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Thinking recently about books and stories which have been shared across at least three generations of our family, I was reminded of the Flower Fairy books by Cicely Mary Barker.

It was a little like suddenly seeing the trees for the wood, as Flower Fairies have long been a favourite with my girls; they love dressing up as Flower Fairies, they’ve recently “wallpapered” their bedroom walls with Flower Fairy postcards, and with autumn now approaching, they’ve been using the dried seed heads in our garden as Flower Fairy wands; as you wave them about ‘fairy dust’ (seeds) fly out casting magic which will grow next year.

These seed heads come from poppies, love-in-the-mist, bluebells, Granny’s bonnets (also known as Columbine), teasels and cow parsley. Playing with these natural objects is such a delight – not only are they free, they are exquisite. (Poppies, love-in-the-mist and Granny’s Bonnets have the added advantage of being the easiest flowers to grow: Just throw the seeds onto soil and forget, and they’ll reward you returning year after year!)

Apart from the original collections of Flower Fairy poems and illustrations, my girls favourite book is How To Find Flower Fairies. With truly magical paper engineering, replete with hidden treasures, and lavish illustrations this is a book they treasure.

In searching for new Flower Fairy related books I came across some incredible illustrations that actually pre-date Barker’s Flower Fairies:

These images come from “A Floral Fantasy in an Old English Garden. Set forth in verses & coloured designs” by Walter Crane (1899) and I found them in the British Library’s Flickr stream.

Whilst they’re not designated as fairies, you can see why I made the connection with Barker’s illustrations. I particularly love that there are so many men in Crane’s illustrations.

A second book by Crane also caught my eye. The following illustrations are taken from “Flora’s Feast. A masque of flowers, penned & pictured by Walter Crane” (also first published 1899), and again found in the British Library’s Flickr stream.

How I would love to dress up as any one of these next World Book Day!

If your kids also love the Flower Fairies, here are some other resources that might inspire them:

Flower Fairy Fashions from Artful Kids – a free printable to use with flower petals to create your own real flower fairies!

How to press flowers by Red Ted Art

Fairy glitter wands (and a great book about fairness) – an old post on Playing by the book

Flower fairies made from wooden beads, artificial flowers and pipecleaners – a tutorial on Spoonful.

The Flower Fairy poems set to music – I haven’t got a copy of this myself, but it could be just right for dancing to.

What books have been shared across three or more generation of your family? If you HAD to be a flower fairy, which one would you chose to be?

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N is for Nest in High Places.

If you are pulled to this drawing, you are being asked to look at:  This card is the Graduation card. Congratulations! You have burst through old beliefs and limitations recently. It’s a new way of being. You can now fly to exotic places where you can dance with snakes!

REVERSE: You might be looking at your limitations this week and areas where you are using “in the box” vs. “out of the box” thinking.

Healing Fairy Alphabet deck available for pre-order here

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Fat & Bones: And Other Stories

Written by Larissa Theule
Illustrations by Adam S. Doyle
Carolrhoda Books            10/01/2014
978-1-4677-0825
Age 8 to 12           104 pages
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“Welcome to Bald’s Farm. Well, perhaps it’s not Bald’s Farm anymore. The old man has kicked the bucket, setting off a wave of conflict from the muddy pig pen to the tall wheat fields. In this darkly funny, slightly supernatural chain of tales, no creature is safe. Not Leonard Grey, a spider with sophisticated tastes. Not Esmeralda, a resentful one-footed pig. Not Tulip, a plant with a mean streak. And as for Bones, the old man’s son, and Fat, his winged rival? They’ll learn that danger lurks in the strangest of places . . .”

Opening

“Fat stood on the topmost branch of the tree, gazing in the direction of the farmhouse.”

The Story

Bones is the son of his father, the farm owner, who has most recently passed away. Fat is the former farmer’s fairy. They hate each other with a passion usually reserved for love. Now that Bone’s father has died, Bones will run the farm and his first priority: get rid of excess Fat.

In the span of one day, Bones tries to take out Fat, who tries to take out Bones. The pigs must move around on less and less feet to supply Bones with his favorite meal of pig foot stew. Pa may be dead, but Bones is still hungry. Ma, who is crying herself blind ventures out to the pigpen to grab a foot. Which one does she get?

Leonard’s family thinks he is the strangest spider that has ever spun a web. He cannot sneak and lives alone. He reads poetry while drinking herbal tea. Down below, Fat is making a new potion and needs the fresh blood of a spider. Leonard picks this moment to prove he can sneak. He cannot.

The Dead Man Song is for Priscilla Mae, the escaped spider for which Leonard has found love. She sees a group of animals honoring the dead farmer’s passing. Jimmy’s in Love pits mouse against mouse for the love of a mouse across the kitchen floor. Cat lurks on the floor, waiting for a wandering mouse. Sometimes he greets the mouse.

“Good afternoon, mousie-pie.”

Sometimes he pounces. Occasionally, that tricky cat does both. A mouse just never knows. Jimmy decides to take a chance but the floor is full of water—salty, tear stained water. Daisy and Tulip are the best of friends, sharing a puddle. All is well, until little sprouts move in and choke the water supply. Daisy and Tulip argue over how to get the sprouts to leave. The differences could mean the end of Tulip or Daisy.

Finally, Dog Alfred visits his Ma. Ma wants Alfred to go home. Alfred is sneezing. He has a cold. Alfred is upset, (and sets up Ma to speak a line of funny I love)

“Ma,” he said, [pleading voice] “I came all this way. I can’t go home now.”
“You live next door,” she said.

Review

Fat & Bones: And Other Stories is a fast read with only 104 pages. On those 104 pages, every word counts thanks to wonderful writing and editing. Each story has something to teach kids. In Leonard Grey III, Leonard learns it is okay to be yourself and love is better than alone. Fat feels morally obligated to care for his neighbors, even when he is the one who injured said neighbor. Be nice to others; get to know your neighbors; be responsible for each other. Esmeralda must decide which is more important, her jealousy and “revenge” or the good of the group. Fat and Bones is philosophy 101 for the middle grades.

I am not a fan of the cover. The moon grinning as it does is eerie, but that is the intent. The illustrations use dark tones of green, grey, and black. The image is often part of the shadow or obscured by it. I am sorry to say, I am not a fan of these illustrations. I love the individual stories. I enjoyed the way one story depends on the other. What happens in one story—or does not happen—affects another story, which affects another, and so on, yet none may be the wiser. Fat & Bones: And Other Stories play this out for kids in a way they can understand.

Humor plays a big part, easing what are actually dark themes of death, jealousy, war, and dejection into an enjoyable, funny story, odd as that may sound. Some kids may not like the darker, philosophical themes, while others will love them. I think the older the child, the more they will enjoy Fat and Bones.

These Seven stories, all intertwined, are a great read. Each story has a unique mix of characters from the Bald Farm. Each has their own plot, conflict, and resolution, yet the stories build on each other, need each other to live. There are many things kids can learn from these stories while reading a funny, heart-felt whole divided into parts that seem to stand on their own—because they do. Older kids will enjoy this book. Adults will enjoy this book. Fat & Bones: And Other Stories is the author’s debut.

FAT AND BONES AND OTHER STORIES. Test copyright © 2014 by Larissa Theule. Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Adam S. Doyle. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Carolrhoda Books, Minneapolis, MN.
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Purchase Fat and Bones at Amazon—B&N—Book Depository—Lerner Books—your favorite bookstore.
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Learn more about Fat & Bones: And Other Stories HERE
Meet the author, Larissa Theule, at her twitter page:    https://twitter.com/larissatheule
Meet the illustrator, Adam S. Doyle, at his website:    http://adamsdoyle.com
Find other middle grade novels at the Carolrhoda Books blog:   http://www.carolrhoda.blogspot.com/

Carolrhoda Books is a division of Lerner Publishing Group.

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Copyright © 2014 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews

Filed under: 4stars, Debut Author, Library Donated Books, Middle Grade Tagged: Adam S. Doyle, Charolrhoda Books, children's book reviews, Debut Book, fairies, farm life, feuds, Larissa Theule, Lerner Publishing Group, middle grade novel, pig foot stew

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Paperback: 205 pages
Publisher: Brigham Distributing (July 14, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0996015809
ISBN-13: 978-0996015806

 

Watch the intense new trailer!

Amazon  Barnes and Noble  Facebook  Twitter  Goodreads  Wattpad  Pinterest

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A big shout-out and thank you to Facebook Page The Pagan Coalition for sharing my Are you Part Fairy Quiz and the over 3000 shares! Must be a lot of us out there.

Coming from over there? Check out the Fairy Online School classes starting September 26th.

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Pre-orders have begun! Before I even announced it, I sold 10 decks. Gratitude! This is a limited run. Reserve your deck!

26 Major Arcana cards following the alphabet

Messages from the Forest and Nature

10 Bonus cards — Fairy Dresses

Many years in the making. Carefully picked lessons and varied whimsical designs. Deck estimated arrival: October. Totally original, nothing like it.

Click on the image above to buy and reserve your deck.

(Check and CCard payments also available. Email me at ronniannhall @ yahoo.com.)

The deck can also be found on my Art Studio Site STORE with other artwork to buy. It’s HERE.

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Enter to win a copy of Evil Fairies Love Hair, by Mary G. Thompson. Giveaway begins August 13, 2014, at 12:01 A.M. PST and ends September 12, 2014, at 11:59 P.M. PST.

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Evil Fairies Love Hair is Mary G. Thompson's third novel. She was a practicing attorney for more than seven years, before she moved to New York to write.

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Forest Online Camp starts this Friday! OMG! Since I can’t take all of you to the forest, I can bring the forest to you. Let’s have a campfire and roast marshmallows, and find ladybugs to talk to, while counting the new seeds in the trees. We will discover and play with our different “clairs” while nurturing our bodies with the sensual treasures found in Nature. I made a movie about the class and registration is open, so head on over to see and sign up HERE.

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Enter to win the eBook The Secret Fairy, by Andrea Beck Giveaway begins June 22, 2014, at 12:01 A.M. PST and ends July 21, 2014, at 11:59 P.M. PST.

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Children have so little freedom. Freedom beckons, but is also frightening. Perhaps this is why I loved reading so much when I was a child. From the safety of an armchair in the front room or beneath the covers of my bed, I could escape safely.

When I was seven I loved books in which magical items transported children directly from the security of home into another world - stories like Enid Blyton’s The Wishing Chair, in which an old chair intermittently grew wings and carried the children off on fantastical adventures. There was also Nesbit’s Phoenix and the Carpet, in which an old rug turns out to be a magic carpet - and let’s not forget  that wonderful flying bed in Bedknobs and Broomsticks - or The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, in which an old wardrobe provides the portal to freedom.

Part of the excitement lay in the fact that the children never quite knew when their adventure might take place. Nesbitt’s children always had to wait until their parents were out – and Blyton’s children had to keep going down to the playroom to see if the chair had grown wings. The appeal also lay in the fact that there was always the risk of mishap - along with the assumption that the children would return home safely.

When my friend’s daughter Elinor told me about a dream in which her bedroom flew, I was delighted. What a wonderful symbol her unconscious had conjured up to grant her both security and freedom! She could go wherever she wanted without leaving the safety of her bedroom – and what’s more, she would have everything she needed with her: a raincoat, a book to read, a sunhat or a swimsuit …


So, inspired by Elinor’s dream, I wrote The Flying Bedroom, a series of short adventures in which Elinor’s bedroom takes her to faraway places including a tropical island (from which her bedroom nearly floats away), the theatre (where Elinor reluctantly takes centre stage), and even to the moon (where Elinor helps a man called Niall fix his rocket). I’m hoping that The Flying Bedroom will satisfy children’s longing for both security and freedom – the tension that never really goes away, no matter how old we are.



You can find more information about Heather Dyer and her books at www.heatherdyer.co.uk

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When I need to think clearly and feel my own energy, I head to the forest. Follow the opening in the tree.

The periwinkle is in bloom. Big time fairy flower over here.

 Time to hang out for awhile and just enjoy. (check out all the dog hair on my pants)

Just take in the smells, sounds, and sights. Ahhhhhh. What all part fairies need.

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This year I am creating original sketches on all of my orders going out through Etsy. If even just an ACEO (2.5x3.5 inch print) is purchased, the customer will receive an original sketch on the envelope.

With a new baby I don't get a lot of time to just sketch, this has been a great way to get some sketching in while at the same time treating my customers with something special.

My customers mean a lot to me and this is one way I can show them. 

These sketches are not scanned in and saved, or reproduced. They are sketched, photographed for my own documentation, and then mailed off. Who knows, maybe one of them will become a painting some day. Now wouldn't that be fun! :)

 Visit my Facebook Page for a current album of envelope art!
Album here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152367583837472.1073741828.50735862471&type=3

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If you are pulled to this drawing, you are being asked to look at:  When you are planted in wrong soil and you are not thriving, you feel there is something wrong with you, rather than the soil. This happens when we are in places or situations that are not good matches for us. I love the Indian Gardens message. Indian Gardens is a lovely forest area near Sedona, Arizona, not far from my home. It’s filled with fairy energy and well, I love fairies, being part fairy.

“This is a message about honoring yourself. Do not compare yourself to others or feel that there is something wrong with you. There are lots of forests, but this one has it’s own voice. It is special and enough to who it belongs to. When you honor and accept yourself and your uniqueness, the world will reflect that back to you.”

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Evil Fairies Love Hair

by Mary G. Thompson

Clarion Books       8/5/2014

978-0-547-85903-3

Age 8 to 12       320 pages

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“You could be gorgeous, brilliant, a star athlete, or great singer, or you could put a hex on your worst enemy. And all you have to do is raise a flock of two-inch-tall fairies. Easy, right? Wrong. Ali learns this the hard way when her flock-starter fairies get to work. Raising them means feeding them, and what they eat is hair. Lots and lots of human hair. Where to get the hair is Ali’s first challenge. What about the beauty salon? Easy, right? Before long, Ali’s friends, classmates, teachers, sister, and parents are entangled with the evil fairies, who have their own grandiose and sinister agenda. It’s up to Ali to overcome these magical troublemakers and set things right.”

Opening

“AGREEMENT 1. Alison E. B. Butler in exchange for one wish, hereby agree: . . .”

The Story

Alison is raising a flock of evil fairies in exchange for one wish. She wants to be smarter than her sister, who get s straight A’s and her parent’s attention. She has two problems right away. Michael gave her the two flock-starters and now he insists on checking up on her, constantly. It wouldn’t be so bad if he weren’t the second worst jerk in town. His brother is number one and dating Ali’s sister Hannah—the one who can do no wrong. Second problem, the baby fairies. All the babies want is to eat and they eat human hair, lots if it. Where is Ali going to get all that hair? She can’t use her own, and keeps her hair in a high bun to ensure the fairies don’t get to her hair. The boys shave their head.

Ali spots the beauty salon across from the middle school. They throw hair away every day. Ali tries to grab some of the discarded hair, but Mrs. Hopper, who has cut the Butler family’s hair since forever, catches her. Ali learns that Mrs. Hopper is not who she seems to be and wants to rescue Mrs. Hopper—the real Mrs. Hopper. Hopper is not the only one held captive. Molly and Tyler, who broke the rules while raising their flocks, are now suffering the penalty, and Mrs. Hopper—the fake one—is now holding them captive. Will Ali be able to free all three? Can she be able to get anyone else to help? Most importantly, will Ali raise her full flock and get her wish?

Review

I love Evil Fairies Love Hair. It has some normal teenage angst, a normal family, middle school casts, two flockstarters who may or may not help, and a good dash of magic. The good kids are not always as good as they seem and the bad kids are not as bad as everyone, including parents, believe. Then there are the little evil fairies, who may not be fairies at all. Evil Fairies Love Hair could be a confusing story, but events happen in good time and everything flows nicely from one plot point to the next. In fact, I had read half the book before I thought to check the time. I didn’t want to put the book down.

From the title, Evil Fairies Love Hair, I had no idea what to expect. The fairy on the cover is odd looking with large, bulging eyes that fill up half her face and a baldhead. She looks demanding and she and her fellow fairies are a demanding bunch. Their leader put the fairies in this position and was now trying to get them to where she wanted to be in the first place. Problem is, she easily makes mistakes, mainly due to her enormous ego. I love the humor and the middle school principal who never has a clue what his students are doing. He just wants them back to class. All the adults are clueless.

Middle grade kids will love this story. It will have them thinking about what they would wish for, if they had the opportunity. Kids will also wonder what getting their wish would cause to those around them. Would it be worth it to have everything you want? This is the author’s sophomore novel. (Escape from the Pipe Men! is her debut and will be reviewed here soon.) The writing is excellent. The story pulls you in and keeps you turning the pages. Kids looking for a magical tale with a few twists and turns will want to read Evil Fairies Love Hair. You may think you know what a fairy is and what a fairy does, but do you really? To find out, you need to read Evil Fairies Love Hair. Be careful what you wish for—you might just get it!.

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EVIL FAIRIES LOVE HAIR. Text copyright © 2014 by Mary G. Thompson. Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Blake Henry. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, Boston MA.

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Learn about Evil Fairies Love Hair HERE.

Buy Evil Fairies Love Hair at Amazon—B&N—Clarion Books—your local bookstore.

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Meet author Mary G. Thompson at her website:  http://www.marygthompson.com/

Find more intriguing books at the Clarion Books website:  http://www.hmhco.com/

Clarion Books is an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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Also by Mary G Thompson

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NEW from Clarion Books

 

Filed under: 5stars, Favorites, Middle Grade Tagged: children's book reviews, Clarion Books, ego, fairies, hexes, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, imps, Mary G. Thompson, middle grade novel, relationships, wishes

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Step one: Finish the sketch. 

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March winds

and April showers

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One of my most popular quizzes. Must be a lot of us out there. :) Do share.

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I am craving Nature right now. I want to grab a tree, smell a wildflower and dance with the Fairies. Scouting through my old journals, the Forgotten Journals, I came across a ton of fairy healing notes that wanted to be shared. Let’s travel to different parts of the fairy world…and have fun, of course. Class starts in April and there’s an early bird rate to boot! For more info, head on over to HERE. 

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Fairies, Luck, and Magic Charms

I hope you have a magical St. Patrick’s Day. You never know! Today might be the day you stumble upon a fairy ring, follow a will o’ the wisp to your fate, or catch a leprechaun!

— Sonja, STACKS Staffer Add a Comment

 

It’s Fairy and Empath Online School Friday! Woot!

Today’s excerpt is from the Fairy Healing the Feminine class (offered in April). Our bodies are like the trees. All parts are sacred.

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Fellow fairy girl Lindsey Stirling is amazing. Share a little light wherever you can, wherever you are.

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Lots of Changes

Things are looking a little different here…

I spent my Sunday playing on the computer rearranging, assessing, playing with my websites, and cuddling dogs in my jammies.

It seemed the Empath classes really wanted their own place, and didn’t want to be confused with the fairy/nature classes. Ha ha! So, they get their own school. Seriously, I have fairy students who love the whole Nature healing thing, and then I have my Sensitive students, who think the whole fairy thing is a little crazy. So, this makes sense. Each needs their own place to land here.

For January, I’m making Fairy Online School a little more accessible and more “self-serve.” I’ll still be available once a week for each class to answer questions, and talk about your lovely homework, but it’s more a no-pressure, have fun kind of thing. There’s two start dates, each on a Friday, for your convenience. So, if you finally want to learn about flower essences, or commune with Nature, tackle those empathic skills, or dive into animal communication, this is the place. Some classes will be retired. So sad. And some regrouped, but the student favorites will remain.

I am not doing any readings anymore. Sad too. I’m focusing more on the writing and teaching others how to communicate themselves.

Fairy deck

I’m working on new books in the HELP! I’M SENSITIVE series and the Fairy Deck, finally! Here’s a teeny little peek.

I’ve used some of the cards for my 2013 Calendar, and I really think it’s time for the cards to be, well, cards! So, if you see me on Facebook, do encourage me to finish them! I’m hoping for an early Spring launch, but we will see how that plays out with all the other creative projects I tackle at once (creative ADD).

I’ve been working diligently on my Story/Design Studio site also. I’ve been having a blast learning about video editing and storytelling used for teaching. PURE BLISS! Okay, maybe some of the program learning has been a little frustrating and filled with curse words, but the challenge of learning has been very, very fun.

Cyber Monday Through Wednesday Sale!

I want to thank all my new followers from Pinterest! My little quiz, Are you a sensitive, is practically going viral! For all of you, and my loyal friends and students, I give you Cyber Monday through Wednesday sale on classes! Sign up for January classes now at a whopping $25 off. It’s my thank you to you and to entice you to try out Empath or Fairy School. Yay! Go here to Empath School, here to Fairy Online School to sign up right away before the sale ends! These are crazy cool prices.

Take the Poll

I’m curious what YOU want to see birthed from Fairy Online or Empath School for 2014. Take the poll! I was considering creating a storytelling your life course also with all the cool skills I learned and can share with you. Would you be interested in that? What changes do you want or need? I’d love to hear from you!

Take Our Poll

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I happened upon this wonderful sparkly, shiny website and wanted to join the Mad Tea Party fun! Welcome to the Designing Fairy!

What’s this? Did a fairy leave it behind? A yummy cupcake for us to enjoy?

We travel a little further and there’s a yummy cake to go with the cupcake! There must be some kind of festivities somewhere.

Someone dropped some yummies on the path. Let’s follow it.

What’s this? A cute, little hat? I wonder what’s ahead.

Shhhh! Let’s not disturb them. It’s a MAD HAT tea party for the Fairies! What fun!

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from the crazy mind of Designing Fairy, or possibly…from reality?

Go check out my fairy classes.

But the party isn’t over yet! Check out the other party-goers and kindred spirits  here.

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On my recent trip to my fairy garden, I found something quite unusual. It would seem the Fairies have made a home…

 

furniture sighting one

But there’s another one! Can only I see them?

Another chair sighting. The Fairies are getting comfortable.

I spotted this one in my house! Well, I guess the Fairies are here to stay.

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Fairy chairs available at and provided by  Ruby Road Resale in Camp Verde, Arizona.

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