The book opens with a little Green Fairy who lives high up in the mountains. She dreams of living in the beautiful city in the valley below – but it remains just a dream. But then one day menacing Fairy Catchers turn up in the mountains, and the Green Fairy flees with her possessions, finding herself in the city she has observed from afar for so long. But when the Green Fairy moves into a vacant street lamp, she quickly discovers she doesn’t fit in and her city experience – at least to begin with – isn’t what she thought it would be.
The Green Fairy is a delightful picture book about finding your place in the world. It’s a lovely, well-crafted story with universal themes of being comfortable with what makes you unique, rather than changing to please other people, and accepting other people as they are.
The Green Fairy is sure to prompt discussions about how traffic lights change and glow as well, and all the children I shared this book with were completely engaged by the story. As a bonus, the book has an app, so the Green Fairy comes to life via augmented reality, and the augmented reality is done extremely well. With or without the augmented reality, this is a wonderful piece of storytelling.
Reviewer: Iain McKenzie
Duckling Publishing, RRP $24.95