men and Miss Tick's toad, she set out to rescue her brother.

     The Wee Free Men is a hilarious jaunt into fairy tale land. But how can you miss with a witch named Perspicacious Tick? That is only the beginning of a wild tale that had me laughing out loud. Mr. Pratchett has given us another good story that both children and adults will love.

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