A Fairy's Tale

March 15, 2017
After falling asleep and awakening as a fairy, 11-year-old Rowan embarks on a quest to regain human form.Since her mother vanished seven years ago, Rowan, a white girl, has managed everything for her distraught father and younger sister in their London apartment. On the anniversary of her mother's disappearance, Rowan falls asleep feeling unloved under a weeping beech in Hyde Park and wakes up in the Fairie Realms of the Royal Parks, where she will be loved. Overwhelmed, Rowan desperately wants to go home but learns -becoming a fairy is a one-way ticket.- Only the most powerful fairy who unlocks the Heart of Oak can become human. Hoping to find the Heart of Oak, Rowan seeks out the fairy GodMother and discovers her missing mother's been hiding in the Fairie Realms from an evil, vengeful fairy intent on destroying her. Determined to find her mother, Rowan's ability to transform into other creatures emerges, placing her in peril. Against the atmospheric backdrop of London's Royal Parks and a darkly dangerous, diminutive fairy world, Rowan morphs from a timid girl into a bold heroine, aided by enchanting fairy friends and assaulted by fierce fairy foes. A swiftly paced debut adventure of powerful transformation and immutable family bonds. (map) (Fantasy. 7-11)

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February 1, 2017

Gr 3-5-An 11-year-old English girl unwillingly changes into a fairy, then attempts to find her missing mother and return them both to human form. On the seventh anniversary of her beloved mother's disappearance, Rowan falls asleep under a weeping beech tree and awakens six inches tall with wings made of oak leaves. Determined to reunite her family, she befriends a robin, a swan, a giant stag, and two nature fairies. The companions battle wicked foxes through the green spaces and shopping malls of modern London, with a final showdown in the river fairies' realm beneath a lake in real-life Bushy Park. The mystery of the protagonist's vanished mother and the constant action and danger of the plot enliven this present-day fantasy. Charming details of the fairies' worlds bring the settings to life, and the friends tease each other and banter in language well matched to the contemporary time period. Readers may be frustrated that Rowan's quest remains incomplete at the end of the novel, with no hint of a sequel to answer many dangling questions about her mother's connection to the fairy realms.

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2017
Grades 3-6 On the seventh anniversary of her mother's mysterious disappearance from London's Hyde Park, Rowan pays a visit, cries herself to sleep under a tree, and awakes to discover herself transformed into a fairy. Taken under the (literal) wing of a talking robin named Harold and a mischievous boy fairy named Aiken, she is initiated into the Realm of the Tree Fairies. She soon discovers that her mother was also transformed into a fairy and is in great danger from the vengeful fairy Vulpes. Rowan becomes determined to find her mother and return both of them to human form, no matter how impossible the task. Clarke's world is charmingly unique: fairy wings are made of oak leaves and create music when they flutter, fairies of great power become shape-shifters, and more. Though the quest's end is perhaps less climactic or satisfying than expected, the story throughout is stylish and fun, and there is no doubt that the world within works its own brand of magic.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)