Forest Secrets

This book came highly recommended by a friend. My granddaughter and I had such a great time reading this story together and we have already started planning our own fairy houses. We drew pictures of a fairy house and she entertained herself all the way back to her home by coloring and decorating her house and the fairy she had flying around it. As a teacher, I love books that awaken the imagination in children and this book certainly does and it inspires me to think of the fun we will have making fairy houses in the spring.

Admirers of the very popular Fairy House books and video by Tracy Kane will be thrilled with the latest addition to the series. Forest Secrets joins Kristen's Fairy House, Fairy Houses, Fairy Boat, and Fairy Flight as the first chapter book in the group. It is a delightful mystery set in the seacoast town of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Kane and Sanders weave an intricate and spellbinding adventure, combining local history with fairy mystery and newfound friendship with respect for land and legacy. The illustrations are an integral part of the story and enliven the it beautifully. I highly recommend Forest Secrets to parents, elementary school teachers, librarians, and fairy house builders of all ages!

My grandson loved books in the Fairy House Series and the fun of building his own little creations in the trees and by the lake. As we read Forest Secrets together, he was eager to begin each chapter to see new pictures, especially the discovered fairy houses, and to hear the next part of the tale. This book has beautifully crafted language and characters that prompt interesting discussions. Forest Secrets is a great book for a child or class to enjoy reading, a treasure to share as a read-aloud. We hope "detectives" Kate and Luke will be back soon with another Fairy House Mystery!

As a former elementary teacher, I feel this is an outstanding chapter book for seven to ten year olds. Having wonderful illustrations, it would also be a great "read aloud" for younger children. It is fast moving, combining mystery, conflict, parent/child relationships and connects children to nature. It will encourage children to think about the world in a broader way. I highly recommend this for classroom use, as well as for an "individual read".

Nicely illustrated with occasional black-and-white artwork, "Forest Secrets" is the collaborative work of Tracy Kane and Kelly Sanders. The newest addition to their 'Fairy House' series of mysteries for young readers ages 7 to 11 and in grades 3 through 6, "Forest Secrets" finds Kate, a precocious eleven-year-old girl moving to a new home at the edge of a forest. That's where she and her neighbor Luke discover a fairy house hidden in a tree trunk, as well as a clue that leads the children to still more fairy houses! The forest is home to an enchanted and enchanting world hidden from the mundane world. But that fairy world is threatened by a land developer and the problem of how to save the fairies and their houses is now up to Kate and Luke to solve -- if they can. Very highly recommended for both school and community library collections, "Forest Secrets" is charming, original, entertaining, and superbly well crafted from beginning to end.