Review: Fairy Garden Handbook by Liza Gardner Walsh
Fairy Garden Handbook
by Liza Gardner Walsh
Combining a love of the outdoors and gardening with a fascination with fairies, Fairy Garden Handbook is a book that inspires children (and youthful adults!) to create fairy-friendly gardens. Whether the reader is limited to a small container or an entire backyard, Liza Gardner Walsh offers helpful suggestions and tips to help the garden attract the maximum number of fairy visitors. She suggests plants to use, necessary tools, the importance of planning your garden, and accessorizing with tiny handmade chairs and tables for the fairies to use. Later chapters encourage readers to enhance the garden for other guests, like birds and butterflies, and finally helps children plan a garden tea party so that they can show off their hard work to their friends.
I think this is a fantastic book. It really encourages creativity for its readers, offering suggestions but never saying, “You must do this or use that!” I appreciated that Walsh took the time to offer suggestions for a variety of settings, recognizing that many readers may live in homes where a backyard isn’t available but still finding ways for children to develop a green thumb. She also reminds her readers throughout the book that while you can often purchase items like birdbaths or miniature furniture, it’s better to make it yourself - again, fostering that creativity and helping build interest in making.
The initial “start-up” on some of these projects will no doubt need parental assistance, as the kids learn how to care for plants and build furniture for the fairies. But after they’ve gotten the essentials down, little girls and boys (for who says boys can’t love gardening and fairies, too?) will be able to have a lot of fun on their own. It’s a delightful way to introduce gardening and inspire greater interest in spending time in the natural world with just a little fairy magic.
5 out of 5 stars
To read more about Fairy Garden Handbook, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2012: The Maid by Kimberly Cutter
2011: Fashionista Piranha on hold for a few weeks!
2010: Closing down for end of year Festivus…
2009: Photos of beautiful libraries around the world!
2008: The Secret History of Giants by Ari Berk
by Liza Gardner Walsh
Combining a love of the outdoors and gardening with a fascination with fairies, Fairy Garden Handbook is a book that inspires children (and youthful adults!) to create fairy-friendly gardens. Whether the reader is limited to a small container or an entire backyard, Liza Gardner Walsh offers helpful suggestions and tips to help the garden attract the maximum number of fairy visitors. She suggests plants to use, necessary tools, the importance of planning your garden, and accessorizing with tiny handmade chairs and tables for the fairies to use. Later chapters encourage readers to enhance the garden for other guests, like birds and butterflies, and finally helps children plan a garden tea party so that they can show off their hard work to their friends.
I think this is a fantastic book. It really encourages creativity for its readers, offering suggestions but never saying, “You must do this or use that!” I appreciated that Walsh took the time to offer suggestions for a variety of settings, recognizing that many readers may live in homes where a backyard isn’t available but still finding ways for children to develop a green thumb. She also reminds her readers throughout the book that while you can often purchase items like birdbaths or miniature furniture, it’s better to make it yourself - again, fostering that creativity and helping build interest in making.
The initial “start-up” on some of these projects will no doubt need parental assistance, as the kids learn how to care for plants and build furniture for the fairies. But after they’ve gotten the essentials down, little girls and boys (for who says boys can’t love gardening and fairies, too?) will be able to have a lot of fun on their own. It’s a delightful way to introduce gardening and inspire greater interest in spending time in the natural world with just a little fairy magic.
5 out of 5 stars
To read more about Fairy Garden Handbook, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2012: The Maid by Kimberly Cutter
2011: Fashionista Piranha on hold for a few weeks!
2010: Closing down for end of year Festivus…
2009: Photos of beautiful libraries around the world!
2008: The Secret History of Giants by Ari Berk