The Wizard, the Fairy, and the Magic Chicken is a children's book written by Helen Lester and illustrated by Lynn Munsinger.
A wizard, a fairy, and a magic chicken live in the same place, and spend a lot of time jealously trying to one-up the others' magic. When their efforts have unexpected consequences, will they learn to work together?
This book includes examples of the following tropes:
- An Aesop: Cooperation is better than jealousy and fighting.
- Book Ends: The book starts and ends with a line about the relationships of the titular trio.
- Didn't Think This Through: The wizard, the fairy, and the magic chicken each create a monster during one of their attempts to outdo the others. Unfortunately, they didn't consider whether the monsters might try to attack them.
- Fire-Forged Friends: The wizard, the fairy, and the magic chicken become good, if argumentative, friends after having to fight the monsters they created by combining their power.
- Forced Transformation: During one of their one-upmanship sessions, the wizard changes a pig into a bicycle, which the fairy changes into a bowl of soup and the magic chicken transforms into a singing frog.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The titular trio agree for the first time in their lives when the monsters they created turn on them, and cooperate for the first time to get rid of them.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: The last line of the book tells the reader that the wizard, the fairy, and the magic chicken quarreled a lot but had a very strong friendship.