I recently bought 3 Jane Ray picture books for J. I have been fascinated by Jane Ray’s artwork for years. When I worked in bookselling, I purchased all of the Berlie Doherty Fairy Tales, having been drawn in by the wonderful pictures that decorated the pages and brought the words to life. I only wished there were more drawings... How could I resist then The Doll’s House Fairy, Can you Catch a Mermaid? And The Apple Pip Princess.
Our favourite of these titles and the best one for J’s age group is The Doll’s House Fairy.
The story goes like this... Every Saturday morning Rosy and her Dad work on decorating her doll’s house together but when he suddenly becomes ill Rosy is surprised to find a little fairy in the doll’s house. A messy, cheeky, quite unconventional little fairy...
This book is exquisite both in the simplicity of its story and the detailed, satisfying interpretation of the story in the illustrations. Each page is full of colour, childhood wonder, nostalgia and tiny details which little girls just love to spot and point out to you... A miniature toy deer, and another one and another one, the cat sneaking a taste of the Saturday morning hot chocolate, the fairy peeking out from the doll’s house bedclothes... Scenes are built as the reader either looks into the doll’s house or cleverly into the real house where the little girl, Rosy, lives with her family.
I love real doll’s houses for their tininess and this book captures the love of ‘tiny’ perfectly, right to the very last page and right to the very sweet happy ending.
This book is such a pleasure to read to J, a pleasure to look at and a pleasure to hold in my hands... thank you Jane Ray.
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