The Mud Fairy

by Amy Young

My youngest child is starting to get out of board books and into regular picture books, but I have to choose them carefully because those with too much text are still beyond her attention span. So I've started browsing the picture-book shelves at the public library again, which is delightful. Writing these short reviews about children's books is a nice relief from the lengthy stuff that is Game of Thrones (yes, still slowly working my way through that!) as well. This book caught my eye and I actually brought it home to share with my eight-year-old, who asserts she is no longer interested in picture books but will read it if I pretend not to notice.

The Mud Fairy is a cute story about a little fairy named Emmalina who is a bit of a tomboy; she likes to play in the mud with frogs, not sit at dainty tea parties (well, it's not tea but dew drops- you get the idea). Emmalina really wants to "earn her wings" by doing something special. She sees what other fairies do and tries to copy them: opening a flower, delicately adding dewdrops to a spiderweb, creating a rainbow. But things always go wrong for her. The Fairy Queen gently suggests that she just needs time, and the fairy glumly goes back to visit her frog friends in the swap. Emmalina finds them in trouble and helps out; then to her surprise gets rewarded for her efforts by being proclaimed the Protector of Frogs and earning her wings for accomplishing something no other fairy could have done. It's a lovely little tale of being true to yourself. And the illustrations are just darling, I really like how the characters are drawn.

Rating: 4/5 ........ 32 pages, 2010

more opinions:
The Book Whisperer
Manga Maniac Cafe: Picture Book Roundup