Children’s books – just the overall thought floods me with so many memories. Sitting propped up in bed, or on the library floor, with a book too big to fit in my lap, turning the pages and soaking in each beautifully illustrated page. A few still hold a special place in my heart.
Fairy Foals, the Journey of a Magical Garden, by Suzanah is sure to be such a book. And more. Written in journal entries, it takes us on the mystical journey through the garden Suzanah inherits from her grandmother. The story begins when she receives a small wooden box, thirty-five years after her grandmother’s death. Inside the box is a key to her grandmother’s old guest house and ten acres of gardens she so fondly remembers. She begins to make a life there, and eventually wanders out to the garden with her sketchbook.
While spending time there one morning, looking for something to sketch, she has a sense of being watched. When she returns to the garden it is with a more careful eye, and this time she discovers the magic. Captured in a spider’s web is a tiny brown horse, with wings! As she begins to take an even closer look, she realizes the garden is alive with these mystical creatures. The reader joins her in discovering the uniqueness of each tiny fairy foal – beautiful little creatures that play with butterflies, eat geranium leaves, bask in the sun. Each one is the size of a dandelion flower, constantly on the move and difficult to sketch. As the reader becomes acquainted with Little Brown, Fuzz, Fly, Snowflake, Dancer, Chaser, Pixie, and Sapphire, they also are given a glimpse of the beauty of nature itself – the intricacies of a butterfly’s wing, the art of nest-building, a star-filled night sky, dew drops on leaves that provide an afternoon drink, and leaves dancing in the wind.
The underlying story, of Little Brown’s difficulty keeping up with the other fairy foals, his perseverance and final triumph, will be an encouragement to small children who may struggle to keep up with older siblings or other children they spend time with. Nothing seems to come easily to Little Brown, the underdog / hero of the book, and isn’t it good to root for the underdog, then see him / her achieve what was thought impossible!
If the story was not enough, and it is, the illustrations are truly beautiful – a mixture of pencil drawings, watercolors, some taken right from nature and some from a wonderfully creative mind – they should not only hold a young child’s attention, but better yet they might send them out to the garden, sketchbook in hand, on their own search for fairy foals and the other wonders nature offers to those who will slow down just a bit, for a closer look.
Fairy Foals is a beautiful book suitable for children ages six – nine. I’m holding onto my copy of this for myself reading to my grandchildren, but Sourcebooks has been gracious enough to agree to send out a few copies to the 5 Minutes for Books readers. If you’d like to win, leave a comment. I’ll randomly draw three winners on Friday, August 1, and collect the addresses, then send them off to Sourcebooks, who will mail them directly to your front door.
For all the other open giveaways on our site, click the giveaway category link below.
Bev shares whatever’s on her heart at Scratchin’ the Surface, when she doesn’t have her nose in a book, or isn’t on the phone with someone in her family.
This is the first offering that we are submitting to Melanie/Chilihead’s Bloggy Giveaways carnival. It starts July 28 at 8:00am CST, so if you want to participate on your own blog (or just try to win lots of stuff), check out the guidelines HERE.
Yes, I said first. We have a humorous novel for adults coming up, and we’ll bless some booklover with one big bundle of new books.
Looks like a really nice book – thanks
This looks like a beautiful book!
Thanks so much!
The book sounds lovely! Thanks for the giveaway!
I would love to win this for my daughter: she is a bookworm and is totally in love with fairies! I don’t believe she had read this book yet, so this would be a great ‘back to school’ gift for her if we win.
Thank you so much for your giveaway!
My dd would absolutely love this book!
This looks like such a wonderful book. Very whimsical! Thanks for the chance.
Thank you for hosting this giveaway.
tiffanyannrosson at yahoo dot com
sounds like a great book.
thanks for the giveaway…
[email protected]
My 16 year old granddaughter would love to give these to her two little sisters. It would make all three of them happy. 🙂
I would love to win this book! Please count me in!! :o)
It sounds like an amazing read for my little girl, and I’d love to read this to her as a bedtime story.. Bedtime stories are an important part of our routine and this would also be great for her to share with her class during story time! Thanks for the giveaway!
I’m a lover of children’s books. This would be a wonderful addition to my collection. Thanks for the great contest!
This sounds like a great book– thanks for the great giveaway!
I love books and am trying to pass that love on to my grandson.
This book I know my daughter would love to read and who wouldn’t want to travel to a magical place. Thank-you for the contest.
Thank you for the chance to win, I love reading to my 2 and 5 year old!
My daughter is 7 and is really into reading books to me and this would be a great book for her to read.
Im always on the hunt for books for my little one whether she can read them now or had to wait a bit. great giveaway!
[email protected]
lovely book
Neat!! I would love to share this with my nieces and nephews!
Be sure to come and visit my giveaways too.
http://weirdstuffinmydesk.com/?p=133
and
http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=738
My daughters would both love this!
If this is open to international entries i would love to win this to read to my son!
Thanks
[email protected]
Sounds beautiful. My little princesses would love to snuggle on the couch and listen to Mama read this.
You can never have too many books!
I hope I win!
michael dot hopkins at gmail dot com.
I’m also a subscriber.
I would love to read this to my granddaughter Lilly. She loves all things fairy and princess.
what a great looking book!
We are BIG book lovers here at our house! We’d love to add this beautiful book to our collection! Thanks for the opprotunity!
My sister love fantasy creatures. Sign me up!
love to read the book.
OMG! I really want this book. I’m gonna hunt it down, thanks for sharing it. I love that it’s told through journal entries. I’m writing a children’s book right now and the story is told through journal entries. I haven’t seen a model for this type of story so I can’t wait to see how the author did it. I think that journaling is amazing. you learn so much about yourself. I still have my diary from the 4th grade! This book sounds like it’s right up my alley. I love magical realism. I believe in fairy tales!
I’ve heard quite a bit about this book, but haven’t had a chance to get it yet. I think my kids would love it.
Thanks for doing the giveaway!
My girls love reading, my youngest likes to make up her own versions of books by looking at the pictures 🙂
Hugs, Danette
My daughter would love this! Thanks!
You can never have too many books for the kiddos. I have very fond memories of reading before bed as a child.
This would be a great prize for the summer reading program at my library – I’m sure the girls here would jump all over it!
Thank you for offering a great book for this giveaway! My 6 year old daughter would LOVE this! Thanks again!
The book sounds great.
My horse-and-fantasy-loving daughter would love this book! If I don’t win, I’m going to find it via Interlibrary Loan!!!