Realistic Fiction

Shannon, David. Alice the Fairy. New York City:

The Blue Sky Press, 2004.

Alice the Fairy, written and illustrated by David Shannon, is about a girl named Alice who has a very strong imagination; she is a fairy, although just a temporary fairy. This story is told from Alice’s perspective. As she transfers everyday experiences into magical events. “But, a fairy must be very careful with magic. Once I accidentally turned my white dress into a red one. That made the Duchess so mad she locked me in the tower forever! (I got away, though).” However, there are a lot of things Alice needs to work on like turning her bathwater into strawberry Jell-o. In order for Alice to become a permanent fairy, she would have to attend advanced fairy school and take a lot of tests to get really good at all the things a permanent fairy does.

The illustrations reveal the reality behind Alice’s perspective. For example, from the quote I stated above the drawing depicts the scene. Alice spills a drink on her white dress with her magic wand, accidentally turning it red. Also, the Duchess is her mother who locks her in the “tower” otherwise known as her bedroom. Each illustration dances on the page like Alice herself is dancing in front of you. Shannon uses creative pictures that fit the text to tell his story; each design adds depth. One example is when Shannon draws Alice in the middle of the page right in front of the tree waving her magic wand in the air with leaves falling all around her. His illustrations are playful and have a very distinct attitude. The illustrations will keep you giggling on every page.