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The Fairy Ring (2012)

by Mary Losure(Favorite Author)

3.49 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0763656704 (ISBN13: 9780763656706)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Candlewick

review 1: When Francis was nine years old, she and her mother moved to Cottingley in England to live with relatives while her father was off fighting in World War I. Francis was lonely and missed her home in Cape Town, South Africa, where she grew up. She often wandered alone in the woods and frequently watched little tiny men, dressed all in green, as they frolicked and worked by a nearby brook. When the grown-ups heard her tale of little green men, they teased her, so her cousin Elsie created paper fairies and hid them away until the day she and Francis took them to the woods along with Elsie's father's camera, and came back with "proof" fairies were real. Well, that stopped the adults from laughing, didn't it? Little did Francis and Elsie realize how huge their little trick would... more become. It wasn't long after that first camera trick that letters began arriving at the Cottingley house, asking for more information about the fairies. What followed were visits from very educated men who believe that the fairy world was real and wanted to document it, using the photographs Francis and Elsie had taken. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, got involved because he too believed fairies existed. What were the two girls to do? They kept their secret and refused to tell anyone the truth, so people continued to ask them about the fairies, requested more pictures, and even followed them hoping to see fairies. For years, until the girls were nearly grown, people continued to interview them, print articles, write to them, and ask questions. The girls never let their secret slip out. The book includes reprints of letters exchanged with the girls and their parents, accounts of how their little trick spiraled out of control, and reproductions of their pictures. The book is an excellent account of how quickly and easily something can get out of control in the media, and is a fitting lesson for today's social media saturated world. A fun read for grades 5 and up and a great opportunity to talk to students about how media influences our lives and how easy it is to use media to make people believe almost anything.
review 2: Based on true events--a piece of historical fiction for young adult readers. Nine year-old Frances and 15-year-old Elsie take two of the first well-known "trick photos" and fool more than one English intellectual into thinking they've photographed fairies in their backyard. Elsie had created the fairies with watercolors, cut them out, and posed them with her young cousin--whom actually believed she could see fairies--to help combat teasing from adult family members. Not exactly a thrilling read, but it contains some very compelling images. less

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