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Summary
Summary
Do fairies really exist? Bessie doesn't think so. But then she meets the mysterious Mrs Leaf and so begins a life-long friendship. As time passes Bessie starts to wonder if she might have been wrong about fairies, after all . . .
Author Notes
Tony Ross has illustrated over 800 books, which are published all over the world. Dr Xargle's Book of Earth Tiggers was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal and Tadpole's Promise won the Silver medal in the Smaries Prize 2003. He was the British choice for the Andersen Medal 2004. The Nanny Goat's Kid was shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2010 . A major animated series of Tony Ross's Little Princess is curently showing on Channel 5's Milkshake. He lives in Oxfordshire.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-3-- Young Bessie lives a rather dismal life, growing up in a prewar English mill town. She has no real friends, and there is no magic to her life, certainly no fairies. That is, until she meets Mrs. Daisy Leaf, the old woman who lives next door. Mrs. Leaf believes in a sort of parallel universe in which fairies slip in and out on occasion. In fact, suggests Mrs. Leaf, perhaps she herself is a fairy who slipped through and couldn't find her way back. Their friendship grows, and as Bessie ages, Daisy gets younger. By the time Bessie marries, she and Daisy look to be about the same age. Bessie's husband is killed in the war, and the friends become closer than ever. Finally, at the story's end, Bessie is the old woman, Daisy a young girl. Despite the oddities about Daisy, Bessie just never makes the connection. Visually, this is a rather bleak presentation. The colored pencil illustrations are often dreary, the characters too sharp and angular. On vacation at the seashore, the text describes Bessie, her husband, and Daisy having had wonderful times, yet the illustration includes an unidentified young boy. There are other inconsistencies as well. In all, this is a fairy tale with no magic.-- Denise L. Moll, Lone Pine School, Bloomfield Hills, MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Young Bessie hates her life in a dark, dirty mill town until she meets Mrs. Leaf, the little old lady next door. Mrs. Leaf claims to be a fairy, and indeed, she has some unusual abilities. Their relationship is the basis for a wistful tale of lifelong friendship. From HORN BOOK 1992, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A sweet, whimsical tale set in one of Britain's uglier mill towns. As a girl, Bessie gets to know neighbor Mrs. Leaf when the old woman invites her to tea and tells her fascinating things about magic (``Have you ever had a magic moment? A summer afternoon when the sky's so warm the world stops...'') and the fairies (``Why, even I might be a fairy''). Bessie soon learns better than to share these revelations with her friends, but she treasures them. As Bessie grows up, marries, is widowed, and is finally old herself, Mrs. Leaf (now called Daisy) grows correspondingly younger until their appearances have reversed. ``Maybe old friends never notice the changes in each other.'' There's an evanescent meaning here, not to be pinned down but still as real as imagination. Ross, whose art often serves boisterous hilarity, extends his range with evocative glimpses of the dreary factory town and the course of the long, poignant friendship. Touching and unusual. (Young reader/Picture book. 4- 10)
Booklist Review
Gr. 3-5. The everyday world is magical if you can just allow yourself to see it, according to this friendship story from England. Growing up in an ugly mill town with belching chimneys and sneering kids, Bessie doesn't believe in fairies. But then she meets Mrs. Leaf, the ugly, lonely old lady next door, who suggests that fairy land is right there, like a reverse image just below appearances. In fact, Mrs. Leaf could be a fairy; she's ugly only because she's sad. As the years pass and the two stay close friends, they gradually become each other--until in the last pictures, set in the present, Bessie's the stooped old lady being helped by sweet young Mrs. Leaf. Ross' vital color pencil scenes combine realistic details of the town and individual people with just a hint of the strange and mysterious. It's a pity that the pretty fairies and elves that lurk beneath the surface are such cute little garden toys, but luckily there are very few of them. The real magic is in the transformation of the friends and in the way the enclosed mill scenes and crowded streets open up at the end to light and sky. ~--Hazel Rochman