Marigold and the Feather of Hope: The Journey Begins by J.H. Sweet

This is the first book in a delightful series for young readers about fairies.

This book is about a young girl named Beth who is going to spend some time with her eccentric aunt, and she is not looking forward to it one little bit. When she gets there however, her aunt informs her that the both of she and Beth are fairies! Beth has the spirit of a flower fairy in her, and her flower is the marigold, making her a marigold fairy. So after Beth transforms into her fairy form and meets other fairies and gets her very own wand. All of the flower fairies have a wand made out of something different and Beth's is a pussy willow branch. All is going well and Beth is just beginning to learn how to be a fairy when she hears that the brownies have lost the feather of hope, the source of all hope, to the gremlins. Beth, must figure out how to be a fairy as well as her special ability (because in these books each of the fairies have a different ability) while she goes after the feather. She has the help of some new friends and convinces her dog, Peanut, to help out as well.

I thought that this book was a fresh take on an old idea. The author keeps the reader's attention throughout the story and created interesting and dynamic characters in such a short time.

What is also great about these books is at the end of the story there is a little fact section dedicated to talking about some of the things in the book. For example there may be an explanation of certain mythological character or tradition, or it might discuss a certain plant or animal, or a holiday. Each book has something different at the back. Definitely worth looking into.

Faeries (1999)

Faeries is an animated film about a sister and a brother, Nellie and George, who are sent to live at a relative's farm for a time. They are somewhat unhappy about this, Nellie in particular. Once they're settled in, the children go out to play. George wants to play hide and seek and scampers off to hide from Nellie, and while she isn't looking, disappears into a tree. While looking for George, a creepy looking man (Jeremy Irons!) appears and tells her of a prophecy. She is a little shaken by this stranger and runs back to the house (not seeing him turn into a crow and fly away). She gets back to the house and continues her search for her brother and comes across a hobgoblin in her cupboard. It appears as though her brother has gone into the fairy realm, and Nellie must hurry and bring him back before he eats something and is unable to return. The goblin takes her to the faery tree and she goes in to find her brother. When she does get to him though, he has already eaten faery food and cannot return to the human realm ever. Nellie calls the faery king and pleads for the release of her brother. The king contents to give them three quests, and if they complete these quests, George will be able to leave fairy land. The nature of the quests change after the prince see's the farm hand Brigit (Kate Winslet). There is also the matter of the shape shifter, who is after the fairy king's throne. It is of course up to Nellie and George to save the day.

This film has a mix of both classic 2D animation as well as an early 3D animation style. For the most part the classic cartoon animation is used for the characters and the background, but several movement shots are done in 3D. Fairy land might have been real life foam fauna as well.

 

Faeries (1981)

Faeries is a very short movie, not even half an hour, and is based on Brian Froud's book Faeries. The story is about a youth named Oisin who is out on a hunt with the men to bring in some game for his birthday feast, but they have been unlucky are just about to give up and go home empty-handed. Just as the men are lamenting at even bringing the boy, a deer runs by Oisin and his horse chases it off into the forest. The deer stops to graze in a ring of mushrooms and just as Oisin is about to shoot it, it turns into a lovely young woman who states that she is Princess Niamh of the faeries. The princess takes Oisin with her to fairyland because they are in trouble. The king was showing off his magical ability and made his shadow come alive, but over time the shadow grew more powerful and began sucking power out of the king. The shadow took over most of the faerie realm with it's darkness (which weakens the powers of the seelie court) and was going to go after the princess next. It is of course up to Oisin and his assigned companion Puck to go after the monster in it's castle and defeat it, bringing peace to faerie realm once again.

The movie was decently done. Even though it was a short film it felt like a feature-length film. The animation of the faeries was very Froud like, which was interesting to see applied in a cartoon and was pretty accurate in regards to some creatures. Certain poses of some of the faeries looked like they came right out of the book. There were some cheesy lines and a few easy way outs that will have you rolling your eyes, but hey, it's the 80's. Overall worth while.

Sugar: A Little Snow Fairy

I have seen this anime around but my impression of it was that it would be one of those vacuous 'cute for the sake of cute' animes about nothing in particular and the most the creator wanted me to take away from it was that 'OMG THAT WAS THE CUTEST EVER WASN'T THAT SO CUTE'. So naturally I stayed away. Despite what I thought initially however, this was actually a good story and yes, it is cute, but not cute for the sake of cuteness.

The story begins with an industrious young girl named Saga. Saga lives with her grandmother and has her life planned down to the minute. She doesn't like disorganization and even makes plans and decisions for her friends. This all starts to unravel, however, when Saga comes across a tiny fairy who almost passes out from hunger. Saga gives her a waffle to eat and the fairy follows her home. At first Saga dislikes the attention and is constantly trying to ignore or get away from Sugar, the fairy. Eventually though, the two become good friends and Saga becomes important to Sugar's mission.

Sugar is a snow fairy. Fairies control to weather, there are fairies who control wind, rain, sun, the clouds, etc. and Sugar controls snow, or will after her training period. Sugar is an apprentice fairy and she, along with other apprentice fairies, must spend time on earth to find 'twinkles'. Each fairy must find a 'twinkle' to make their own magic flower bloom, and only then can they become a full-fledged season fairy. Many of the episodes focus on the fairies trying to find these twinkles.

This show is not only for fairy lovers, there is also a a very strong musical theme. The fairies control their weather specialization with a musical instrument, and Saga herself loves the piano and plays often throughout the series. Music itself doesn't play as big a role as the love of instruments and the hold they may have on our memories.

The characters grow immensely in this series. Saga is not the up-tight girl who clung to a schedule. After she meets Sugar, Saga slowly is forced to loosen up a bit. Normally, people can't see season fairies so they fly out in the open and are invisible to people, but Saga is an exception and can see them. This poses a problem for her because not only do her schedules come under attack, but she is talking to and interacting with things no one but her can see. Over time though, Saga makes room for life to happen and doesn't cling so tightly to her schedule. Both Saga and Sugar experience trials, both individually and together and both grow a little bit from each hardship they face. It's kind of like fruits basket in that it's a sweet story on the surface, but it has a hidden depth to it, it's not as deep or intricate as fruits basket but it does have that double layer of surprising substance even though the characters are so cute.

Photographing Fairies (1997)

Photographing Fairies is a sci fi/ fantasy film set in the early 1900's exploring the idea behind the Cottingly fairy hoax. The story is about a young photographer named Charles Castle who looses his wife soon after they are married, and of course he is lost in his grief. He goes off to war and is employed as a photographer in the trenches, and after the war he is still consumed with death as we see him cut and paste photos of dead soldiers into new photos of their loved ones for a living. One day he finds himself at a supernatural convention of sorts and comes upon a lecture of a man telling people of the Cottingly photographs and supporting the existence of faeries because of them. Charles then proceeds to interrupt the man, telling him that there is no way the photos can be real, both from a photographers perspectives and as one who has lost faith with all things the eye cannot see. The character of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle makes an appearance in the film, as he was a supporter of the photos, even though he wasn't so supportive of them in the film. So, after attending the lecture, a woman comes to his studio and shows him some photographs that were supposedly of a real faerie standing on her daughter's outstretched hand. Of course Charles doesn't believe this any more than he believed the Cottingly story, but after closer inspection he finds that there is something not quite right about the photo and goes off to find the woman and ask her about it. The woman lives in the countryside with her husband, a pastor, their two daughters, and the governess for the girls. He finds the woman and tells her that he may believe her story, but she just smiles at him and tells him that the photograph doesn't matter anymore because she has seen them. The details after this point I will not go into because that is where the real mystery lies.

Charles struggles throughout the movie with his wife's death and cannot seem to get beyond the hold it has on him. Maybe because of this he has lost all faith in an after world or possibilities of another world within ours, until of course he goes in search of the faeries. When he does find a way to see them (whether or not he's hallucinating is debatable) he clings to this connection ferociously and uses this to try to get in touch with his wife. At the end he is somewhat set free of this, and embarks on an adventure of sorts.

This is not a film for children, or if a child does see it, it should be monitored by a parent. There is both nudity and death in the film, and though neither appear in excess, I would say this is a 14 and up movie.

Fairy Wings by Lauren MIlls

Fairy Wings is a story about a fairy named Fia who was born without wings, and because she isn’t flying around with the other fairies and instead plays with frogs and rats and crows, she is ridiculed and outcast. One day while she’s playing along the river, a boy fairy finds her and asks her to play. He tore one of his wings and is grounded for the time being. Fia tells him that she can fix his wing and they play together for a while. when Fia returns home that evening her family tells her that the royal family has come and is throwing a ball. Her sisters don’t want Fia to come because of her winglessness but her father says that she could attend. The night of the ball her friends frog and rat bring her a chair floating on a lily pad with wings on it and pull her to the centre of the ball. as it turns out the her friend who happens to be the prince sent over the chair to her (and her friends added the wings). He lifts her out of the chair and dances with her, but when he lifted her everyone sees that she doesn’t have wings, especially the king and queen and they are outraged and they send her away. Right after this happens however, a troll comes by and captures all of the fairies at the ball in a net and walks off. Fia scrambles around to find help and comes across some woodkins. Normally woodkins don’t like fairies because fairies are mean to them, but they like Fia because she doesn’t bully them. They do not go with her because they feel that it’s bad luck to help a fairy, but one of them tells her a riddle about trolls that will help her. And the riddle goes like this, the old troll’s home is a rat like place. his greed is a frog like thing. but when crow wakes, troll hides his face, or gather moss not wing. Fia then goes to save the fairies with only her friends rat, frog, and crow and solves the riddle, turning the troll into stone. Then all the fairies fawn over her and the royal family want her to marry their son.

This story is somewhat predictable and almost feels a bit overplayed because of the every popular Cinderella story line, but I do like this story because unlike many stories these days, Fia doesn’t gain wings at the end of the story. The fairies just accept her as she is, she doesn’t have to change her form to become acceptable, which is where the story deviates from the Cinderella idea. The prince takes time to notice her and like her when she is playing in the mud and being herself, and the rest of the fairies only accept her after she saves them even thought they’ve treated her so poorly, but no ugly duckling transformation takes place. This is really rare in children’s books, and adult books too, and is really discouraging to people with disabilities or differences. There are very few stories saying that you don’t need to change your physical state of being to be accepted. She still ends the story getting married, not so great, but it’s still really refreshing that she remains wingless.

The Sea Prince and the Fire Child (1981)

I love faeries, and anime, and this is the perfect combination of both. Alright, there are definitely some flaws in the movie. The colours are kind of faded, the bad guy is cheesy, and as is typical of 80's cartoons the girl just whines instead of doing something, among other things. My mind was telling me this as I was watching... but a stronger voice drowned that one out and was wishing I'd seen this movie when I was five years old. I would have loved it then. I still appreciate it now, but there's something about a child's perception that makes magic come alive and this story is full of magic.

It's about the son of the sea king and the daughter of the fire queen. As legend has it, the king and queen are siblings and were very close and always together. The wind saw this, became jealous of their happiness and told lies to each of them making them distrust the other. They quarreled and the fire queen went to live in the sky and the sea god the sea, and the wind was banished to the depths of the sea and his eye was removed. One day the prince of the sea goes to a forbidden place and sees the fire child watching over the eternal flame. He comes back the next day and they fall in love, and from there they try to find a way to make their impossible love work.

One of the things I love about anime is that it's not disnified. Obviously. What I mean by that is that a romanticized ideal is achieved, but not without cost. There isn't a false message that you can have your cake and eat it too. You should strive to achieve your desires, but you have to know that there may be a price to pay. This isn't ominous by any means, don't take it the wrong way, the movie isn't sinister and won't worry a child. The moral isn't that bad will always come from getting something you want, but more that sometimes you have to choose between two things you might like and if you choose one you might mourn the loss of the other, even though the choice you made was the best one and is what will make you the happiest. This isn't always the message in main stream films. Most of the time the idea expressed is that you go through a tough phase, but then by making the right choices all goes well in your life, happily ever after, without regret or pain or thoughts of what if. The story end with the idea that the couple will always be happy in their paradise, but in real life situations life isn't so black and white, and it's refreshing to see films reflect this every now and again, especially films for children.

The fire people are all faeries, and all except for the fire queen have a sprite-like appearance. The prince is human looking, but very lanky, and all of his subjects are fish (so both boys and girls will watch). It was a great film full of fantasy, adventure, whimsy, and romance. Great film.

Blue Girl by Charels De Lint

This was a really good book. I picked it up on a whim having heard good things about it, and it lived up to its expectations. I was kind of hesitant to get into it because it's about some street tough girl who has a run in with faeries, and I suppose there is a huge potential for this story line to destroy itself with cheesiness. But I was pleasantly surprised at how well it was put together.

Imogene's a bitingly clever, strong, mature heroine. The book starts with her family moving to a new town and her attending a new school. She was with a rough crowd in her old town and was raised by hippie parents who gave her space to live her life. So as a result she's seen enough of the world to be comfortable with who she is when we meet her and has a kind of inner calm, not getting too caught up with the appearance of things, like social status. So she befriends a solitary girl named Maxine.

I really enjoyed the beginning of the book, it was full of adventurous energy and I wouldn't have minded if it continued on without any supernatural interference. But she meets a ghost who unintentionally brings her to the attention of some unfriendly faeries. Even though faeries are introduced to the story, the mood doesn't go all whimsical and light spirited. This is a great dark faerie tale for teens.

Imogene tackles all of her problems by herself, which I found refreshing. She didn't go running to her boyfriend or family or friends for help, though she recognizes that they are there for her and her friends don't let her go into trouble by herself, she doesn't cling to them and finds strength within herself. I've read many stories trying to achieve this character or this mood and they always fall short of success. This is one of the few teen books I would recommend to someone without commenting on what I found unsuccessful about it. It was just really well written. I recommend.

Fairy Faith (2001)

This is a documentary about the fairy faith, or the belief in fairies. The narrator takes the viewer around various places in Canada and the UK, talking to people who believe and looking at locations of relevance. Though it isn't the most well done documentary I've seen it is pretty good and it's the only documentary I've seen done on fairies. The film doesn't try to convince the audience of anything nor disprove anything. It attempts to achieve an unbiased perspective, taking in the opinions of those who believe and those who don't (mostly the believers though, as we're looking at the belief, not a criticism of the belief). I think it successfully documents the fairy faith and does a good job of taking seriously subject matter which the majority of western society sees as nothing more than fantasy and idle past time. 

I would recommend this to everyone interested in fairies, and anyone with an open mind, because though it isn't asking for the viewer's belief it is asking for the viewer's acceptance of the belief. An iinteresting study.

Book Of Dreams by O Melling

 I enjoyed the first three books in this series and this one was a great conclusion. The heroine is a bit sad at having moved to Canada and wants to return to Ireland so she's very morose and takes interest in nothing. To top it off she's starting grade 9 in a new school and has no friends. Then a mysterious boy transfers into her class and sticks up for her when the teacher yells at her (he yells at her because she was looking out the window aka trying to get into fairy land) this incident is important because though she tries to get into fairy land she can't because she's blocked by something, and this will determine her quest for the rest of the book; to find out why she can't get in. Also, there's something not quite normal about the new kid.
 
All in all I'd say a pretty decent book. I think that this one, more than the others, is about finding yourself. The battle the heroine goes through in this book is an inner struggle. At the beginning of the book she can't even use her magic because she's so depressed, but she gets stronger and overcomes things. Plus, once again she goes it alone. Unlike the previous heroines who were questing to save/ find someone, she was questing for herself, though granted, this time round she has a partner in crime. great conclusion to a great series.

Chronicles Of Faerie by O Melling

 I believe I first read this series is grade eight for a book report... and boy has it stuck with me since then. This ranges as one of the first 'adult' fairy books I've read and inspired me to further my fairy obsession. And when I say adult I don't mean 'adult', I refer to the fact that this story isn't about the fairies we use to entertain children. Stories like this one draw their content from the fairies of mythology, from Irish/ British myth and legends.
 
In this book there are three stories, there is a fourth and concluding story, but that's not in this edition of the book. Basically, the series focuses on different girls and their interactions with the fairy world. 

In the first two, The Hunter's Moon and The Summer King, there are two girls and one get taken away by the fairies because she has caught the eye of a fairy king and we the readers are left with the girl left behind, who goes in search of the missing girl. The girl the reader is with eventually comes into contact with the fairies (which takes a lot of work as we might imagine) and she discovers that there is a problem. 

In the first it was the Hunter's Moon, a monster that demanded sacrifice (which they fought) and in the second the problem's focus is on (you guessed it) the Summer King. I won't go into a lot of detail because it's been a while since I've read them and I don't want to spoil anything. The third story is a bit different than the first two it's called The Light- Bearer's Daughter and there's only one girl in the story... the light bearer's daughter (the title's are really helpful). The girl in this story is half fairy (that would be the light- bearer side) and she goes in search of her fairy mother. This story is continued in the final installation, or I should say expanded upon because there is something of an appropriate ending in this book.
 
All of the stories have strong, proactive heroines and are rich with fairy lore, making the possibility of fairies come alive for a new, younger generation. A good thing about the series is that the characters from the previous books will make an appearance later on in the series as a minor character, kind threading it all together.
 
I strongly recommend this series. I have very fond memories of it when I was younger and have actually purchased it not that long ago. It's a great intro to faeries for those who are unaware, and for those who are, well its a fun ride. It's aimed towards a late elementary school, early teen audience, but can be enjoyed by anyone with a like interest. It's pretty well written and doesn't take much time to get through. I recommend.

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

This story ran pretty smoothly and wasn't at all a difficult read. It's about a shy girl who can see fairies but is told by her grandmother to ignore them or face the consequences. Then one day the fairies start singling her out as if she were someone for them to take note of and one even comes to her school to try to get closer to her. She decides to confront them and finds out that she's been selected as a candidate to break a curse.

She has a guy that she likes, Seth, and a romance develops between the two. Though I really liked the character of Seth (he seemed like a really easy going guy, with lots of piercings) I found his immediate acceptance of the situation to be somewhat unbelievable. If there had been more hesitation at what she was saying in the beginning and then the unquestioning faith I think it would've been more believable. But the relationship between the two was a good one. He was a steady guy and was always very supportive of her. A healthy, 'modern' relationship.

The story in itself had the feel of a faery tale... meaning a tale about faeries. It was almost reminiscent of O.R. Melling's Fairy Chronicles. The situations were believable and the story had life and emotion. overall a pretty good read.

Pan’s Labyrinth

This movie is a masterpiece! Quite honestly I don't know how anyone could watch it and not get sucked in. This movie was told with the air of a classic fairy tale, the real ones, not the watered down versions we give our children today. There is an atmosphere of danger and suspense that constantly surrounds the girl, and in response to that there is a persistent arousal of hope, or fantasy. The girl's environment is not the best, to say the least. She is in some camp under the jurisdiction of some heartless man who has married her mother, and who only cares about producing an heir. Everything around her is militaristic and hard and cold, and yet she continuously bumps into this other world of wonder and mystery, of fairies and fauns and the like. It's like the metaphor of the flower that grows out of concrete. finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.

It's debatable whether she is actually interacting with this other world and that it exists, or if she's creating this world to escape her less than ideal reality. I suppose your answer would come from what kind of person you are and how you perceive the world. I enjoy the experience of believing it is real with a constant skeptic in the back of my mind nay saying everything the believer says, so I guess my view would change depending on what day you chanced upon asking me. The bottom line is that story is very well put together and whether or not you believe the world the girl is interacting with to be real, you'll enjoy it either way. 

A common criticism I hear circling this movie is that it isn't for children. To these people, I don't really know what to say. I'm not sure how it was advertised to you, but from the advertisements I saw I was well aware that the movie was rated R and was a 'fairy tale for grown ups', so to speak. I did still take my younger sibling, but that's something else. If a parent or guardian is not willing to take the time to research a movie or heed the ratings, they shouldn't be allowed to complain about what their children see, as this unwanted event could have been prevented with a little effort on their part.

This movie is wonderful. I tear up at the end every time. For me it really stands out as a work of art against the back drop of the standard of movies we have come to expect will be playing in theaters every Friday night. I'd even go so far as to say that it's a classic in it's own time, or is at least something to be aware of. But it's definitely awesome.

The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)

This is my absolute favorite movie and has been ever since I was a little girl. My mother actually introduced me to this movie and since then I have become addicted to all things mythological (I probably would have gotten into it anyways, but this sped up the process). 

It's a story about a girl who goes to live with her grandparents for a while because her father is too busy with work to care for her. While with her grandparents, she visits an island her family used to live on. This is also the island where her younger brother was taken away by the sea. She snoops around the island and catches glimpses of a small boy she suspects to be her brother. As it turns out, selkies have taken him away. So the girl, with the help of her cousin, begin to make the abandoned houses on the island habitable again so that they can move back, thereby getting the girl's brother back from the sea. 

This film is subtle, yet superbly effective in giving you that evanescent, magical feeling. So many movies try to capture that evasive 'something else' but end up being fake and cheesy but this one makes the cut. It's suitable for all ages and is a definite must experience. The soundtrack isnt bad either.

Peter Pan (2004)

I have loved Peter Pan ever since I was a child. It is a wonderful story about magic and freedom and the wonder of childhood, and I believe that this movie did an excellent job of capturing those themes and bringing them alive. 

For those who are unfamiliar, Peter Pan is the story about three children, Wendy, John, and Micheal (but especially Wendy), and their adventures in a magical place called Neverland, with a magical boy who seems to have given up his humanity and can never grow up. 

There was the added love interest in the movie, that was kind of suggested in the book, but never stated. Many times when movies deviate from the original plot in anyway its usually a major disappointment for those who fell in love with the original, but in this case the deviation was very well done and added greatly to the over all effect of the film. This movie is an enchanting retelling of a beloved classic and a must own for all lovers of Peter Pan!!!

Fairy Faith In Celtic Countries by Wy Wentz

This book is a good source of fairy culture from Ireland, Britain, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and the like. There are a lot of case studies in the beginning, so if you don't like those, stay away- or just skip over it. The author of this book is an anthropologist who went around the British Isles collecting fairy lore. He uses both stories from the people he meets and later gets into different aspects of the fairy faith. This is a wonderful resource and a must read for all seriously obsessed with fairies

Lady Cottington’s Fairy Album by Brian Froud

I simply adore this book! It was my first book by this author and it was worth every penny, and then some. 

It is a wonderful story about a young girl and her fairies. The narrator is a young girl who keeps a journal, but this girl is special in that she is constantly pestered by meddlesome faeries. She doesn't like that they bug her all the time so every so often she'll smack her journal closed on one, pressing it's image into the pages. There is a touching story in there some where, but I won't wreck it for you, you'll have to go read it. 

It's a light, fun book. It picks me up whenever I am feeling down and entertains me whenever I'm feeling bored. It is undoubtedly one of the best books I own. 

 

Child of Faerie, Child of Earth by Jane Yolen

This was a magical tale about a girl who meets a faerie boy and follows him into faerie land for a night of fun. Though the girl has fun in faerie, she tells the boy that she must go back home because that is where she belongs. So she and the faerie boy exchange gifts to remember each other by and we see in the pictures that as they grow older they stay friends.

 The story is told like a poem and it rhymes, which makes it ideal for reading out loud. The illustrations are soft and colourful and I think are successful in emphasizing the magical other-worldliness of the story. It's one of my favourite faerie picture books and I most definitely recommend it.

 

Brian Froud’s Goblins by Ari Berk

This is a fun book. It kind of reminds me of the Spiderwick Chronicles a bit in that it's a collection of goblin data, not so much from a mythological perspective, but from a fantastical perspective. Unlike other works by Froud, the goblins have play a more vocal role. It brings a sense of fun to the book... but at the same time it looses a bit of what the previous books like faeries or the cottington series had. It's more jeuvenile than mythological, but the message gets across and it keeps it fun.
 
It wasn't as good as the other stuff, but was still pretty great.