SUPERFAIRIES

A team of fairies rescues forest animals in distress.

In four short stories, the Superfairies (Asian Rose, white Star, black Silk, and brown-skinned Berry, possibly Latina, South Asian, or mixed-race) work as a team to help the animals of Peaseblossom Woods. In “Basil the Bear Cub,” the little bear ends up stuck and dangling from Shaky Bridge after a dare, resulting in a river rescue via fairycoptor. In “Dancer the Wild Pony,” the fairies provide comfort to a dance-champion pony who is struggling with the pressure of expectations. In “Martha the Little Mouse,” after an autumn storm damages the home of a family of mice, young Martha rushes out to greet the fairies and is swept away by the storm; after completing the rescue, the fairies tell the Autumn Queen that her storm got out of hand, so she can scale back (the storm is to knock leaves off of trees to prepare for winter). In “Violet the Velvet Rabbit,” Violet skis down a snowy slope after some ribbing and encouragement from Basil and is caught up in a slight avalanche. The stories are simple, and the fairies are frequently indistinguishable as characters, but the full-color artwork’s cheery palette and use of textures and patterns, as well as the friendly, rounded animal forms and spindly fairies, hold great appeal.

An aesthetically pleasing fairy-fix.