The Fairy Chronicles

The Fairy Chronicles Marigold and the Feather of Hope, the Journey Begins is an easy reader chapter book aimed at girls aged seven to ten. 

The first book in the series is about a young girl of nine who discovers she is a Marigold Fairy.  Her mentor and aunt begins to teach her the fairy ways and guides her along as she learns to use her new powers.  The book is set not in some enchanted forest but in the everyday, modern world. Each of the fairies in the book has a different gift and is named for a different flower but they are also very modern young ladies who have real lives similar to that of many girls. 

In the book we are also introduced to gnomes, brownies and goblins. All of which inhabit the real world and are visible to people just not in their enchanted forms.  For example, a helpful garden gnome was only seen once by the lady whose garden he tends.  She saw him as a big purple eggplant.

It’s all very fairy-ish and cute.

I was a little leery of the book at first since I am not a big fan of new-agey kinds of stories, particularly for my children but I was pleasantly surprised.  The story was engaging and the illustrations were absolutely charming. There were a few references to evil spirits (mostly with regard to goblins) and Mother Nature which might require some explaining to a child (like mine) who had no point of reference but like the tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny, it’s all in good fun. The fairies are able to have an exciting adventure and save the day. The good guys win and the bad guys get their comeuppance. 

All in all I thought the book was a nice read for a young reader and I loved the illustrations.  There was a lovely fairy recipe at the end of the book as well as some interesting fairy facts.  I would categorize this as good summer vacation reading, light, easy and fun.