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A Fairy Tale by Tony Ross (view source)
Revision as of 12:38, 17 January 2012
, 12:38, 17 January 2012no edit summary
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In Balaclava Street Bessie was bored. Even her book wasn't helping. It was about fairies and she didn't believe in them, ''obviously''. And even if they did exist they'd have more sense than to live in the gloomy streets around the mill, wouldn't they? Playing with her ball in the back yard she encountered her next-door neighbour, Mrs Leaf and a strange friendship developed between the old woman and the young girl. It was difficult for Bessie to work out if Mrs Leaf actually believes believed in fairies, but it seemed strange that as Bessie got older, Mrs Leaf seemed to get younger. And who ''exactly'' was Mrs Leaf?
Firstly - a warning - if you're looking at this book and thinking that it might be a treat for your preschooler then forget it. It's a delicious, whimsical treat for the older pre-teen right through to the most jaded adult but it would pass right over the head of a toddler and leave a well of disappointment. It's deeply evocative and almost poetic in places - ''a yellowy light tickled the black clouds'' - and it's going to make you stop and ''think''. I read it once and then went back an hour later and read it again, looking closely at the illustrations. And then I was left with a sense of having learned something.