Not all is as it seems in the quaint village of Derry Dell . Who else is missing and can the strange little person Gladly Yarble help? Sounds like a job for the Fairy Inspection Agency – don’t you think?

To find out what’s happening, you’ll have to read the first installment of a new book, The Fairy Inspection Agency, written by Ann Gregory James. Using a pseudonym, because the author explains that she really becomes a different person when she’s writing about Derry Dell, James intends to publish the book later this year.

In collaboration with James, Capital Parent Newspaper will be posting a new chapter of the book each month during 2009. Kids can visit this site monthly to download each new chapter. As well, they can chat directly with the author by logging on to The Fairy Inspection Agency blog at http://thefairyinspectionagency.blogspot.com.

Final details are still in the works, but James and Capital Parent will be inviting kids to enter a contest that will see the lucky winner designing the artwork for the cover of the book. Of course, with only a chapter a month, it will take several months for contestants to form their mental picture of Derry Dell and its unusual residents. Some of the net proceeds from the eventual book sales will be donated to CHEO.

The idea for the book came from the first-time author’s son over two years ago. “One year he couldn’t decide what to do for the Halloween party at his school, so he wore an old blazer, tie and fedora and went as a Detective at ‘The Fairy Inspection Agency.’ One of his buddies thought it was a great idea, so he dressed up like a detective or Private Eye too. They made cards that had FIA (Fairy Inspection Agency) on them and passed them out at school.”

She adds that characters in the book emphasize the importance of family and our sense of belonging. Story events in Derry Dell involve Fairies and Pixies, who are sometimes helpful and sometimes troublesome, and show how past actions affect the present. As one of the characters observes, “you can’t face the future if you’re looking backwards.”

After listening to a CBC radio program on how Charles Dickens shipped chapters of his new books to New York at intervals, and how today’s young readers waited for the next Harry Potter books, James decided it was a good way to create anticipation. Book One of The Fairy Inspection Agency is aimed primarily at girls aged 9 to 12, but has received a favourable response from a few boys who have reviewed the story so far.

Take a peek at the first two chapters here - the author has already started writing Book Two – so go online to her blog with your thoughts and they may help shape the story of the next book!