Flower Fairies of the Garden

Flower Fairies

by Cicely Mary Barker

First published in the 1920s, Cicely Mary Barker’s original Flower Fairies books have been loved for generations. Like the pre-Raphaelite painters whom she so admired, Barker believed in re-creating the beauty of nature in art and drawing from life. Her Flower Fairies watercolors have a unique combination of naturalism and fantasy that no imitators have matched. Now newly rejacketed in the style of bestseller Fairyopolis, this new edition makes a perfect gift for a new generation of Flower Fairy fans. The book features poems and full-color illustrations of over 20 flowers and their guardian fairies.

Genres: Poetry, Fantasy, Childrens, Picture Books, Fairies, Classics, Art

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1944

About the author

Cicely Mary Barker was the illustrator who created the famous Flower Fairies; those ethereal smiling children with butterfly wings. As a child she was influenced by the works of the illustrator Kate Greenaway, whom she assiduously copied in her formative years. Her principal influence, however, was the artwork of the Pre-Raphaelites.

Reviews

[Carolyn Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet songs of sweet peas and other lovely blooms!

[Calista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fine collection of poems celebrating flowers and fairies. Mary doesn’t change up her formula here, she gives the children more of what they want. I would suggest trying the 4 season books first as I think those are the best, but if you have this, you will experience the charm Cicely brought to the garden.

I enjoy the poems, pictures, and fairies. I did not read this to the nephew and the niece was not interested this time around.

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

The flower fairies are back - and in our gardens! Really wonderful illustrations that look at fairies and the flowers they represent. My mom loves flowers - so I am going to give her this book as one of her birthday presents - so she can try to find some of the fairies hiding in her backyard!

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have long been a fan of CMB's illustrations. They are so timeless and lovely and I think they speak to the joy, delight and magic of childhood just as much today as they did a hundred years ago. I have also always appreciated that she includes both girl and boy fairies and I'm especially glad of that now that I am the mother of boys. I personally think she was more talented as an artist than as a poet, but I appreciate the ideas behind her poetry and also the diversity of flowers covered (some names were new to me!) The thought of finding fairies among the flowers continues to enchant today's children and I'm happy to slip back to my own girlhood and feel that little thrill of excitement as I read these poems.

WHERE

Where are the fairies?
Where can we find them?
We've seen the fairy-rings
They leave behind them!

When they have danced all night,
Where do they go?
Lark, in the sky above,
Say, do you know?

Is it a secret
No one is telling?
Why, in your garden
Surely they're dwelling!

No need for journeying
Seeking afar:
Where there are flowers,
There fairies are! -- CMB

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't really a review but rather an homage to a book, a memory, a keepsake. This book was my mother's from when she was a little girl and she kept it in her underwear drawer. My parents' room was the forbidden zone and we only went in when invited, otherwise I would just stand upon the threshold looking in, hoping I'd be invited. So if I was, I remember it smelled like talcum powder, it was usually when my mum was getting ready for going out. I'd get to see the special stuff and this was one of the things. She'd let me look at it, read it and talk about her childhood. When I was older she gave the book to me. I'm not a big fan of poetry but as a kid I did have some poetry books and I "knew what I liked". I talked about another childhood favourite here. I loved this old-fashioned book and gorgeous illustrated plates more than the sweet fairy poems but re-reading through it now, there are stanzas and lines that vividly come back to my memory since I'd said them so many times as a child. This particularly caught my attention as I can recall my childlike self saying it :

"...Yet who
Does not love Periwinkle's blue?"

But I would say it like this:

"Yet whooooo.
Does not love.
Periwinkle's bluuuuue?"

and I never knew what this flower, or many of the British garden flowers mentioned in the poems, looked like in real life but I always connected it with my periwinkle Crayola crayon.

This book is falling apart but it is a keeper for me, and I keep it in my underwear drawer.

[Mila · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm happy to say that I've grown all the flowers in this book (almost all at the same time) and seeing them on these pages in the middle of winter brings back happy memories of summer. I love them all but one of my favourites is the Narcissus who has a cute "ruffle" around her waist. Another favourite is The Song of the Pink Fairies. Did you know that:
"Snip, snip, snip, go busy fairy scissors,
Pinking out the edges
of the petals of the Pinks"
Ha ha, get it? Fairies with their pinking shears! And here I always thought they were called pinks because of their colour!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite of the series.

[Bec · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really lovely little book. I found a copy quite by chance at an op-shop. It's a beautiful little read.

[Shiloah · Rating 5 out of 5]

These books never cease to delight as well as teach botany. I’m surprised I hadn’t marked this one as read. It’s the first of the fairy books I bought for our family nearly 15 years ago.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

My nan read these poems with me each night that I stayed over, and for that they will always be special to me.

This specific collection was especially meaningful as all the flowers listed in the book were in my garden at home, so i used to daydream that there were fairies in the garden hiding behing petals, pretending they weren't there!

I just wished that Barker would have considered doing a story. The poems were beautiful, but a story conbining the fairies would have been magical!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

An old childhood favourite: not especially for the poems but for the beautiful illustrations.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This lovely volume’s pages are petite, a suitable format for youngsters to read, and appropriate to the diminutive size of the flower fairies themselves. Originally published in 1944, each page contains a short poem about a particular kind of flower and the fairies that are known to inhabit it. Each poem is illustrated on the facing page with a charming and detailed watercolor of the flower and its fairies. There are girl fairies, boy fairies, and even baby fairies, so this volume could be suitable for young children of both genders. It will be of particular interest to children whose parents garden or enjoy the outdoors, and for children who garden at school. The book mirrors the progression of wild flowers in a typical English garden from early spring (hyacinths and periwinkles) through autumn (marigolds).

Both adults and children who enjoy short illustrated poems about the garden will like this book. “Flower Fairies” makes suitable bedtime reading for fairy fans of all ages.

[Jaimie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't 100% sure what we were going to get with this collection as it was the first of Barker's non-seasonal selections of fairies, but she collected this batch with surprising skill. Or maybe less surprise, since she's long proven that she knows her flora! Here, we are presented with a rainbowed selectionof flowers that I am sure most readers will recognize because they are in fact typical garden specimens. I'm no garden expert, as our "garden" was coprised of trees/bushes or plants that grew edibles, but I definitely remembered all the flowers that I saw in other people's gardens like snap-dragons and bachelor's buttons. Since Barker was working with a plentiful selection of specimens I would judge this to be her most colourful set of fairies yet, and we can tell that she was feeling inspired by the vibrant colours and inventive compositions. We might have learned about seasonal growing patterns in the previous collections, but I much prefer this more unrestrained collection!

[La pointe de la sauce · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Song of the Forget-Me-Not Fairy

Where do fairy babies lie
Till they're old enough to fly?
Here's a likely place, I think,
'Mid these flowers, blue and pink,
(Pink for girls and blue for boys:
Pretty things for babies' toys!)
Let us peep now, gently. Why,
Fairy baby, here you lie!

Kicking there, with no one by,
Baby dear, how good you lie!
All alone, but O, you're not-
You could never be-forgot!
O how glad I am I've found you,
With Forget-me-nots around you,
Blue, the colour of the sky!
Fairy baby, Hushaby!

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's funny how little things like this stay with you. I covered my room in Flower Fairy photos when I was younger, and memorised the poems. I thoroughly believed fairies existed, and (though in a different way) I still do. This book (and the others of the Flower Fairy series) gave me a bunch of memories and a new way of looking at things - it really helped with my imagination and seeing the world and nature as much more magical as a child, which I think is really important!

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful, whimsical world of Cicely Mary Barker.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My boy loved these books. We read them by season and this was the last one for us. So sad to reach the end of the series.

[Diana Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mesmerising!!! Wonderful artwork and such pretty rhymes:)

[Your Common House Bat · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always I loved Barker's poetry. It's so full of life and was the prefect read for spiring time.

[Libby Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Song of The Sweet Pea Fairies

Here Sweet Peas are climbing;
(Here's the Sweet Pea rhyme!)
Here are little tendrils,
Helping them to climb.

Here are sweetest colours;
Fragrance very sweet;
Here are silky pods of peas,
Not for us to eat!

Here's a fairy sister,
Trying on with care
Such a grand new bonnet
For the baby there.

Does it suit you, Baby?
Yes, I really think
Nothing's more becoming
Than this pretty pink!

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

First published in 1944, Cicely Mary Barker's illustrations are timeless and lovely. These do a great job of reflecting the flower in the corresponding fairy's clothes.

The poems are laced with interesting facts and lore about the flowers. One great example is the poem for pinks, a.k.a. dianthus. Although many are the color pink, they are called pinks because the jagged edges of the petals look like they were cut with pinking shears. And so the poem imagine the fairies do this cutting.

[The Wrath of Eleny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've had this book since forever. I remember it being the reason why I fell in love with how magical the world is. There are such beautiful illustrations and depictions of flower fairies. Though it may be a children's book I can't help but appreciate Barker's work, it's fundamentally one of the most influential books of my childhood.

[Lissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely artwork with fun poems - a great way to learn the names of flowers!

This one, unlike many of it’s ilk, is still in print.

This is the fifth in the Flower Fairies series.

I read this as part of “The Complete Book of Flower Fairies”.

[Ehryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had most fun with THE SONG OF THE MARIGOLD FAIRY, as they are some of my favorite flowers to grow and keep in the spring/summer. My favorite flower fairy in this garden book ended up being the Gaillardia Fairy, which is a flower I’ve never seen.

[Alana (semi ia) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've decided Cicely Mary Barker books are my new favorites, if that wasn't already obvious. There's something about them that is so soothing, each one with the cutest art. They're also the perfect collectibles for my cottagecore fairy phase which is totally not a phase.

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again, another exquisitely produced book with imaginative evocative illustrations and tender heartfelt words sprinkled with little facts about the flowers of yesteryear. Cicely Mary Barker has a timeless talent and charm.

[Judy Lipstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Classic. Charming illustrations

[Kendalyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because I never read these growing up (and I sorely regret it), my children will definitely be raised on this book and Cicely Barkers' other (surely) lovely fairy books.

[carolzinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Narcissus Fairy
"Flowers on stems that sway;
Flowers of snowy white;
Flowers as sweet as day,
After the night."

[Jana Lebshetin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The poems are sooo cutee, the song of the forget-me-not fairy is my favvv