Ruby the Red Fairy (Rainbow Magic #1)

My daughter lovrd it aa a child and I ordered it for my now grown child because this last Christmas was probably my last due to cancer. This is the only mess up I've had with them but it was huge to me.

Our 6 year old daughter would roll her eyes (not sure where she learned that) whenever we'd mention reading. She got mildly excited when my wife and I would read to her, but she was always very reluctant about reading to us - and she never read by herself. When she would come home from 1st grade school, I'd ask her how her day was, what she did, and she would always mention playing the "fairy game" on the playground. I never asked for details, but when wandering the racks at a brick and mortar bookstore, I stumbled across "Ruby the Red Fairy". I bought it thinking our daughter would like it - it has fairies, the book is a bit advanced for her reading capability, but not too far ahead. I brought it home and she was bouncing-off-the-wall excited. Apparently, "The Rainbow Fairies" are the inspiration for the playground "fairy game" she played at school daily. Score one for Dad. She grabbed the book and jumped on the couch, snuggled in the pillows and over the next couple of hours would periodically ask the meanings and pronunciations of various words. She finished the book inside of a morning. She's since finished the entire 7-part series and I've ordered the next set of books - the "Weather Fairies". This book has been a huge stepping stone for her in terms of reading. She reads them over and over. When we go on car trips, she takes along a copy. And now she's started reading other books by herself and she loves story time at night. It's such a night and day difference over several months ago that it's hard to remember how hard "reading time" was with her not too long ago. As children's book go, these are pretty above average. The only thing that I noticed is that the plot seems to repeat heavily from book to book. But my daughter doesn't seem to notice. The characters are good role models for a 6 year old girl - the fairies are brave, honest and work together. My daughter has since become an avid reader and my wife and I are thrilled.

My first grader absolutely fell in love with the Rainbow Fairy series and is now onto the Weather Fairies. Lovely, light stories, they feature young girls (just like her) trying to save fairies and their magical world. These are perfect books for readers beginning chapter books.

Ruby the Red fairy is the first book in a series of 7 books about the Rainbow Fairies. The books that follow are Amber the Orange Fairy, Sunny the Yellow Fairy (she is also called Saffron in some editions; not sure why the publishers changed her name, but it is otherwise the same book), Fern the Green Fairy, Sky the Blue Fairy, Izzy the Indigo Fairy, and Heather the Violet Fairy. The seven fairies have been cast out of Fairy Land by nasty Jack Frost, and two human girls must find each of the fairies and reunite them with each other and return them to Fairy Land. Each individual book tells the complete story of the girls finding that particular fairy, but we won't know if the girls are successful in returning them all to Fairy Land until the 7th book. Is this great literature? No. Is it compelling to a five year old girl? Yes! Do compelling stories encourage a love of books? Yes! Not only are these books perfect read-alouds, they are also terrific books for young readers ready to read chapter books on their own. My kindergarten daughter is a good reader, able to read beginning readers like Frog and Toad on her own. She was getting through each such book quickly, yet chapter books like Magic Tree House books were still a bit too much for her. Then we discovered these Rainbow Fairy books, and they have been the perfect stepping stone for her into chapter books. There is a lot of white space on the page, so the page isn't crowded with words, and there are illustrations on every page spread, too. It's been a thrill for her and for me to have her sit down and read an entire chapter book all by herself, then be eager to move on to the next one. She's proudly and excitedly showing the books to her friends, and now they want to read them, too!

My 5 year old independent reader is just in love with the Rainbow Fairies!! She loves having a series of books all her own, and is eagerly awaiting the publication of the next one. She even shared them with a friend who is 8, and now the friend is also hooked. Great reading for little girls.

My 6 year old is an advanced reader, but I wasn't sure she had the attention span for chapter books. She loves rainbows and fairies though, so this series was a perfect start. There are a few line drawings on the pages to distract from the fact it's a chapter book, and the stories in the series are engaging. There are also some "cliff-hangers" at the end of some chapters that have even ME clamoring to read on! After wondering if chapter books would seem too daunting, it was exhilarating to reach the end of a chapter and have no doubt we'd just HAVE to read on to see what happened! To me, this is one of the great joys of reading. We took it slow the first night, with my daughter reading one page, me one page, then her one more page (her idea) and off to bed. As an avid reader, I am proud to say that the next day when she awoke, she brought the book downstairs with her and sat on the couch and read the rest of the book by herself! That's the best testimonial I can give. This experience has sort of initiated her into the world of reading something other than picture books... I have a feeling other chapter books will not seem daunting to her now. This is a great series to get girls interested in reading. I'm glad we bought all three available books at once! She's almost done with the third book and can't wait for the next.