The magic in this Celtic cognate to “It Could Always Be Worse,” summoned by an old woman’s complaints about her housework, comes in the shape of crazy-cleaning fairies, who, as soon as they have washed the dishes, swept the floor, made the bed and done the knitting, undo all their work so they can start again. The village wise woman gives the old woman the right advice to both get rid of the fairies and stop her complaints. Using strong construction and repetition in all the right places, the simple text is so artfully composed that it is ready-made for retelling, from the old woman’s cantankerous “Work! Work! Work! How I hate it! Hate it! Hate it!” to the onomatopoeic clankety, swishety, flumpety and clickety noises made by the fairies gone berserk. Mitchell’s watercolors reflect the text too sweetly, without enough visual clues to make the cute gossamer-winged, roly-poly mischief-makers convincing nuisances, and even the crotchety old woman doesn’t look very crotchety. Taken alone, master storyteller MacDonald’s work shines. (Picture book/folklore. 4-6)
