Madeline the Cookie Fairy

  I have a plan to make a mess

  And cause the fairies much distress.

  I’m going to take their charms away

  And make my dreams come true today!

  I’ll build a castle made of sweets,

  And ruin the fairies’ silly treats.

  I just don’t care how much they whine,

  Their cakes and candies will be mine!

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Map

  Poem

  In the Candy Land Cafeteria

  Cookie Crisis

  Kitchen Surprise

  Fairies in the Factory

  A Green Transformation

  Greedy Goblins

  Teaser

  Copyright

  The yellow walls of the Candy Land factory gleamed in the midday sun, and the colorful flags on its roof waved in the spring breeze. In the factory cafeteria, Rachel Walker and Kirsty Tate were finishing their sandwiches and chatting with Kirsty’s aunt Helen.

  “You’re so lucky to work here,” Rachel said. “It’s my dream job!”

  “You wouldn’t say that if you saw all the paperwork I have to do,” replied Aunt Helen with a laugh.

  “Yes, but you get to taste all the new candy,” said Kirsty with a giggle. “That sounds like the best job in the world!”

  Aunt Helen laughed and glanced up at the clock on the wall.

  “It does mean I was able to organize a tour of the factory for my favorite niece and her best friend!” she said with a smile. “Have you enjoyed the tour so far?”

  Tomorrow was Kirsty’s birthday, and this special day at Candy Land was an early birthday present. Since Rachel was staying with Kirsty over spring break, she had gotten to come along, too. Lucky her!

  “It’s been amazing!” said Rachel. “The chocolate department was really cool.”

  “Yes, thank you for the tickets, Aunt Helen,” said Kirsty. “Today is one of the best birthday presents I’ve ever had!”

  “It’s not over yet,” said Aunt Helen with a grin. “You’ll be spending this afternoon with me in the cookie department. But first, I have another little treat for you. Wait here! I’ll be right back.”

  She winked at them and headed to the cafeteria counter. Rachel and Kirsty looked at each other with shining eyes.

  “I don’t know how this day could get any better!” said Rachel. “Isn’t this just perfect?”

  She waved her arm around at the cafeteria. Everything at Candy Land looked like sweet treats, so the tables were huge cakes and the chairs were enormous cookies.

  “Look,” whispered Kirsty, nudging her best friend. “That boy has a Sticky Toffee Galore. My favorite!”

  Rachel glanced at the boy, who was sitting at the next table.

  “It looks yummy,” she said. “I’m so glad that chocolate tastes good again.”

  The girls were right in the middle of an exciting fairy adventure! Jack Frost had stolen the Sugar and Spice Fairies’ magic charms, which they used to make sure that treats in both Fairyland and the human world were delicious. He wanted to build a giant Candy Castle! Even worse, he was trying to ruin Treat Day in Fairyland. Usually, Queen Titania and King Oberon gave each fairy a special basket of sweet treats as a thank you for all their hard work. But there wouldn’t be any treats this year — unless Kirsty and Rachel could help all seven Sugar and Spice Fairies get their charms back!

  That morning, Jack Frost and his greedy goblins had caused a chocolate disaster at Candy Land. Luckily, Kirsty and Rachel had been able to help the fairies fix everything!

  “I hope the goblins won’t cause any trouble this afternoon,” said Kirsty. “But there are still three more magic charms to find, so we have to keep an eye out for them.”

  Jack Frost had given the charms to his goblins for safekeeping, and ordered them to bring all the yummy treats from the human world to his Candy Castle.

  “We’ve already helped four of the Sugar and Spice Fairies get their magic charms back,” said Rachel with a gleam in her eye. “I just hope that we can find the others before it’s too late!”

  “Aunt Helen is coming back,” said Kirsty. “We’ll have to finish talking about the goblins later.”

  Aunt Helen was carrying a cream-colored bag with swirly blue writing on the side.

  Kirsty and Rachel looked at each other in concern.

  “Jack Frost still has Madeline the Cookie Fairy’s magic charm,” whispered Rachel. “I have a feeling that these cookies might not be as delicious as they’re supposed to be. . . .”

  “These are for you, girls,” said Aunt Helen, taking two cookies from the bag. “I asked for your names to be written on them, but I don’t think the person behind the counter was listening.”

  The girls thanked her and took the cookies. They were covered with messy splotches of icing in ugly colors. Rachel and Kirsty each took a small bite . . . and then exchanged surprised smiles.

  “Wow!” said Kirsty. “This tastes so good!”

  “Mine, too,” said Rachel, taking another bite. “Delicious!”

  “Glad you like them!” said Aunt Helen with a beaming smile. “Now, it’s time for us to go to the cookie department. I’m hoping that you can help me with my work.”

  The girls finished their cookies and followed Aunt Helen through the cafeteria.

  “Look,” said Rachel, pointing to one corner of the cafeteria. “That’s the Cookie Creations counter.”

  “And there’s the cookie kitchen, behind it,” Kirsty added.

  “That’s where they make the cookies and decorate them to order,” Aunt Helen explained.

  “Mmm, I can smell the cookies baking!” said Rachel, sniffing the air in delight.

  As the girls followed Aunt Helen through the cafeteria to the cookie department, Kirsty frowned thoughtfully.

  “I don’t understand how the Cookie Creations cookies can taste so delicious. Jack Frost has the magic cookie charm,” she whispered to Rachel.

  “Maybe Madeline managed to find it in Fairyland,” said Rachel.

  Just then, Aunt Helen stopped outside a door marked COOKIE DESIGN ROOM. She took two white aprons from pegs on the wall and handed them to the girls.

  “Every cookie designer has to wear an apron,” she said, her eyes twinkling.

  When the girls walked through the door, a wonderful aroma filled the air. Men and women in green aprons were hurrying around, and pictures of all kinds of cookies decorated the walls.

  “Mmm,” said Rachel, sniffing the air. “I can smell cinnamon and chocolate and roasting nuts and cookie dough!”

  “I want to show you some sketches of new cookies I’ve designed,” said Aunt Helen, leading them to a desk in one corner of the room.

  She laid some sheets of paper out on the desk. Each sheet showed a beautiful drawing of a cookie, with tiny arrows pointing to the things that made that cookie special.

  “These are Jammy Hearts,” said Aunt Helen, pointing to the first design. “They’re heart-shaped sandwich cookies filled with jam.”

  “I like the look of these,” said Rachel, pointing to a cookie with a happy face made out of chocolate chips.

  “Those are called Chocolate Smiles,” Aunt Helen told her.

  “This picture’s making my mouth water,” said Kirsty, looking at a design for oatmeal raisin cookies.

  “Yes, those are Oaty Surprises,” said Aunt Helen. “They’re my favorites, too.”

  “If these taste half as good as the ones we had from Cookie Creations, they’ll be great!” said Rachel.

  “Thanks, girls,” said Aunt Helen. “It’s good to hear that people will like them!”

  Just then, the door flew open. A man
who worked in the factory hurried in, carrying a tray of cookies. He looked very upset.

  “Helen, we have a big problem,” he said, holding out the tray. “All of these cookies are ruined — look! I don’t know what’s wrong. There’s no jam in the Jammy Hearts, the Chocolate Smiles are missing the chocolate chip faces, and the Oaty Surprises don’t have any raisins!”

  Aunt Helen frowned.

  “Maybe it’s because they’re new,” she said. “We must have made a mistake with the cookie machine settings.”

  The factory worker shook his head.

  “But even the traditional gingerbread cookies are turning out wrong. They all have enormous feet and pointy ears. We’ve been making those for ages, so it can’t be the settings.”

  Rachel looked at the gingerbread cookie on the tray and nudged Kirsty.

  “That gingerbread man looks more like a gingerbread goblin to me,” she whispered. Her eyes widened. “Kirsty, I think the goblins must be right here in the cookie department!”

  Aunt Helen looked worried.

  “Girls, do you mind waiting here while I go and check the cookie machine?” she asked. “While I’m gone, you can look through my cookie cutters and pick out the ones you like best.”

  She handed the girls a box that was filled with cookie cutters of every shape and size. Then she hurried off with the factory worker.

  “There have been so many problems at Candy Land lately,” Rachel and Kirsty heard her say. “I can’t understand it.”

  The girls looked at each other. They knew exactly why everything was going wrong!

  “Jack Frost is terrible,” said Kirsty. “Aunt Helen has been so nice to us. It’s really unfair that she should have to worry about all this.”

  “If we can help all the Sugar and Spice Fairies, that will help your aunt Helen, too,” said Rachel.

  “Yes,” Kirsty agreed. “We just have to wait for our chance to find the next magic charm.”

  They started to look through the box.

  “There must be every cookie cutter ever made here!” said Rachel with a laugh. “Stars . . . butterflies . . . flowers . . . even gingerbread men and women!”

  “Oh, look at this one!” exclaimed Kirsty, picking up a castle-shaped cookie cutter. “It looks just like the king and queen’s palace in Fairyland!”

  “It’s really pretty,” said Rachel. “I wonder if there are any others like that in here.”

  She peered into the bottom of the box, and gave a little squeal of excitement.

  “Kirsty, look!” she said. “That cookie cutter in the corner is glowing!”

  “It’s the shape of a fairy!” said Kirsty. “Oh, Rachel, do you think it could be . . . ?”

  Rachel picked it up, and the glow grew brighter. A tiny puff of fairy dust sparkled around the edges of the cookie cutter, and then Madeline the Cookie Fairy fluttered up through the middle!

  “Hello, Madeline!” said the girls in delight.

  The little fairy was so happy to see them that she did a backward somersault in the air. She was wearing purple pants covered in colorful stars, and her cheeks were pink with excitement.

  “Hello, Rachel! Hello, Kirsty!” she said, speaking very quickly. “I’m so glad I found you! The goblins are somewhere here at Candy Land with my magic charm.”

  “We think the goblins are here, too,” said Rachel. “Something’s wrong with the cookie machine.”

  “The only cookies that haven’t been ruined are the ones we got from Cookie Creations,” Kirsty added. “They were delicious.”

  “Oh!” said Rachel, putting her hand to her mouth and opening her eyes wide. “Of course! Madeline, I think your charm must be at Cookie Creations. That explains why their cookies are so yummy.”

  “If I don’t get my charm back soon, all cookies everywhere will be ruined,” said Madeline, tucking her blonde hair behind her ears. “I have to find those goblins! Girls, will you help me?”

  “Of course we will,” said Kirsty and Rachel together.

  “We should go and search the Cookie Creations kitchen,” Rachel added. “Do you think we have time to go now?”

  Kirsty glanced around to see if anyone was looking. All of the cookie designers were hard at work. But just then, the door opened. Aunt Helen was coming back!

  “Quick!” Kirsty whispered to Madeline. “Hide in my apron pocket!”

  Madeline swooped into the pocket of Kirsty’s apron just as Aunt Helen walked over. She was carrying a tray piled high with ruined cookies.

  “Did you fix the machine?” asked Rachel.

  “Not yet,” said Aunt Helen with a sigh. “The engineers are working on it now. I brought the ruined cookies back here, because even though we can’t sell them, it would be a shame to waste them. They’re not burned, just funny shapes with some missing ingredients. I thought they could be used at Cookie Creations, instead. We could decorate them to order and sell them at a discount.”

  “Could we take the trays to Cookie Creations for you?” Kirsty offered right away.

  Aunt Helen gave her a grateful smile. “That’s really sweet of you, Kirsty,” she said. “It would help me a lot. These machine problems mean that I have a ton of extra work to do!”

  She handed the tray to Kirsty.

  “Is it all right if we look around the Cookie Creations kitchen while we’re there?” Rachel asked.

  “Of course,” said Aunt Helen. “Take as much time as you want, and tell the baker that I said it was OK.”

  The girls hurried out of the cookie design room and back down the hallway toward the cafeteria. Lunchtime was over, so the room was almost empty. There was just one group of people in green factory uniforms sitting at a very messy table. They were making so much noise that they didn’t even notice Kirsty and Rachel hurry past to the Cookie Creations counter.

  The cookie baker was standing at the counter, decorating cookies. His bright green apron was smeared with chocolate and jam, and there were puffs of powdered sugar in the air around him. He was wearing a tall chef’s hat, which was much too big for him. All that the girls could see of his face was . . . a long, green nose!

  Rachel gasped and clutched Kirsty’s arm. “He’s a goblin!” she exclaimed.

  Kirsty handed the cookie tray to the goblin baker.

  “My aunt Helen sent these,” she said, pretending that she didn’t know he was a goblin. “The cookie machine is broken, so she’d like you to sell these ruined cookies at a discount.”

  The goblin curled his lip. “I don’t want your ruined cookies!” he squawked.

  But then he noticed the gingerbread men with big feet and pointy ears. He snatched one eagerly from the tray, grabbed some bright green icing, and started to decorate it.

  “Come on,” whispered Rachel. “He’s not watching. If Madeline turns us into fairies, we can search for her cookie charm while he’s busy.”

  Kirsty and Rachel ducked down behind the display counter, and Madeline popped out of Kirsty’s apron pocket. With a wave of her wand, she sent a puff of cookie-scented fairy dust over the girls! They instantly shrank to fairy-size, and beautiful wings unfurled from their shoulders in shimmering rainbow colors.

  “I love being a fairy!” said Rachel with a giggle. She did a somersault in the air and swooped underneath Kirsty.

  “Me, too,” said Kirsty, smiling at her best friend. “But right now we have to find that cookie charm — and time’s running out!”

  Before they could decide where to start the search, the noisy group from the lunch table dashed up to the Cookie Creations counter.

  “Hide!” whispered Madeline. “Quick, up here!”

  She led the girls to the Cookie Creations sign above the counter. They all perched on top of it. From there, they could see the heads of the noisy factory workers.

  They were all wearing green hats and bumping into one another, trying to get close to the counter.

  “Those factory workers have such enormous feet that I can see them from here,” Kirsty w
hispered.

  “I bet they’re goblins, too,” said Rachel. “Listen to the way they’re screeching!”

  “More cookies!” the goblins were shouting. “More cookies NOW!”

  “You’ve had enough,” replied the goblin baker with a frown. “The cookies are supposed to be for Jack Frost’s Candy Castle, remember? Look what I made to hang up on the castle walls.”

  He held up three cookies. He had decorated them as pictures for Jack Frost to display in the castle.

  “Show-off!” sneered the other goblins, sticking out their tongues.

  “I don’t care what you say,” shouted the goblin baker, sticking out his tongue, too. “I’m going to make a goblin cookie to hang up in Jack Frost’s throne room. He’ll be so happy with it that he’ll make me your boss!”

  The other goblins started making more faces at the baker.

  “I’ll tell him what you’ve been doing!” roared the baker.

  “You’re always telling on us!” one of them complained. “Tattletale!”

  He put his thumb to his nose and wiggled his fingers.

  “Go away!” the baker shouted. “I want to finish my cookie picture!”

  The other goblins stomped away, muttering to one another, and the baker gazed down at the gingerbread goblin.

  “I need some chocolate chips for the face,” the girls heard him say to himself. He hurried into the cookie kitchen.

  “Let’s follow him,” said Kirsty. “He’s making the delicious cookies, so I bet he has the charm.”

  The girls and Madeline quietly fluttered after him, keeping high above his head so he wouldn’t spot them. The sweet-smelling kitchen was warm. There were a few trays of gingerbread goblins cooling on the counter. Rachel, Kirsty, and Madeline watched the baker scurry over to the pantry. He pulled a bunch of keys from his pants pocket.