Magic Sucks (The Fairy Gifts, #1)

Every kid wishes for magic, but not Miriam Mermelstein. She wished for something real, but what turned out to be real, was not what she expected.

Magic Sucks is a humorous middle-grade fantasy about miscommunication between young people and adults. Not all of the adults in this story are human.

Mom was beaming. "I hate shopping," she said with passion. "Hmmm. How about a tube of ultra marine blue." I reached into my sampo and pulled out a tube of ultra marine blue watercolor. Mom took it into her cupped hands, hugging it to her chest. "Paint!" she whispered reverently.
"Miriam," Dad said. He didn't sound too thrilled about the shopping thing. "Take out a hundred dollar bill."
I did.
"My god." Mom blanched. "The mortgage."
"Not the mortgage, Rose. A ten-year old with an unlimited supply of hundred dollar bills."
"Maybe they're counterfeit?"
"Worse. A ten year old with an unlimited supply of counterfeit hundred dollar bills." They stopped talking and just stared at each other.
"I guess you don't want to see what else they gave me," I said.
"What!" they both shouted at me.

This is a story about a girl, her cat, her parents. . . and the entire kingdom of Ardu, which is located in the SE corner of Fairyland.