Scary Fairies <small>by Dugald Steer</small>

The gooseberry bush by the garden fence
Is a place you should never go.
For down by the roots of the greenest shoots,
The fairy babies grow.

Now fairy babies are rather fierce.
For up your legs they'll climb,
And pull on our hair and your nose and your ears,
A hundred or more at a time.

The above lines are from the rhyming poem which tells and warns of some rather mean and mischievous fairies which, as ever one knows, lurk just outside your yard in the weeds, forest, trees and flower patches. When you leave the end of the garden path, at night when the moon is out...well there is a very good chance you will encounter these less than friendly and pleasant little imps.

This work, despite what the School Library Journal tells us -- goodness, those folks must perpetually wake up on the wrong side of the bed...what a bunch of crabby individuals they are -- has a whole lot going for it. First there is the somewhat fun and soothing rhyme that makes up the entire text. It is cute, funny and tells a very neat little story that, if read right, children love to listen to. Secondly, and this is important, the art work in this one is absolutely fantastic. Each page is filled with forest scenes which are extremely detailed. Mingled with the leaves, weeds, trees, toadstools, vines, flowers and the like are some very well drawn mean little fairy people. I say mean, and they are a bit scary looking, but they are rather cute at the same time.

It should be noted that there are exactly four holograms, rather small ones, included in the book which can be viewed through cut-outs. They add a bit of novelty to the book but were actually quite unnecessary as the books stands quite well without them. The little ones seem to enjoy them though so I suppose they do not do much harm. I tend to more or less ignore these holograms as they neither add nor subtract to the overall work.

The Fairies are rather creepy little things, some quite mean looking and scary. Again, the little ones delight in these drawings and I have watched several spends quite some time, day after day, deeply studying these little creatures. I must admit they are quite fascinating and adults will enjoy seeing them also.

A crooked old fairy with only three teeth
May invite you home for some stew.
But don't ever go, `cause you never know...
The stew could turn out to be you!

Just say, "Not today!" and walk right away.
Even though you are hungry and hot.
You're sticky and icky, in deed of a bath,
But you don't want it to be in her pot!

Kids get quite a giggle out of these little rhymes, in particularly if they are read with a bit of play acting on the reader's part.

I am rather fond of this particular genre of children's books. They are exposed to some very nice writing, very, very good art, get to have their already vast imaginations stimulated even further, and have a very good time while doing so.

I like this particular work and very much recommend this one.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

Scary Fairies