I happened upon this book 3 years ago when my niece who had and still has a love of ‘fairies’ was only 3 years old. She did however need some persuading to listen to the story as the title put her off a little, stating ‘but fairies aren’t hairy!’ I also got it as I could relate to the ‘bad hair day’ that the fairies were having!
§§§ Hairy Fairy §§§
This book is about two fairies, Little Fairy’ just doesn’t fit in to the stereotype of a fairy, whereas ‘Big Fairy’ does!
It all begins with a little fairy who doesn’t like her short, sharp and spikey hair and longs for her hair to be long, curly and twirly! So off she goes to see Big Fairy who promises to make her wish come true. She dances up, down, round and round and faster and faster until ‘the magic went POP!’
But the magic hasn’t worked and Little Fairy’s hair has turned ‘big, bushy, thick and green!’ Little Fairy is understandably furious and screams at her friend who tries to pacify her. As a means of retaliation Little Fairy buzzes up, down, round and round until ‘the magic went POP!’
She is successful in her attempt to spoil Big Fairy’s hair which becomes pointy, sharp and green. They both agree that neither of them like their new hairstyles and they decide to do a dance and make it better:
‘So the fairies danced up and the fairies danced down! And the magic went round and round and faster and faster and faster until they just couldn’t stop and then with a bang, the magic went POP!’
And this time the magic works; Big Fairy’s hair is back to being long, wavy and black and Little Fairy’s wish had come true and her hair became long, curly, blonde and twirly!
The book ends with a humorous element which young children find very funny: “What if I made your nose a little bit longer” said Little Fairy. “Well then, I could make your bottom bigger and better” said Big Fairy.
☼☼☼ Sue Heap ☼☼☼
Sue Heap graduated from Hull College of Art and went on to work for an animation company. She then became a designer at various children’s books publishers. In 1991 she became a full-time freelance illustrator and has illustrated more than 30 books, she also gained the prestigious Smarties Prize for illustrating ‘Cowboy Baby’.
Sue Heap has also written and illustrated some of her own children’s picture books: ~ Hairy Fairy ~ Let’s Play Fairies ~ Four Friends Together
§§§ Style, Format and Illustrations §§§
This is a very simple story / book with a large bold text. The illustrations are, like the story quite simple at first glance but the little details add to the enjoyment of the book with swirling colours around the pages in which the fairies are making magic! Sue Heap has captured the feelings of both fairies, mainly through their eyes and eyebrows which are sometimes ‘furrowed’. Their mouths also demonstrate their emotions on some of the drawings.
What I particularly like is the way in which the text isn’t confined to being sectioned off at either the bottom or top of the page, when the fairy dances up, so does the text and vice versa for when she dances down.
Because of the simplicity of the text, very young children can join in with a lot of the repetitive text, e.g. “the magic went, POP!”. It is also an opportunity to discuss how when the text is much larger, a louder voice is required and they just love shouting POP as well as “AAAGGHHH! when the Little Fair is devastated with her new hairstyle!
☼☼☼ Price ☼☼☼
This book is available in both paperback and hardcover. My paperback, ISBN: 0-439-99388-1 was £4.99 however it is available from amazon for just 70p. The hardcovers are however from approximately £19, must be collector’s items!!
§§§ My Verdict §§§
Like my niece, I really enjoyed the simplicity and humorous element of this book. She has however slightly outgrown it at the age of 6 but sometimes comes back to it and is now able to read it alone. There are also underlying messages in the book: ~ Try to be happy with what you have / are. ~ Things don’t always go as you planned, things can back-fire on you. ~ We are all different and individual. ~ Was the Little Fairy right to retaliate with a mean spell?
Lots of opportunities for discussion if you want, if not, it’s just a great, fun read!
P.S. This is not a review on the audio book so I have no idea why ciao have added some specific criteria relating to audio books, that's ciao gremlins for you!! :-)
