March 1, 2022
Mimi tends her garden in hopes that its perfection will draw a visit from fairies. Every morning, a young girl named Mimi dedicates herself to ensuring her garden is in tiptop shape. She pulls weeds, flicks caterpillars off of leaves, and sprays insecticide to keep bugs away. All that work and still the fairies never come. When they finally appear, it is with a word of caution about the destruction perfection demands: raked-up leaves destroy cozy nests, and bug spray makes caterpillars sick. For a garden to be a good fairy home, it has to be wild. At the outset, Buckthorn's story seems to be merely a sweet tale, but it is truly an environmental fable. The moral of the story is as loud and clear as the reproachful expressions on the faces of the three fairies and their pet caterpillar. Mazzanti's illustrations feature lovely fairy-tale landscapes and luscious greenery and capture the delicate magic of fairies and the wonder of childhood. The attention to detail is spectacular. A double-page spread of sequential art showing Mimi's fairy watch from sunset to sunrise uses subtle changes in purples and oranges, expertly conveying the passage of time. Mimi and her family members have pale skin, as do two of the fairies. The other fairy has brown skin. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A heavy-handed cautionary tale that's softened by rich and ethereal illustrations. (how-to guides) (Picture book. 4-7)
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May 1, 2022
PreS-Gr 2-This debut collaboration features Mimi, about six, with a lovely life and just one wish: to see a fairy. She single-handedly transforms her back garden (where readers' sharp eyes will spot hidden fairies) into a perfectly manicured space complete with tiny fairy houses-but no inhabitants. Finally, her one tear of despair brings three fairies (one brown-skinned) who explain that her leaf-raking, bug-spraying ways have made the garden uninhabitable for them (and for their pet caterpillars). Mimi allows some wildness back in, and all is well. Delicate, detailed colored-pencil drawings evoke an idyllic setting. There is some departure from realism in that, once introduced, her parents and small brother, who never plays in the garden, disappear, even when Mimi falls asleep before an open window. But in a book with fairies, realism is optional. Directions for making a flowerpot-fairy house add to the appeal. VERDICT Budding environmentalists, and teachers, will find the sweetly presented message unimpeachable.-Patricia Lothrop
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