The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Fairies

by Ammi-Joan Paquette, Marie LeTourneau (Illustrator)

Overview

Could a tulip be a good place for hide-and-seek? Could a bit of dandelion fluff be a pillow? They could be, if fairies live nearby. This book invites kids to have a backyard adventure searching for the telltale signs of fairies who might be residing all around them. Not only can children "search" for fairies in the book's unique blend of art and photography, but they will also be encouraged to discover the wonder and magic in nature, whether in a backyard or a local park. The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Fairies is a perfect title for summer!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781933718507
Publisher:	Tanglewood
Publication date:	07/08/2010
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.10(d)
Lexile:	AD590L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 8 Years

About the Author

Ammi-Joan has been writing stories since early childhood. She and her sister would spend hours creating masterpieces of stapled paper and handwritten words, complete with pen-and-ink covers and boxed illustrations. Her favorite part of the process was creating a list for the back cover: “Don’t miss the other books in this series!” That list of eye-catching titles always seemed like way less work than (hand) writing out a whole book. But isn’t that just the way of things? Ammi lives with her husband and two daughters in the Boston area. Her first picture book, The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Fairies, was published in 2009, and she has continued to write (and agent) books for children and young adults.

Marie Letourneau is a full-time illustrator and graphic artist, with a BA in Fine Arts from Hofstra University’s New College on Long Island. Marie illustrated Is a Worry Worrying You?, The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Mermaids, and was the author and illustrator for The Mice of Bistrot des Sept Frères. She and her family live in New York.

Editorial Reviews

The lure of fairies never fades, and the idea that they lurk nearby, waiting to be found, is still exciting to children. And Unzner's (Princess Me) use of photographs (some of which feature fairy-seeking kids) as backdrops for her delicate fairies drives that notion home. Her creations are more cute than beautiful-they have button noses and frizzy hair, and appear fairly rambunctious, even as they evade the children looking for them. Debut author Paquette combines guidebook narrative ("We can see where they live if we know how to look for them") with warmer passages that include readers in the search ("Did you feel that tingle? I think something magical is about to happen"). Text and art work in tandem to create gentle suspense-scenes, such as one in which fairies retrieve a lost slipper just behind the retreating shoes of the searching children, will prompt giggles, and the promise of a fairy encounter is sweetly fulfilled at the end. Though Unzner's sketchy hand-drawn fairies ultimately feel superimposed on, rather than part of, the photographic landscapes, readers should still be enticed by the idea of magic infusing the natural world. Ages 4-8. (Apr.)

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Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 2—This story informs readers that fairies are just about everywhere, if they know how to look. The art is composed of photographs juxtaposed with cartoonlike drawings of the magical creatures. For example, an image of a field of tulips, with fairies peeking out here and there, is accompanied by text that reads, "Fairies love flowers. These tulips would be just right for playing hide-and-seek. Curled up inside, a fairy could not be spotted by anyone." Paquette encourages readers to help the sprites by doing things like blowing dandelion fluff to make a pillow or moving a rock to make a pool. A positive quality of this book is that it seeks to inspire children to notice the magnificent natural world in their own backyard or neighborhood.—Linda M. Kenton, Pickleweed Public Library, San Rafael, CA

School Library Journal