Fairy

by David Bouchard, Dean Griffiths (Illustrator)

This is a one-of-a-kind fairy. No gauzy dresses or flowing tresses for her. No delicate wand with a sparkly tip. She rides a Harley and brandishes a wand of leather. Her hair flies behind her in long braids. Her job is to look after the magical need of the children on the street. And no child needs to worry when she is around! Right now the trouble lies with Victoria and her loose tooth. When Victoria's curmudgeonly father refuses to believe that the tooth fairy will come to trade a coin for his daughter's tooth, the one-of-a-kind fairy rides in to teach him a lesson he will not soon forget.

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2001

About the author

Canadian Métis author and literacy advocate David Bouchard has produced more than fifty books for readers of all ages, including two guides on reading for parents and educators.

An erstwhile teacher and school principal, he is particularly concerned with Aboriginal-related issues and is a sought-after speaker for conference keynotes and school presentations and on topics of reading, literacy and aboriginal well-being.

David Bouchard's books have won numerous awards, including a Special Mention for Non-Fiction in the 2010 Bologna Ragazzi Awards for The Drum Calls Softly, a Gold Medal in the 2008 Moonbeam Award for I am Raven, the 2004 Governor General's Award for The Song Within My Heart, the 1999 Red Cedar Award for The Great Race and the 1997 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award for Voices from the Wild. An Aboriginal Carol was included in the 2008 White Ravens Catalogue.

In April 2009, Bouchard was named as a Member of the Order of Canada "for his contributions as an author of children’s books and an advocate who has championed the cause of reading and writing, and who has shared his pride as a member of the Métis community through his stories."

David lives in Victoria, British Columbia, with his wife Vicki and their daughter Victoria.

-taken from the author's website

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yes indeed, in and of itself, David Bouchard's Harley-driving tooth fairy is fun, and truly one-of-a-kind (as she wears a leather jacket and black leather pants, with thankfully no frilly pink dresses for her). But while I do very much appreciate that in Fairy, she watches over the neighbourhood (and also teaches necessary lessons to those who require them), I find some if not in fact many of her modus operandi rather majorly disconcerting and troubling. And really, from where I am standing, they could even be considered acts of potentially nasty degradation, so while I certainly did laugh a bit at first, in retrospect, I think the tooth fairy could have and really should have shown both Victoria's disbelieving schoolmates and her father the errors of their ways in a less demeaning and disgustingly drastic manner (I mean, how does actively bullying a bully really change such behaviour, as in my opinion, it just perpetuates and even justifies the inherent nastiness).

And while Dean Griffiths' accompanying illustrations are indeed wonderfully detailed, descriptive, and do in fact work exceedingly well with David Bouchard's presented narrative (providing a bright and realistic mirror of the text, and at times, even expanding and augmenting it), that very sense of realism also makes them rather or at least potentially worrisome to and for me. For although the rather in one's face picture of Victoria's topless and hairy chested father being levitated out of his bed by the fairy (and then being made against his will to appear as a tutu wearing ballerina) might be humorous to a certain point, I also find the entire scene rather majorly mean-spirited, humiliating and strange, and more prudish, more sensitive individuals might even and indeed consider the same and actually the entire premise of Fairy rather inappropriate, especially for younger and/or easily offended children.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book OK--the illustrations were OK, but I was not extremely impressed. It was a nice change of pace to have a motorcycle riding fairy patrolling her neighborhood, and defending the bullied. There are children who will find the two boys whose pants fell down hilarious. I even chuckled at the dad who was being levitated through the air. I did notice that while the fairy is highly visible in several pictures, in others she is a little more difficult to spot, making this book partially a "where's the fairy" book.

[Brightdreamer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The primary attraction here is the art, with the unconventional imagery of a trench coat-garbed granny fairy popping wheelies on her mini magic-powered motorbike. The story's not half bad, though, as the fairy works to ensure that a jaded father doesn't spoil the magic of the Tooth Fairy tradition for his innocent little girl. Adults often forget the important things, she laments... but a little dose of fairy magic can remind them.