"I have a parking fairy. I'm fourteen years old. I can't drive. I don't like cars and I have a parking fairy."

A parking fairy? How undoos can you get? Charlie loves to play sports, especially basketball. She attends a sports-focused high school, and, oh yeah, she has a fairy. Most of the people in New Avalon have fairies. Some, like her friend Rochelle's personal shopping fairy are doos, while others, such as her own parking fairy are decidedly doxy. In Justine Larbalestier's How to Ditch Your Fairy, Charlie is doing everything she possibly can to lose her fairy and gain a new one. She has denied it the joy of parking for months in the hope that it would leave and she could move on with a fairy more suited to her needs and interests.

It sounds simple--don't get into a car, deny the fairy it's usefulness, and it will soon go away. However, everyone wants to use Charlie's fairy to find parking, so it's tricky to avoid being in a vehicle. Plus, she has to contend with earning demerits for all the missteps which she believes trying to rid herself of the parking fairy are causing. In order to erase the demerits, she must do hours of public service at the New Avalon Cemetery. During her service, she begins to spend time with Fiorenze, who happens to have an all boys like her fairy. While Charlie thinks she would like to have Fio's fairy, Fio is trying as hard as she can to avoid all boys and get her poxy fairy to leave her alone as well. Her plan seems to be working until Steffi enters the picture. The boy fairy works especially well on Steffi and Fio can't avoid him.

Since Fio's parents are fairy experts, the girls come up with a plan to rid themselves of their fairies once and for all. However, does it pay to ditch your fairy? Is one really better than another? Some crazy things happen throughout this book as Charile and Fio try to lose their fairies and Charlie tries to land Steffi, the pulchy boy of her dreams. I loved the fun vocabulary used in New Avalon--a glossary is included. As for me, I'm afraid I'm hoping for a pretty boring, but useful fairy who will pair and fold all the socks when I do the laundry!

How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier was published in 2008.