|
Rosie has moved to Scotland with her mother, her father is
absent and her mother is reluctant to explain the real reasons
why. Rosie has a problem with her mother, in that her mother
does not believe that fairies exist, but the sock she finds
at the bottom of her bed shows that they really do...
Fairy
Dust is written by Gwyneth Rees, who's first children's
novel Something Secret was published in 1995. Since
then she has published a number of other books for children,
most notable being her Mermaid series aimed at the
9-11 year old market. Fairy Dust was an Ottakers book
of the month. As a critic, I usually check out author's homepages,
normally it's a whole bunch about themselves and more than
a little dull. Gwyneth is obviously a children's author par
excellence, her web page is not only child friendly but has
a load of stuff for kids to do, games, competitions, she even
replies to their e-mails, how cool is that when your seven,
in fact it's so good here is the website: http://www.gwynethrees.com.
The basic premise of a family without the presence of a father
figure has a long tradition in children's fiction - The
Railway Children probably being the most famous. However,
this is not a tale of woe and heartbreak. Rosie is right fairies
really do exist, though some of them are not what you would
expect as her first encounter with the grumpy male fairy shows.
This
is a tale that will delight its target audience of seven year
old girls. I would have said children but from my own memory
I think I was moving away from believing in such things at
that age and getting into torturing my Action Man.
My
only concern is that audio books like this will make parents
lazy about interacting with their kids, reading them to sleep.
I remember with great delight spending many months reading
the whole of The Lord of the Rings to my four year
old daughter, of course I had to keep waking her up so that
it didn't take too long to read. How I remember, her sweet
little bloodshot eyes at three in the morning looking up at
me pleading me to continue. I would have continued to the
Silmarillion but social services told me to knock it
on the head. Of course, at a running time of two hours and
thirty minutes if you get them into bed early enough they
may just be fit enough to go to school the next day.
The
story is read well by Sophie Ward, who you Sci-fi geeks will
know played Rosemary in Dinotopia - though she's been
consistently working in television and film since the mid
seventies.
So
there you have it, a heart warming tale of a girl who was
right. Good for all car journeys to keep the little monsters
silent. I have to admit to liking it a lot as an adult, so
maybe it's something that we can share with our kids.
Charles
Packer
Buy
this item online
We
compare prices online so you get the cheapest
deal! Click on the logo of the desired store
below to purchase this item.
|
|
|
£9.99
(Amazon.co.uk) |
| |
|
|
|
£10.99
(BBCshop.com) |
| |
|
|
|
£8.49
(Shop.com) |
All prices correct at time of going to press.
|
|
