Laura Ingalls Wilder's Fairy Poems
"Down by the spring one morning/ Where the shadows still lay deep,/ I found in the heart of the flower/ A tiny fairy asleep," rhymes Laura Ingalls Wilder in "The Fairy Dew Drop." Wilder, best known for theLittle Houseseries that chronicles her childhood as a pioneer girl, wrote poetry, too, and--surprise!--this practical, hard-working woman also believed in fairies. Her fairy poems, first published in a San Francisco newspaper, have now been collected in this small, colorful volume, brimming with Richard Hull'swhimsical paintingsof various kinds of fairies and their fanciful world of flowers and insects. The book begins with an introduction by Stephen W. Hines, who edited Wilder's long-forgotten newspaper columns inLittle House in the Ozarks. Wilder fans will also find one of her 1916 essays, "Fairies Still Appear to Those with Seeing Eyes." A charming choice for both fans of fairies and admirers of theLittle Housebooks. (Click to see asample spread. Illustrations ©1998 by Richard Hull. Permission by Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.) (Age 6 to adult)--Marcie Bovetz