By Betty G. Birney
Faber £5.99

Casey Peabody is on the lowest rung of the school heirarchy and is fine just keeping out of the way and dressing and acting like a tomboy. She is the star player on the girls football team, but that is about all her
life exists of. Things change when on a visit to a yard sale with her dad a rusty old box is picked up which actually deposits a Medieval Princess into the middle of the family. There are some adjustments to be made with the arrival of Eglatine, and also her charming, but not so clever apprentice wizard, Alaric, who can pop back and forwards in time, but has difficulty in getting his mistress back home.

This scores well on Casey's angstometer as she fears for her pretty low esteem being plunged even further as she expects Egg to drop her in it repeatedly. surprisingly Egg begins to fit in day by day and soon becomes a fashion setting popular student. In the mix is Casey learning to appreciate this, although the rest of the football team is not up to her level of ability, and some lessons in becoming a team player are on the horizon.
Gran is the glue that holds this family together and she is a great character, putting a protective wing around anyone at any moment, but also nudging them forward.
Casey has an awareness of boys and is torn between a growing fondness for Ric and also one of the coolest boys in school - Colin.
Overall this is surprisingly engaging, which adds a lot of fun to the fish out of water genre. A small strike for equality is also made with Egg daring to cheer on (as a cheerleader) the girls soccer team, as well as the boys more traditional sports.