Alice the Fairy

Shannon, David
Scholastic, 2004
k-2
Picture Book, Fiction

Summary: This book is about a little girl named Alice. Alice is a "temporary" fairy, and she loves pretending that she can preform magic with her wand. She can change her dad into a horse, make leaves fall from trees, disappear in the dark, and change oatmeal into cake. She has a very large imagination. Then she decides that she is a temporary fairy because her mother says that fairies should know how to make their clothes disappear off their floor and to learn how to fly. She doesnt like this so she says that she will be a temporary fairy for forever.

Response: I absolutely love this book! The first time I saw this author was during the author studies, and I fell in love. Alice reminds me of when i was a little girl. I used to wear my dads shoes around the house and ride my dog like a horse. My favorite color was also pinkish purple! I love, love David Shannons illustrations. The author first outlines the illustrations with pen and then paints them with watercolor. The pictures are so colorful and beautiful that it amazes me how good they are. I think that this book would really appeal to younger girls when learning how to read. My favorite page of the book is where it says "Fairies also hate baths. I'd like to turn my bathwater into strawberry jello . That would be fun!" This is such a fun book! I really like how Alice refers her mother to "The Duchess". The Duchess gets very angry at her when she spills a red drink all over her dress. What a great book for younger children!!

Classroom: I think that this book would be fun for children to read when they are learning how to read. The students could create their own fantasy like story about their lives. For example: Peter the great Baseball player or Mary the Fluttering butterfly. This is just a great book to use to get childrens imaginations going! I will definately have this book and ALL of David Shannons books in my classroom!