Fairy Houses

My daughter received the video about this book as a gift a couple of years ago - it has been a favorite. I finally bought the book and she was thrilled just as much with it. It's not often that a book sparks something in a child that drives them outside to be in nature, but this book does. This is an extremely unique book with fabulous text and art work. It is our all-time favorite, most inspirational childrens book!

I chose this book for my six- and four-year-old stepdaughters; they love fairies so I suspected it would be a hit. What I didn't expect was that my eleven-year-old stepson was also fascinated by the book and proceeded to serve as the primary architect for the fairy houses that all three built! I'm always happy to find something that spurs a creative family activity, so this was perfect. My husband and I also loved the artwork. I'm pleased to find out that this is a series, so I'll be looking for more of the titles.

We are eager to purchase this book after viewing "Kristen's Fairy House" which is the video story of how author/illustrator Tracy Kane developed the story and drawings for "Fairy Houses". It has earned the "Gold Award" for Parent's Choice and rave reviews from Parenting Magazine, Family Fun magazine and Publishers Weekly. In the video author Tracy Kane takes her niece Kristin to an island off the coast of New England to a magical wood where the fairy adventures are inspired. There are lots of child-friendly things to see and experience and one feels almost as if you're along for the ride and waiting to see what happens next. It would seem based upon the credits that this film was a family venture and if the book reflects even a sprinkling of fairy dust's worth of the effort that went into the film it too will be a winner....

Fairy Houses is an inspiration! Author and illustrator, Tracy Kane, has built in this book a magical world that glows and twinkles. Encouraging children to take an active part in nature, the book suggests how each of us might take found objects like twigs, a feather, perhaps some seashells, and setting them up against a tree or beside a brook can create a magical imaginary world that fairies visit when we are not looking. Kids of all ages can delight in this material, the stuff of the sweetest of our dreams. Fairy Houses is filled with imagination, beauty, fantasy and hope.

Tracy Kane's Fairy Houses is an enchanting children's picturebook that answers the question, "What would happen if you built a house for fairies to live in? Would they come to visit?" Young Kristin is determined to build a fairy house, and Nature itself becomes involved in the construction. The warm, full-color artwork of forests and butterflies give the pages the feel of the outdoors, but perhaps the highlight of the story is the set of general instructions that children can follow to build fairy houses of their own: "You should only use natural materials to build the house. Dry grasses, pebbles, sticks, shells, feathers, seaweed, pinecones and nuts are just some of the materials you can use."