Eliza and the Flower Fairies (Fairy Door Diaries #1)

Eager to visit a place of magic, young Eliza sprints off School Bus Number Six and all the way home to Cottage Number Two. In her bedroom, the pale-skinned child enters a curved door from which “cherry-pink light streamed” that leads to the Land of UnderStair, a secret chamber in which Eliza is free to practice magic. Upon manifesting and entering a small fairy door made from moss, twigs, and a pinch of fairy dust, Eliza meets flower fairy Poppy, who gives her an enchanted bracelet that allows her to see other fairy folk and tells her how they create flower scents. Everything is going wonderfully until Eliza accidently picks a dangerous flower and falls into Stranglewood Hollows, where flora go to die. There, evil flower fairies Wolfsbane and Belladonna determine to curse Eliza and steal the scent of flowers. Now Eliza must be brave to save her new friends. Illustrator Wen (Wolfgang in the Meadow) utilizes radiantly colorful illustrations limned with intricate, foreshadowing detail to bring the fairies’ world to life in Judy Moody creator McDonald’s joyful tale of learning to believe in oneself and rejoicing in magic both grandiose and mundane. Ages 5–9. (Feb.)

Correction: A previous version of this review misattributed the work's illustrations.