Tiffany Aching is an extraordinary girl in an ordinary world filled with ordinary sheep, ordinary chores, an ordinary family, and an extraordinarily annoying little brother who she has the ordinary task of watching. Adventure ensues when she meets a band of kilt-wearing, tattooed men who can measure their height in inches rather than feet. These Wee Free Men are fairies who resemble berserk Scottish warriors more than they resemble Tinkerbell and have a culture where the mischievously criminal is praiseworthy. Tiffany’s life gets even more adventurous when her baby brother goes missing, and she is the only one who has the imagination, wits, and power to get him back.

Terry Pratchett gives the reader a wonderfully crafted fantasy story filled with twists, adventures, and plenty of humor along the way. In a world filled with cleverly crafted creatures and witty or fearsome characters, the cast is helmed by a strong female character who demonstrates a fighting spirit and real love for her family and friends.

The Wee Free Men are charming characters, and they are likeable, even if stubborn. Their dialogue is written using an unusual dialect, which readers (especially young ones) may at first struggle with. However, once the reader grows accustomed to their speech pattern, it serves to enhance the story rather than detract from it. The dialect is well worth reading because the Wee Free Men would not be the same carefree souls if they spoke proper English.

This book is a good read for children and adults alike. And it would be a good choice for an adult to read aloud to a child. The humor is laughable no matter the age of the reader, and the story is complex enough to entertain an adult and at the same time not overwhelm a child.

The novel is the first in a series of novels about Tiffany Aching. It is also part of the larger Discworld series by Pratchett, but no prior knowledge of those books is required to enjoy this one.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  2 mild obscenities; 1 scatological word.

Violence/Gore:  Reference to witches being burned in the past; a few fairy tales are mentioned, along with their mild violence; a horseman is headless (no blood); three comic fights involving magical creatures; comic fight between animals; character threatens to kill another; character threatens to scalp a child; report of a character dying of exposure in winter; report of animal killing other animals; threat that characters will be fed to animals; reference to past magical war with many deaths; character threatens another with a dagger; character whips a donkey; character slaps another; character hits another with a whip; two fantasy violence scenes include scary dog-like monsters; three fantasy violence scenes with little or no blood or injury; a fight with monsters includes a small description of blood and non-detailed deaths of characters; one creepy scene involving a fantasy monster involves cutting off its head (bloodless).

Sex/Nudity:  Female character dreams about shirtless men; mention that folding a picture a certain way will show a picture of a naked woman; character in a kilt hangs upside down, and it is implied that he wears nothing underneath it; reference to animals breeding; humorous scene revolves around the impracticality of people of different sizes marrying and having children; reference to delivering lambs and midwifery.

Mature Subject Matter:

Death of a loved one, kidnapping, theft.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

An adult smokes a pipe; adults drink beer; strong liquor (mention); fictional brand of tobacco is a plot device.