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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
A fairy teaches a young servant girl to build bricks from mud and straw when the kingdom of glass where she lives begins to shatter and crumble. A gentle message about nature, the joy in getting dirty, and building with your own hands is threaded throughout.
I think there's a message in this book. Something about the ordinary girl, girls who get dirty, girl empowerment... I just didn't feel it, didn't get it. It didn't resonate with me. I even went back to reread, thinking I just needed to hear it again. It completely fell flat for me. Normally I love every strong girl story I read- I hate that I don't like this one. Maybe I just didn't get it?!
I LOVE THIS STORY. I love reading it with my daughter (it's my favorite, not her favorite, though she enjoys it.)
Bloom was a fairy who dealt in dirt and plants. She could spin sand into glass and turn small amounts of water into rivers. She lived in a glass kingdom and as the years passed, the kingdom’s inhabitants only saw the mess that Bloom left behind with her mud and not the way that she helped. Bloom finally left and went to live in the forest. More years passed and the glass kingdom started to fall into disrepair. The king remembered the powerful fairy and went to seek her help, because such a creature could only be asked by a monarch. But when Bloom offered the king to save his kingdom with mud, the king stormed off. The queen tried too with similar effect. Finally, they decided that they must send someone ordinary to ask Bloom for help and so Genevieve was selected. It will take a girl working with a fairy to save the kingdom, but even more it will take getting dirty along the way.
Cronin has created a story that is surprising and delightful. This is a fairy tale where girls save the day rather than being rescued by princes. It reads like a traditional fairy tale but with a feminist viewpoint that is not overplayed at all. There is also a beautiful attitude about getting your hands dirty and the fact that hard work is the way to solve problems along with working together.
Small’s illustrations are playful with delicate lines that swoop on the page. They are alive with action, particularly when Bloom is on the page. Small captures the delight of mud and getting dirty, the connection of the two girls, and the efforts that it takes to rebuild a kingdom even with magic. I must also mention the text design, which makes the book a joy to read aloud, creating real feeling around words like MUD and DIRT.
A feminist and intelligent fairy tale just right for modern children. Appropriate for ages 4-6.
Cronin has created a story that is surprising and delightful. This is a fairy tale where girls save the day rather than being rescued by princes. It reads like a traditional fairy tale but with a feminist viewpoint that is not overplayed at all. There is also a beautiful attitude about getting your hands dirty and the fact that hard work is the way to solve problems along with working together.
Small’s illustrations are playful with delicate lines that swoop on the page. They are alive with action, particularly when Bloom is on the page. Small captures the delight of mud and getting dirty, the connection of the two girls, and the efforts that it takes to rebuild a kingdom even with magic. I must also mention the text design, which makes the book a joy to read aloud, creating real feeling around words like MUD and DIRT.
A feminist and intelligent fairy tale just right for modern children. Appropriate for ages 4-6.
Cybils nominee for fiction picture book. More later.
This book is muddy brilliant. But it’s hard to explain why without giving the story away. Lets just say its about an ordinary girl learning she is extraordinary. All from a little mud and fairy dust.
Serviceable but maybe forgettable tale about finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. On the Amelia Bloomer list for 2017; so it has a feminist bent, but it's a pretty white lady one.