Some favorites of DD, who is pretty sensitive and loves cats and fairies:

Cobble Street Cousins, Cynthia Rylant; 550/600 Lexile, VERY gentle and sweet. Girly. Her Lighthouse Family books are also great and good for both genders.

Fairy Realm series, Emily Rodda (590 L)--much better than the dreaded Rainbow Magic books

The Night Fairy, Laura Amy Schlitz (630L)--this is that extremely rare thing, a truly quality book about fairies...DD read it in one sitting, completely mesmerized

The Unicorn�s Secret series, Kathleen Duey (420-510L)--nice historicalish detail, gentle, easy

The Cats of Cuckoo Square, Adele Geras (4.1-4.6 BL)--great for the cat-obsessed, seemed to be of nice quality, sequels available

The Fairy Rebel, Lynne Banks (5th grade level?)--Banks also wrote the Indian in the Cupboard, but this one may appeal more to girls

Rumer Godden has many really amazing, special books that can be hard to find. DD really loved The Story of Holly and Ivy, The Fairy Doll, and Candy Floss. The Mousewife is also good, with a rather strong feminist message. Be cautious, though, because many of her adult books are about children and sometimes they get put in the kids' section when they don't really belong there.