Customer Reviews

The Book of Fairies

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One could as easily buy this book for the illustrations as for the stories. Either one justifies the purchase price while the other makes this book a prize. While I was trying to read the book, my 12-year-old daughter kept taking it from my desk to read a story at bedtime, and my best friend, who is an artist, wanted to borrow it to study the drawings and paintings.

"The Book of Fairies" begins with an excerpt from "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens" by J. M. Barrie. "Lock-out Time" is a charming story which introduces readers to the fairy world. As Mr. Barrie says, "One of the great differences between the fairies and us is that they never do anything useful." He goes on to explain the origin of fairies, "When the first baby laughed for the first time, his laugh broke into a million pieces and they all went skipping about. That was the beginning of fairies." I had heard that saying before but never knew from where it came. This story is about the fairy ball that goes on in Kensington Gardens once the gates are locked. The story came alive for me because of its references to things one might find today in Kensington Gardens. One such reference is to "the boards which tell at what time the gardens are to close today." The story tells of how the fairies change the times written on the boards to confuse people. Some 15 or so years ago my husband was visiting London and took an afternoon off to read and sun himself in Kensington Gardens. He fell asleep (perhaps he was sprinkled with fairy dust) and missed lock-out time. When he awoke the gates were locked, and he, along with a few other enchanted ones, had to scramble over the fences. If only he had stayed for the ball.

The book includes stories the reader may know, such as the oft retold "Thumbelina" by Hans Christian Andersen and the eerily sensual "Goblin Market" by Chistina Rosetti. There are also less familiar ones such as "The Fairies" by William Allingham, which must have influenced the contemporary "Mogwogs on the March" by Olivier Dunrea, and "The Brownie o' Ferne-Den" retold by Virginia Haviland, whose premise may be recognizable by Girl Scouts. My daughter's favorite was "Fairer-than-a- Fairy" by Charlotte-Rose Caumont de la Force.

And then, there are the pictures. There are paintings with rich vibrant colors and details which are a feast for the eye and an inspiration for the imagination, and there are pen and ink drawings with both the detail and precision of fine etchings and the whimsy of fairy tales. Click on the link at "Look inside this book!" on the book's ... page to see a couple of the paintings, although bites and pixels don't do justice to the artist's paper work.

Michael Hague also selected and illustrated "The Book of Dragons". That book does for dragons what this book does for fairies. I strongly recommend it as well and for much the same reasons as I do "The Book of Fairies".

Linda Murphy
Children's Editor of the Writers Hood
...

This is a lovely collection of classic fairy tales, made wonderful by Michael Hague's illustrations. Like all of his earlier books, the illustrations just leap off the page and make it hard to turn the pages. I literally marveled at these illustrations and bought it even though the stories were geared for a younger child than I was buying it for. It is hard to imagine anyone not loving this book.

I bought this book for my 10 yr old niece who still can see the faery magic and I now plan to buy one for myself.
Wonderful stories and descriptions of different faery are surrounded buy enchanting artwork.
This book is appropriate for any age!

VERY INTENSE. YOU WILL LOVE THIS BOOK , YOU WILL ALSO NEED TO GET MICHEAL HAGUE'S MAGICIAL WORLD OF UNICORNS. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPOINTED.

My sister was overjoyed to receive this book. Mr. Hague is a favorite artist of hers. A nice book to add to her collection.

I bought this book for my 4 year old granddaughter, but will definitely not give iot to her for a few years. It has amazing illustrations, but some of them are quite scary and creepy! The text is also not suitable for a small child. All in all, it is a beautiful book and I would recommend it for an older child or any adult that appreciates Michael Hague's fantastic surreal illustarations.

I bought this book as a Christmas gift for my 9 yr old daughter. When I got the book I momentarily thought about keeping it for myself because the illustrations were so beautiful. My daughter loves it too, and it has inspired some very creative drawings and fairy stories. Highly recommended.