A gifted storyteller (The Dancing Skeleton, 1989) presents a familiar theme--a happy relationship between grandparent and child--with unusual insight and sensitivity. The title telegraphs the humor in Grandpa's stories, which begin ``When I was a little girl.'' (That was before he kissed his elbow.) While cutting Maggie's hair, he tells her about a pixie under the porch who often makes ``something magic'' happen. Maggie isn't sure whether to believe this, but her offerings of cookies and other small treats do disappear, and something special often does happen when she's with Grandpa: he teaches her to tickle trout; a hailstorm leaves enough ice to make a summer snowball; best of all, a wren makes a nest of the clippings from her hair; and after the nestlings fly away, Maggie takes the nest home. Swanson's misty color-pencil illustrations nicely reflect the story's quiet mood and Maggie's sense of wonder at the ``magical'' occurrences she and Grandpa share. (Picture book. 4-8)
