Scary Fairies

The gooseberry bush by the garden fence Is a place you should never go. For down by the roots of the greenest shoots, The fairy babies grow. Now fairy babies are rather fierce. For up your legs they'll climb, And pull on our hair and your nose and your ears, A hundred or more at a time. The above lines are from the rhyming poem which tells and warns of some rather mean and mischievous fairies which, as ever one knows, lurk just outside your yard in the weeds, forest, trees and flower patches. When you leave the end of the garden path, at night when the moon is out...well there is a very good chance you will encounter these less than friendly and pleasant little imps. This work, despite what the School Library Journal tells us, (Goodness, those folks must perpetually wake up on the wrong side of the bed...what a bunch of crabby individuals they are),this work has a whole lot going for it. First there is the somewhat fun and soothing rhyme that makes up the entire text. It is cute, funny and tells a very neat little story that, if read right, children love to listen to. Secondly, and this is important, the art work in this one is absolutely fantastic. Each page is filled with forest scenes which are extremely detailed. Mingled with the leaves, weeds, trees, toadstools, vines, flowers and the like are some very well drawn mean little fairy people. I say mean, and they are a bit scary looking, but they are rather cute at the same time. It should be noted that there are exactly four holograms, rather small ones, included in the book which can be viewed through cut-outs. They add a bit of novelty to the book but were actually quite unnecessary as the books stands quite well without them. The little ones seem to enjoy them though so I suppose they do not do much harm. I tend to more or less ignore these holigrams as they neither add nor subtract to the overall work. The Fairies are rather creepy little things, some quite mean looking and scary. Again, the little ones delight in these drawings and I have watched several spends quite some time, day after day, deeply studying these little creatures. I must admit they are quite fascinating and adults will enjoy seeing them also. A crooked old fairy with only three teeth May invite you home for some stew. But don't ever go, `cause you never know... The stew could turn out to be you! Just say, "Not today!" and walk right away. Even though you are hungry and hot. You're sticky and icky, in deed of a bath, But you don't want it to be in her pot! Kids get quite a giggle out of these little rhymes, in particularly if they are read with a bit of play acting on the reader's part. I am rather fond of this particular genre of children's books. They are exposed to some very nice writing, very, very good art, get to have their already vast imaginations stimulated even further, and have a very good time while doing so. I like this particular work and very much

This book has so many neat things about it. The story itself is great...my daughter is six, and she was caught up in it and just a tiny bit scared until she got to laugh at the end. The pages are thick quality paper with a very sturdy cover...this will last! The best part of all is the holograms of some of the fairies...even my 13 yr old son wanted the book just for those! An all round excellent book and worth every penny...buy it for anyone with kids!

I got this book for my three-year-old son. The poem is interesting but he was more preoccupied with the book's holograms. This was a first time he had seen one and so he kept asking me to help him "find a hole to get in" it... and was pretty surprised to find nothing on the other side of the page. Bottom line, it is a fun book with beautiful illustrations. I would recommend it for any age.

I am a collector of faery books and this is a must have. Each page is fully illustrated with those naughty fairies. The story is delightfully written, and the book has several faery holograms. A delightful addition to any bookshelf, young or old. A wonderful keepsake!

The day after the Sydney Gay Mardis Gras 1998 ,i was walking in the new town district and saw this book, considering i had spent the last 24 hours with a bunch of SCARY FAIRIES it seemed the perfect buy, took it back to my hotel and laughed til i could laugh no more, the best bit was when "they danced and danced til they were sick" summed up Mardis Gras for me the funny thing was i live in London and the publisher is just round the corner but for some reason i have not seen book in uk. by the way after reading said book i went back next day and bought the rest they had in shop hours of entertainment for all my freinds i am 3