The Playful Antiquarian

Breakfast with the Fairy Violet

May 12th, 2007

As an adult with a full-time job and grownup responsibilities, I am a bit too old for story hour. But, thanks to the recent proliferation of widgets, gadgets, and feeds, I am finding ways to sneak storytime into my workday.

My new morning routine, for example, includes a quick glance at the International Children’s Digital Library (ICDL) Book of the Day. This gadget, which I recently added to my Google homepage, displays a different book from the ICDL’s collection each day. Although the selections are often contemporary books in languages other than English, on occasion, older books are featured.

This week I discovered Marianne L.B. Ker’s How the Fairy Violet Lost and Won Her Wings. Ker’s 1872 children’s book tells the story of a fairy named Violet who loses her wings in an accident and earns new wings through her service to a dying girl. In between losing and winning her gossamer wings, Violet meets the Fire-King, the Snow-King, and a magician, among others. Beneath the melodrama and Victorian sentimentality, there is historically interesting commentary on man’s relationship to the environment, urban living conditions, and the restorative power of nature.

Now that I have frolicked with the Fairy Violet among the flowers, I wonder what interesting characters ICDL’s Book of the Day will bring to my breakfast table next?

Entry Filed under: Playful Reading, Bookmarks