Unwrapping...
Author: Liza Gardner Walsh
Illustrator: Hazell Mitchell
Ages: 2-7
Unwrapping some amazing illustrations of you...
About the book...
Liza Gardner Walsh is the author of four books, Fairy House Handbook, Fairy Garden Handbook, Haunted Fort, and The Maine Coon Cat. She is a high school English teacher and has worked as a children’s librarian, writing tutor, museum educator, and holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College. Although her books are on a variety of different subjects, at their heart they are about wonder, appreciation, and exploration. The Handbook series aims to get kids outside exploring nature the way Liza did when she was little and what she still does with her two daughters and husband on the beautiful coast of Maine where they live. She and her family can often be found making tiny houses for fairies, mice, trolls, and other small creatures while also making forts and other natural installations in the woods. Liza began ghost hunting at an early age as she lived in a variety of haunted houses and old New England villages where ghosts were plentiful and active. As Liza works on her writing each day, Rocky, her Maine Coon cat shares her chair between fetching balls and playing with water sources. Look for Treasure Hunter’s Handbook and Muddy Boots and Other Childhood Adventures, forthcoming from Downeast Books as well as The History of Fort Knox.
About the illustrator...
Unwrapping some amazing illustrations of you...
About the book...
Are fairies real? Do they really love to play amongst the beautiful spring flowers and sprinkle fairy dust under the bright summer sky? Yes all that is true but what happens to these delicate little creatures when the days get longer, the seasons get colder and the snow starts to fly?
"Do fairies hibernate like bears,
hedgehogs, and raccoons,
or are they like squirrels collecting
food under the winter moon?'
Liza Gardner Walsh takes you on a charming journey inside a Fairyland community and through rhyming questions she gives you some suggestions as what they may be up to. Do Fairies curl up under leafy blankets or mushroom caps to take a long winter nap? Maybe they are resting in your fairy house, or bundled up in little downy milkweed jackets complete with knitted hats and mittens, dancing by firelight, trying to warm up from a freezing night.
Possibly they fly about helping other animals get settled in for a long, blustery winter by delivering them leftover berries, acorn caps, or dried nettles. The author suggests making the little sprites a tiny winter house and...
"Perhaps to be safe,
in case they're hovering close,
leave out a tiny pancake, some milk,
or crumble of toast."
"For this is the same kindness that fairies show you.
Helping each other is what we all should do."
She encourages you to practise the golden rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Kindness does indeed beget kindness!
The whimsical illustrations are brimming with activity and detail and the message of the book is very positive. I love at the end when the author includes a page entitled, "Ways You Can Take Care of Fairies In The Winter." I highly recommend this book.
About the author...
Liza Gardner Walsh is the author of four books, Fairy House Handbook, Fairy Garden Handbook, Haunted Fort, and The Maine Coon Cat. She is a high school English teacher and has worked as a children’s librarian, writing tutor, museum educator, and holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College. Although her books are on a variety of different subjects, at their heart they are about wonder, appreciation, and exploration. The Handbook series aims to get kids outside exploring nature the way Liza did when she was little and what she still does with her two daughters and husband on the beautiful coast of Maine where they live. She and her family can often be found making tiny houses for fairies, mice, trolls, and other small creatures while also making forts and other natural installations in the woods. Liza began ghost hunting at an early age as she lived in a variety of haunted houses and old New England villages where ghosts were plentiful and active. As Liza works on her writing each day, Rocky, her Maine Coon cat shares her chair between fetching balls and playing with water sources. Look for Treasure Hunter’s Handbook and Muddy Boots and Other Childhood Adventures, forthcoming from Downeast Books as well as The History of Fort Knox.
About the illustrator...
Drawing, reading and horses were my big passions as a youngster. After I attended art college in my home country of England, I ran away to sea and joined the Royal Navy. Now I'm doing what I've always dreamed of - illustrating and writing children's books.
I was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, UK and moved to America in 2000. Now I live and work in Maine. (I still miss fish and chips and mushy peas, but I'm learning to love lobster!). I have one dog, Toby, (who you can see in the photo), and a cat called Sleep. Toby will be featured in a soon-to-be-published book from Candlewick Press!
If you'd like to talk to me about an illustration project, a visit to your school or library, buy a signed book or just say 'hi', please email me at hazelgmitchell@outlook.com.
Read on and read always!
It's a wrap.
Contact me at storywrapsblog@gmail.com
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