Child of Faerie, Child of Earth [Hardcover]

Jane Yolen (Author), Jane Dyer (Illustrator)

Book Description

Grade Level: P and up

According to certain tales, faeries leave the underworld once a year to join in a faerie ring beneath the moonlight. On this magical night, a faerie boy meets a child of the earth and the two become friends forever. Luminous full-color paintings by award-winning artist Jane Dyer add to the magic.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-3?On Hallow's Eve, "when widows grieve," a faerie boy and a mortal girl meet and briefly share one another's worlds. The human girl spends an enchanted night dancing and dining in elven halls, but refuses the faerie's offer to make her his queen. In turn, the boy with wings enjoys a day of barnyard activities and a midday meal with the child of earth but he chooses to return to his eldritch realm. However, they exchange tokens of their friendship before parting?a nourishing egg from her to him and an ethereal feather from him to her. They visit with one another "now and then" into old age. This gentle story of an unusual friendship is recounted in challenging vocabulary and melodic rhyme; careful phrasing favors neither earth nor faerie but paints evocative images of both. Dyer's watercolors completely fill the pages opposite the poetry and offer bucolic settings of sunlit golds and nocturnal blues for the sturdy, round-faced children. Share this one-on-one to encourage appreciation of the delicate details, such as the snippets of illustrations pulled from the full-page spreads to accompany the text. This simple tale is appropriate for a younger audience than this talented team's The Girl in the Golden Bower (Little, Brown, 1994), and will appeal to listeners willing to sacrifice drama for atmosphere.?Carol Ann Wilson, Westfield Memorial Library, NJ
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ages 5^-8. On Halloween, when magic is in the air, a little girl encounters a fairy child who takes her to his magical world and pleads with her to stay. Knowing she doesn't belong, she refuses, convincing her fairy guide to return with her to her home and travel for a time "over the human road." Yolen adds some sweet details to a story with a familiar folktale ring, presenting all in pleasing poetry that slips easily off the tongue for reading aloud. Dyer's illustrations are a study in colorful contrast: the quaint, apple-cheeked girl with a circle of flowers in her hair; the fairy boy in diaphanous green with sun-dappled wings; a landscape bright with brilliant harvest colors; an enchanted hall "bedecked in candlelight." A story about a friendship that stretches across some unusual boundaries. Stephanie Zvirin

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers; 1st edition (October 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316968978
• ISBN-13: 978-0316968973
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #586,547 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born and raised in New York City, Jane Yolen now lives in Hatfield, Massachusetts. She attended Smith College and received her master's degree in education from the University of Massachusetts. The distinguished author of more than 170 books, Jane Yolen is a person of many talents. When she is not writing, Yolen composes songs, is a professional storyteller on the stage, and is the busy wife of a university professor, the mother of three grown children, and a grandmother. Active in several organizations, Yolen has been on the Board of Directors of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, was president of the Science Fiction Writers of America from 1986 to 1988, is on the editorial board of several magazines, and was a founding member of the Western New England Storytellers Guild, the Western Massachusetts Illustrators Guild, and the Bay State Writers Guild. For twenty years, she ran a monthly writer's workshop for new children's book authors. In 1980, when Yolen was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree by Our Lady of the Elms College in Chicopee, Massachusetts, the citation recognized that "throughout her writing career she has remained true to her primary source of inspiration--folk culture." Folklore is the "perfect second skin," writes Yolen. "From under its hide, we can see all the shimmering, shadowy uncertainties of the world." Folklore, she believes, is the universal human language, a language that children instinctively feel in their hearts. All of Yolen's stories and poems are somehow rooted in her sense of family and self. The Emperor and the Kite, which was a Caldecott Honor Book in 1983 for its intricate papercut illustrations by Ed Young, was based on Yolen's relationship with her late father, who was an international kite-flying champion. Owl Moon, winner of the 1988 Caldecott Medal for John Schoenherr's exquisite watercolors, was inspired by her husband's interest in birding. Yolen's graceful rhythms and outrageous rhymes have been gathered in numerous collections. She has earned many awards over the years: the Regina Medal, the Kerlan Award, the World Fantasy Award, the Society of Children's Book Writers Award, the Mythopoetic Society's Aslan Award, the Christopher Medal, the Boy's Club Jr. Book Award, the Garden State Children's Book Award, the Daedalus Award, a number of Parents' Choice Magazine Awards, and many more. Her books and stories have been translated into Japanese, French, Spanish, Chinese, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Afrikaans, !Xhosa, Portuguese, and Braille. With a versatility that has led her to be called "America's Hans Christian Andersen," Yolen, the child of two writers, is a gifted and natural storyteller. Perhaps the best explanation for her outstanding accomplishments comes from Jane Yolen herself: "I don't care whether the story is real or fantastical. I tell the story that needs to be told."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Peace & Beauty for a Child to Learn, June 8, 2001

By 

Brey A. (Sanford, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Child of Faerie, Child of Earth (Hardcover)

Nearing age five my son decided to express his growing passion for all things Fairy and I searched high and low for gifts to nurture his appreciation of peace and magic. Near the dawn of my quest I discovered this book and immediately ordered it because other reviews were inspiring and the cover art showed a boy fairy (a rare find!). My son loved the book and wanted to share it with all his friends and family. Nearing age six, he still enjoys the book and fondly tells others of the day his mom came in to teach a lesson with it to his kindergarten class. You can recreate the easy lesson with your own children. Simply take two sheets of construction paper and fold them in half, then staple. Give it a purple cover (Child of Fairy) and a green back (Child of Earth). Let the children decorate each with pictures of earth children (photos or drawings of themselves and friends) and fairy children (stickers or drawings of imagined fairy children...glitter is essential!). Next have them devote a couple of pages to creating environments for the children (we used leaves, moss, and twigs glued on for earth kids and bright feathers, glitter, and sequins for fairy kids). Finally devote the two inner-most pages to others who are different from themselves. We cut out pictures in magazines of people of different ages,races, and genders as well as places near and far from "home." This serves as an excellent tool to discuss respecting differences with small children. Enjoy!

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As Good as It Gets, July 12, 2004

By 

Trent Dougherty "Socratic" (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Child of Faerie, Child of Earth (Paperback)

This is one of my all-time favorites. As the title suggests, it is a true faerie tale. In this case a human-child and faerie-child chance to meet and each tries to persuade the other to cross the divide, each making an experimental sojourn. Very well illustrated by one of our favorite illustrators--Jane Dyer--and written in a very nice lyric verse. Here's where the girl declines the offer of the Prince.

She looked around the faerie hall
Beneath the hollow hill.
And all the glamour round her spun
To bend her to his will.
But with a sigh, she shook her head.
"That's not by bread
And drink," she said.
"I cannot on your food be fed
And still my needs fulfill."

There are 28 pages, 14 sets of facing pages with one of these lyrics on the left with a small picture above. Opposite is a full-page illustration, many of which are among the very best quality in Children's Literature I've seen.

Sadly, the hardback is no longer in print, but good used copies are usually available. There's no new-age nonsense in this book, just good old-fashioned mythopoetics.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A delight to read to children, September 28, 2004

By 

Susanna Duffy (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Child of Faerie, Child of Earth (Hardcover)

Where do children learn the love of reading ? By being read to of course, Child of faerie, Child of earth is perfect to read aloud. The illustrations are gorgeous and the rhymes that accompany the pictures are sweet and lyrical. The old story is here, the meeting of mortal and faerie - this is literature for young children at its best. And it's a delight to read this to children ! Highly recommended