The fairiest fairy

This whimsical look at one winged tot's fairy-school mishaps shines a light on what really counts. Fairy Betty, unruly hair barely contained by a red flowered bow, is a bit of a mess. Her satchel gets tangled around a flower stem on her way to school. Her magic wand has to be secured with an elastic band. Things get worse when the class is assigned spells, and the dewdrops Betty is supposed to be sprinkling simply puddle. But then she discovers she has a knack for something after all: helping others. Betty removes a thorn from a rabbit's paw washing it in one of her dew puddles and shows a baby blackbird how to fly. The gentle, rhyming text and buoyant illustrations, where mushrooms and colorful flowers tower over the diminutive fairies, result in an absorbing story both to look at and read. Betty is appropriately rewarded for her kind acts at the book's end, making this a lovely meld of Cinderella and Aesop's The Mouse and the Lion. --Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2016 Booklist

PreS-Gr 2-Some fairies are not very good at performing magic, as readers quickly find out in this sweet picture book. Betty, the protagonist of this tale, never seems to get the hang of it. Her dewdrops just make puddles, she can't wake up flowers, and her rainbows turn out crooked and messy. However, this curly-haired sprite seems to have an affinity for animals and assists them during each obstacle they face. When the Fairy Ball arrives, her animal friends help her win the most coveted "fairest of them all" title. Brightly colored mixed-media illustrations help tell the story and will keep little ones engaged for one-on-one reading. VERDICT While some of the rhyming stanzas are long-winded and the story is choppy in places, this book will nonetheless fly off library shelves.-Brooke Newberry, La Crosse Public Library, WI © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.