Backyard Fairies

listen I like the book and all—cute simple verse, very beautiful illustrations—but my 11 month old is obsessed with it. shrieks and dives for it, makes me read it five times in a row. sometimes I hide it for a while because she just gets too worked up. one time she turned to the page with the fairy party and just started chuckling. she would give it ten stars.

My whole family adores everything by Phoebe Wahl, and this book is an essential if you have kids. Something really special about her art is that it includes fairies and other magical forest creatures of every imaginable race and gender and ability and body size. My interestingly gendered family with our various body types and abilities all feel warmly welcomed into the imaginative world of Wahl's story. The images are full of details that invite repeat readings and conversations as we notice new little animals and interactions in the backgrounds. The text is simple enough for my youngest (8yo) to read aloud, though we got it for her older sister who is enamored with forest folk. This book is a real treasure and would make a great gift for anyone with children.

My daughter (6) loved this book and trying to find all of the fairies in it. Cute little story and beautiful artwork.

Magical story with amateur illustrations.

I shared this with my Forest Kindergarten class yesterday because they are kind of obsessed with fairies. This was a wonderful book for them, and it pairs well with another book called Through the Fairy Door. We did a hunt for "fairy gems" and also painted mini fairy doors after reading the books.

This is a lovely, sweet story with charming illustrations and rhymes that work well when read aloud! Who doesn’t want to find fairies in the backyard? I certainly do!

i love love love this author/ illustrators books. i have bought multiple copies of this one already to give out as gifts. so magical, whimsical and super special.

This is a gorgeous book. The art is a striking balance of whimsical and soulful. The story itself is brief and likely better for younger children. My youngest daughter is three. I can see reading this from two to seven. If I had to pick say...ten books in my house and only read those to my daughters, this would be one of them. Right up there with Chirri and Chirra's books and Outside Over There...and Someday (which is sadly out of print). As a whole it is perfectly done, from the handwritten text to the generously sized pages. Where her first book Sonya's Chickens had some moral complexity to it, this book is straightforward everyday magic.