The Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett. I love Discworld, and this is one of Pratchett's funniest. This is the first of the five Tiffany Aching novels; the later ones include I Shall Wear Midnight and The Shepherd's Crown. Tiffany is in for a long and eventful career as a witch, but in The Wee Free Men, she's nine years old and just discovering hints of her power. Tiffany inadvertently becomes kelda (clan leader) for the Nac Mac Feegles, otherwise known as the Wee Free Men. They're six-inch-tall blue fairies, whose main talents are drinking, fighting, and stealing. They have names like Rob Anybody, Daft Wullie, and No'-as-big-as-Medium-Sized-Jock-but-bigger-than-Wee-Jock-Jock. The Fairy Queen previously stole the Baron's son Roland, and now she's snatched Tiffany's annoying toddler brother, Wentworth. Tiffany has to risk going to Fairyland to retrieve them, armed only with a frying pan. Never fear, the Wee Free Men will...er..."help." Best moment: the Queen confronts the Wee Free Men with their worst nightmare: lawyers. They're informed that the charges include Making an Affray, Causing a Public Nuisance, Being Found Drunk, Being Found Very Drunk, Using Offensive Language (taking into account 97 instances of Using Language That Was Probably Offensive If Anyone Else Could Understand It), and Malicious Lingering. Trigger warning for cruelty to people and animals. This Challenge Killed the Bookworm: Fairies are bad.
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