ELIZA AND THE FLOWER FAIRIES

Review by Booklist Review

Adorable Eliza, black hair bobbed and pinned with whimsical barrettes, runs to her secret hideaway beneath the stairs as soon as she gets home from school. In this cozy nook, she is free from chores and her little sister's demands, and when conditions are right, she can even use the small fairy door in the wall. The sudden appearance of a double rainbow is just such a magical sign, and so Eliza opens the door and enters the Land of the Flower Fairies, her dragonfly pin twitching to life as her winged companion, Haiku. There, they wander amid beautiful blossoms and chat with the fairies who give each flower its scent, but when Eliza crosses the hedgerow to inspect a strange bloom, she unwittingly enters the territory of the "Evil Ones," Wolfsbane and Belladonna. The malevolent duo unleashes a Demon Wind to steal the flowers' scents, leaving it up to Eliza to save the flowers and their fairies. McDonald, author of the Judy Moody series, has created another wonderful series for early chapter-book readers in the Fairy Door Diaries. The story immediately plunges readers into Eliza's world of imagination, which operates by believable kid logic. Wen's illustrations, rendered in gouache and colored pencil, beautifully augment the tale's enchanting nature. This gentle adventure will be embraced by little ones who know the world is full of magic.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Eager to visit a place of magic, young Eliza sprints off School Bus Number Six and all the way home to Cottage Number Two. In her bedroom, the pale-skinned child enters a curved door from which "cherry-pink light streamed" that leads to the Land of UnderStair, a secret chamber in which Eliza is free to practice magic. Upon manifesting and entering a small fairy door made from moss, twigs, and a pinch of fairy dust, Eliza meets flower fairy Poppy, who gives her an enchanted bracelet that allows her to see other fairy folk and tells her how they create flower scents. Everything is going wonderfully until Eliza accidently picks a dangerous flower and falls into Stranglewood Hollows, where flora go to die. There, evil flower fairies Wolfsbane and Belladonna determine to curse Eliza and steal the scent of flowers. Now Eliza must be brave to save her new friends. Judy Moody creator McDonald utilizes radiantly colorful illustrations limned with intricate, foreshadowing detail to bring the fairies' world to life in this joyful tale of learning to believe in oneself and rejoicing in magic both grandiose and mundane. Ages 5--9. (Feb.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

A young girl travels to the Land of the Flower Fairies and saves the day. Eliza has a hideout under the stairs where she reads about fairies with her stuffed toy; on one wall, she creates a "teeny-tiny fairy door" out of moss and sticks. One day, the door flies open, and magic allows her to fit through into the Land of the Flower Fairies, where every flower has a fairy, and new flowers appear whenever old ones are picked. Her dragonfly pin becomes a familiar named Haiku, and she befriends a pink-winged fairy named Poppy. She introduces herself as Eliza of the Elves. Trouble begins as she accidentally crosses a hedgerow into Strangleweed Swallow. There, two witches named Wolfsbane and Belladonna cast a spell to summon the Demon Wind, which steals the scents from the flowers, causing them--and their fairies--to wilt and die. Eliza is immune to their curse, so it's up to her to save the flowers and her new friends. This slim volume packs in plenty of magic and nonstop action and adventure but not a lot of character development. When Eliza returns home, her blank diary has magically filled with an account of her adventures, paving the way for a series of future escapades. Colorful gouache and colored pencil illustrations throughout will help practicing readers by illuminating the highly visual action. Eliza presents Asian; characters are diverse. Fairy fans will find an enchanting new world.(Early chapter book. 5-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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Imagine a door. A teeny-tiny fairy door. Now imagine it is magic. Open the door. Chapter one In Which a Door Is Opened Eliza stepped off of School Bus Number Six and ran. She ran down the hill. She ran past the empty swing set. She ran past the red rowboat. She ran past a pot of purple flowers. She ran past the old dock until she reached the end of Salt Pond Lane. She stopped to pick some wild daisies, poking their happy heads among the goldenrod and sneezeweeds. She ran up the hill. At the top sat five crooked beach cottages, all in a row. Wind chimes made of clamshells rang as Eliza flew up the steps of Cottage Number Two and pushed open the screen door. "Hi, Mom! Hi, Bee!" she yelled to her mother and her little sister. She didn't wait for an answer. In fact, Eliza was in her room by the time the screen door banged shut behind her. Eliza peeled off her school uniform and put on her play clothes. She clipped her dragonfly pin to her overalls. Then she ducked inside the low, curved door in the bedroom wall. Cherry-pink light streamed through the half-moon window of the crawl space. The door to the Land of UnderStair closed behind Eliza with a soft click. Magic is not loud. It is soft, like the fur on a rabbit. Or a whisper. It was pin-drop quiet in her secret space under the stairs. No Mom insisting on chores. No Bee pestering her to play horsies. She braided the daisies into a garland, placed it on her head, and lifted up The Daisy Chain Book of Fairies. It was old, so old she felt the flip of a page might turn it to dust. The book contained all there was to know about fairies, elves, hobs, trolls, pixies, brownies, and every other kind of fae folk. She stroked its purple leather cover like she was petting a rabbit. Eliza pulled her stuffed animals close. She cracked open The Daisy Chain Book of Fairies. "What shall we read today?" she asked Raccoon, Chipmunk, and Hedgehog. Eliza thought she heard the animals whisper, "The flower fairies." "Once upon a time," she started, "in a land as yellow as buttercups . . ." When she was done, she closed the book and looked out the half-moon window. "A rainbow!" she told her animals. "If I were a fairy, I'd wear skirts made of poppy petals and drink beads of dew from spiderwebs and fly over rainbows." When she looked outside again, her breath quickened. "A double rainbow!" It was a sign. Magic! Eliza touched the dragonfly pin clipped to her overalls. All was still. All was quiet. Not a creature was stirring, not even a hobgoblin. She opened her new diary. It squeaked of possibility. On the first page she wrote: This Book belongs to Eliza of the Elves She crawled over to the teeny-tiny fairy door that she'd made of sticks and star moss. A movement bothered the stillness. A flicker as small as the blink of an eyelash. A wing! Eliza's dragonfly pin lifted a wing right off of her overalls. Haiku! Her dragonfly familiar. Haiku was Eliza's friend and protector in the Land of the Fairies. It was certain now. She felt a draft. A good breeze. On the floor was a wisp of fine dust, the color of sea-green glitter. All of a sudden, the teeny-tiny door flew open. Excerpted from Fairy Door Diaries: Eliza and the Flower Fairies by Megan McDonald All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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