dramastef's Full Review: Emily Rodda - The Flower Fairies
Jessie lives with her grandmother in a big house called Blue Moon. When she first moved in with her grandmother, she discovered Fairy Realm, and that her Granny was the true Queen of the Realm. In the first book of this series (aptly titled Fairy Realm), Jessie saved the Realm. Now, six weeks later, she finds that the Realm needs her again in this second book, The Flower Fairies.
After the shortage in magic that happened six weeks ago, there now seems to be an explosion of magic, resulting in too much. This excess in magic has caused the inhabitants of the Realm to act just plain silly, though that isn’t really the problem. As Maybelle the talking pony puts it:
The griffins, the Queen’s pets, are supposed to guard the Realm’s treasures… But they’re not supposed to get so full of themselves that they take over guarding everything else too.
Apparently, the griffins have done just that. They’re even guarding food that the inhabitants of the Realm try to eat. On top of the griffins-gone-wild, Jessie needs to figure out how to handle three childish flower fairies that escape into her world, and the fact that she has to dance in a school production, but is quite incapable.
The Flower Fairies is a simple, cute story, written for girls five to ten years old. The older of those can easily read the book themselves, which is just over one hundred pages and sectioned into very manageable chapters. For the younger girls, this makes a nice read aloud bedtime story over the course of a week or so. The Fairy Realm itself is a nice platform for imaginative discussion, and Jessie is a good, if simple, heroine. Though she had to save an entire world in the first book, she has to rise to personal challenges, and use creative thinking in this one. I like the realism of that a bit more. My eight-year-old daughter and I both enjoyed reading about her adventures here, and will definitely look for more.
Though there is little-to-no appeal in these stories for a boy, I think that most little girls would find pleasure in reading the books in this Fairy Realm series, and I’m happy to buy them for my daughter and to read them with her.
As long as I can remember, books have been a part of my life. When both of my children were born, they each came home from the hospital to full bookshelves in their rooms. Books, and the ability, love and desire to read, were things I took for granted for most of my life. I am co-hosting a write-off this month (National Literacy Month) with hadassahchana. For my part, I am sending a brand new copy of this book to the Mississippi Humanities Council, who will put it in the hands of a young child they have taught to read. You can read more about the write-off by clicking here.
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