Lending

Most of the other flower fairies books hold their strength simply in their illustrations; their poems are weak and not particularly engaging. Yet, this alphabet breaks the trend, as Barker's short poems pair well with their fairies and read like a true alphabet book. Her fairies have always shown personality, but even more is revealed when we get language that matches the visuals properly. Even more surprising is that Barker engages the reader directly, breaking the fourth wall if you will, by discussing the hard choice of flower and fairy for some of the letters for which there is abundance. This breaks the narrative flow of the book a touch, but besides the illustrations which tie everything loosely together Barker has never really concerned herself with "story." WE're almost at the finale of the collection of flower fairy books, so I'll be sad to see them finish, but I'm sure I'll revisit these many times again for inspiration! ( )

uitg 1985

Cicely Mary Barker's flower fairies are justly praised for their beauty and the accuracy of the flowers. Children might enjoy her poems more than I do.

These are the fairies that appear in the Flower Fairy Alphabet:

Apple Blossom fairy
Bugle fairy
Columbine fairy
Double Daisy fairy
Fuchsia fairy
(show all 25 items)
Gorse fairy
Herb Twopence fairy
Iris fairy
Jasmine fairy
Kingcup fairy
Lily-of-the-Valley fairy
Mallow fairy
Nasturtium fairy
Orchis fairy
Pansy fairy
Queen of the Meadow fairy
Ragged Robin fairy
Strawberry fairy
Thrift fairy
the U fairy
Vetch fairy (kindly shares his flowers with the U fairy because he has no flowers)
Wallflower fairy
the X fairy (teases the Yellow Deadnettle fairy because he has no flowers)
Yellow Deadnettle fairy
Zinnia fairy

Wonderful, whimsical world of Cicely Mary Barker. ( )