The Magic of Childhood: Literary Fairylands

My five-year-old is obsessed with fairies.  Ever practical, she especially fixates on tooth fairy logistics and worries about the tooth fairy and her friends getting cold this winter.  She has already politely instructed Santa to build a house in our garden so the fairies will have a comfortable place to hibernate, and she has given me drawings for sophisticated, practical, and surprisingly tasteful fairy house furnishings that I am to locate and/or make.  In the meantime, almost nightly, she reads, and dreams, of fairy-land:

This Usborne school book fair purchase has been a hit for two years now. It is packed with informative "facts" about fairy life.

 This book inspires both a summer trip to Maine (which we are planning for one of the next two summers) and construction of one's own fairy house, using natural materials.

She loves that this book teaches you how to build a beautiful and multi-functional fairy house that can double as an animal sanctuary; I love that it celebrates a child's appreciation and awe of nature.

This beautifully illustrated personalized book from I See Me was a gift five years ago, and has been read scores of times since.  She loves that the fairies spell out her name and welcome her as the fairy princess.  Santa may be bringing personalized copies for each of her sisters this year, too.

I love that she shows such depth of interest in her subjects, even those as fleeting as fairies, and I encourage her exploration of childhood mythology through books.  It's a magical time to be her mom.

As always, I welcome your suggestions for expanding my children's literary horizons.  What are your kids' picks?



{P.S. Are you new to the cul-de-sac?  Welcome, browse away, and feel free to follow! You can review my other book recommendations, for children and adults, by clicking "read" in the navigation bar above.  And don't forget to enter my current giveaway -- an author-signed copy of The Veil, a new young adult paranormal romance/urban fantasy novel by Cory Putman Oakes.  The book would make a fantastic gift for a young reader in your life, or for yourself!}