School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3 A gentle fairy purchases nature's treasures but keeps them for her own pleasure only briefly before she releases them or gives them away. The four stanzas of Fyleman's verse, originally published in 1918, are pleasant but not particularly memorable in themselves. What makes this picture book exceptional are the exquisite illustrations. The dainty fairy with butterfly wings moves gracefully among nature's small creatures. Using a different season as the backdrop for each short narrative stanza, Henterly creates a panorama of the year. Rich colors and exquisite detail help children see the natural beauty that surrounds them. Children and adults will savor such touches as the fairy's wasp nest letter holder and her caterpillar boots. This is a book for unhurried gazing and quiet sharing. Kathy Piehl, Mankato State University, Minn. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Henterly adds elaborate pictures to this simple verse taken from Fairies and Chimneys by the late Fyleman. The artist has created a fairy-world of beauty with animals, plants, reptiles and small details making each double-page spread a breathtaking scene. The fairy-girl goes to market four times; whatever she buysfish, bird, gown or mouseshe sets free or gives away. Henterly's luminous drawings reveal an eye for the many fleeting details of naturethe curve of a squirrel's tail, the peeling bark of a birch tree. (4-6) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
A new illustrator has made an exquisitely beautiful book from Fyleman's familiar poem about a fairy who buys a series of small creatures--fish, bird, mouse--and then sets them free. Henterly, a loving observer of nature, combines a selection of accurate portraits from the natural world to create a wondrously imagined place where a fairy (fine-boned, Borrower-sized, moth-winged) lives. Her house is a treasury of small things: antique thimble as vase, elegantly striped beetle as body of a stringed instrument, wasps' nest letter box, fabrics with botanically inspired designs. Outside, the poem's four brief stanzas are ingeniously linked to the seasons, so that the bird flies away against richly hued fall leaves and sunset, contrasted with the delicately lucid sky and tattered, dessicated leaves of early winter. Spring flowers, insects, shells, the bark of trees and a multitude of other details combine to make a picture book to pore over and treasure. Fyleman's gentle parable about a fairy's respect for the fellow-inhabitants of her world has been extended and enhanced by Henterly's sensitive interpretation. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Ages 4-6. Fyleman's whimsical poem about a fairy who expresses her affection for little animals by releasing them from their captivity inspires a series of ambitious, striking tableaux. Notable for their jewel tones and cool intensity, the pictures reflect decisive composition and fearless use of color. Henterly's girlish fairy has a romantic cast in her tumbling tresses and flowing garb; her actions buying ad freeing a fish, a bird, and a mouse and giving her thistledown coat to a winter-chilled frog are a springboard for woodland scenes that invite the viewer to believe the fantasy wholeheartedly. Indeed, it is the art that holds sway here, though whether it conjures up enough sense of story to make a substantial book-length interpretation may be open to question. DMW. 821'.912 Fairies Poetry / English poetry [CIP] 86-4468