The Fairy Garden
Georgia Buckthorn and Isabella Mazzanti
Ivy Kids

Mimi loves her garden. Every morning she tends it with great care, removing all the weeds and spraying the plants to keep bugs away, making it as near perfect as possible in the hope that a fairy will pay a visit.
Despite all her efforts, there is no sign of any fairies, so around her perfect garden she places little fairy houses: perhaps these homes might attract the visitors she so longs for. However, again Mimi is disappointed, even when she adds a welcome sign.

Is she doing something wrong?

Astute listeners to this cautionary tale will likely, by now have realised that she is. For that night as a tearful Mimi looks out at her garden she sees that she has visitors. Some fairies have finally come, but what they have to tell her surprises the little girl.

Her well intentioned perfection has led to the destruction not only of the garden’s wildlife, but the kind of environment that fairies would inhabit: a fairy-friendly garden is wild.

This environmental fable is gorgeously illustrated by Isabella Mazzanti whose fairytale landscapes and the richly detailed, verdant flora and latterly the insect life, are a delight.

Look closely too at the expressions on the faces of the three fairies as they gently chastise Mimi. How well the artist captures the ethereal nature of those visitors and the total absorption of the little girl at work in her garden. (The final two spreads detail how to grow a fairy-friendly garden and how to make a fairy house.)

An engaging way of alerting youngsters to the importance of rewilding, done with a gentle touch by author Georgia Buckthorn and artist Isabella Mazzanti, and it’s printed on 100%recycled paper.