Avery, a sturdy little lady with thick, curly brown hair, is worked up to discover the yard and the woods in her new home. Wishing for a good friend, she follows a deer, journeys and falls down a hill and lands in a circle of mushrooms… the place she shrinks! She meets Birch, a fairy with orange hair and lightweight pores and skin and the 2 set off collectively, however is Birch actually going to be a brand new good friend? Avery needs to discover this new world and be mates. Nevertheless, Birch doesn’t appear very pleasant, even when Avery provides to assist, and he or she definitely doesn’t care that Avery is getting left behind as a result of she will be able to’t fly! The 2 must be taught to work collectively in the event that they need to be mates – and get again to the fairy village in time for the pageant.

Kingsbury’s pastel illustrations lean closely in the direction of pink and purple, however not in an amazing manner. Her artwork fashion is wealthy with rounded edges, little fairy particulars, and various hair, pores and skin, and physique sorts among the many fairies. As the 2 youngsters squabble, they journey by the woods, assembly the massive deer that Avery initially adopted, now drawn in close-up element, a darkish blue jay, and timber that tower over the tiny figures. After they arrive on the fairy village, there’s loads of nature-themed structure to get pleasure from, together with the neat little outfits of Birch’s mothers and the opposite fairies within the village. The story concludes with some pages from Avery’s journal, together with drawings of the completely different crops they collected and their descriptions, all with Kingsbury’s cute, rounded edges and heat colours. Kingsbury’s artwork jogged my memory of Rose Nadia Whittaker’s work in Adventures with Pals, a group of RPG one-shots that we use with our D&D video games with elementary-age youngsters and this straightforward story would make a pleasant D&D journey for younger youngsters simply beginning to play.

The textual content is in a really readable font and the textual content is mostly easy, though there are some extra advanced vocabulary phrases within the description of crops. Many of the nuance of the story is conveyed by the protagonists’ expressions and physique language and whereas the size of the ebook will enchantment to youthful readers, they’ll should be a reasonably fluent reader, each of textual content and artwork, to choose up all the small print. This can make it double as a superb read-aloud to a youthful viewers who isn’t fluent but in addition to maintain the curiosity of older readers who would possibly in any other case be past the simplicity of artwork and textual content.

It’s quite common for youthful youngsters to precise curiosity in chapter books with brightly coloured, glowing covers, solely to be upset by the textual content and restricted black and white illustrations inside, so that is positive to fly off cabinets each for impartial readers and listeners. The interactions between the 2 ladies mannequin inclusive communication and readers will get pleasure from studying concerning the completely different herbs and crops and stay up for the subsequent ebook set throughout Avery’s deliberate reunion with Birch within the autumn.

Avery and the Fairy Circle  
By Rowan Kingsbury
Flying Eye Books, 2025
ISBN: 9781838749316

Firm Age Score: 5-9 years

NFNT Age Suggestion: Straightforward Readers (5-9), Center Grade (7-11)