These two books are stories set in the Discworld aimed at younger readers, but really only so in the sense that the heroine is 11 years old. They star Tiffany Aching, a very determined young girl, and the Nac Mac Feegle, small blue drunk fairies, who live to swear and fight anything in their path (and each other if they get bored). In The Wee Free Men, Tiffany, with the aid of the Nac Mac Feegle, fights the Queen of the Fairies to retrieve her baby brother. In A Hat Full of Sky, she is apprenticed to a witch, and faces a more terrifying internal battle with a drifting spirit called a hiver.
"Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colours. And the people there see you differently too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving."
(A Hat Full of Sky, p349)
These are just as enjoyable to read as an adult, I think. Pratchett's skill and love of language shines through in all his work, no matter who its written for. Tiffany is a wonderful character - exactly the sort of person I wanted to be when I was younger (and in some ways, how I still want to be). I think these two novels, along with the later Discworld books, are some of Pratchett's best work.
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