Good Night, Fairies

Children enamored with the notion of fairies will drink up Kathleen and Michael Hague's lush picture book like nectar. When a mother is asked by her child about how fairies spend their days and nights, she embarks on a dreamy account of these mysterious, magical creatures. For starters, fairies hang the stars in the sky each evening "so every child will have a night-light." They also teach birds to sing, paint the wings of butterflies, comb mermaids' hair, and sleep "on leafy beds in secret gardens." The wondering child falls asleep to these poetic musings, welcomed to dreamland by the fairies.

Lyrical colored-pencil and watercolor illustrations, filled with elaborate detail, accompany this gentle bedtime story. Readers are challenged to find and count all 321 winged fairies in the book, and to look for the red-capped fairy hiding on each page. The author-illustrator team has paired up on several bestselling titles, including Ten Little Bears and Alphabears. (Ages 3 to 7) --Emilie Coulter