24th June International Fairy Day

Fairies are magical beings known for their playful and mischievous nature. Generally considered to be female,  and having different origin stories from different parts of the world, they nevertheless feature in the world of children and children's literature.

Fairies have existed in just about every culture over the world, though they may have been called by different names. What they have in common, no matter where you go, is that they are spirits that inhabit the world around us.

While I appreciate that this is not a day everyone would want to celebrate, given the age group I teach, fairies are very popular and constantly asked for in the library. At preschool they dress up, make flower crowns and wings constantly. Fairies are a big part of childhood play. I have even had teachers who have had a 'fairy door' in their classroom so that the fairies could visit.

Children meet fairies in books while they are young. They meet the fairies in Sleeping Beauty, the tooth fairies, Tinkerbelle  from Peter Pan and then the multitude of fairies in Rainbow Magic books. And there is a myriad of others. I am not a fan of the fantasy genre, yet as a child I had a second hand set of Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies and I tried to draw and write my own versions. I guess you could say I was besotted for a time, but now I am much more interested in the flowers than the fairies.

In the library there are some 'fairy series' that are very popular:

1. Twinkle  by Katherine Holabird and Sarah Warburton

2. Any fairy book by Tim Bugbird. Not my favourites, but they're always on loan.

3. Little Fairy  by Daniela Drescher

4. Fairy Hill  by Fran Evans

5. Princess and Fairy   by Anna Pignataro

6. The Fairy Dancers  by Natalie Jane Prior and Cheryl Orsini

7. Pearlie by Wendy Harmer and Mike Zarb

8. Fairy Science  by Ashley Spires

9. Mummy Fairy and Me  by Sophie Kinsella and Marta Kissi

Now for some much better stand-alone titles: