When a cheerful halfling, Pansy, decides she needs to leave home and explore, it seems perfect to move into her grandmother’s cottage. Just like all granny cottages in fairytales, this one stands alone in a wood. Pansy has title to it in the will. To her surprise and displeasure, it’s already inhabited. HOW TO LOSE A GOBLIN IN TEN DAYS seems to be ideal for younger YA readers – I’m not sure if that’s where the writer was aiming.

Foraging for fungi is second nature to halflings, but having a truffle stolen by a pig that helps a goblin, Ren, is a contentious start. They would find it hard to build a friendship anyway, given their races are at odds. Goblins dwell in caves and eat moss and ferns; they take pay from dark sorcerers and steal the odd cow or sheep. Everyone knows this. Ren is determined that they have been caretaking the cottage since Pansy’s Granny died and they’re not going anywhere. Can they manage to share? Pansy hopes to drive out Ren, but it may not work that way.

The author calls Ren by ‘they’ throughout, which is fine if that’s what the character wants, but it does lead to a lot of confusion for the reader between they Ren and they meaning halflings and they meaning goblins. The meeting and constant querying of racially-built assumptions is well written. I note though, that in other similar fantasies, a visit to the goblin market sparks the action, whereas in this one, that’s the high point of the action. Conflict is almost all close at hand and polite, and much of it can be resolved by baking cookies.

HOW TO LOSE A GOBLIN IN TEN DAYS by Jessie Sylva contains some fun lessons for middle grade folks, with an interesting setting and plenty of food for thought. There’s a mix of real and magical plants. But don’t eat the deadly fungi. That’s a good lesson in itself.