Shelf Awareness--Forest Magic for Kids

PB Review: Forest Magic for Kids: How to Find Fairies, Make a Secret Fort, and Cook Up an Elfin Picnic

Forest Magic for Kids: How to Find Fairies, Make a Secret Fort, and Cook Up an Elfin Picnic by Susie Spikol, illus. by Renia Metallinou (Gibbs Smith Kids, 144p., ages 5-9, 9781423665533)

Author Susie Spikol and illustrator Renia Metallinou's first collaboration, Forest Magic for Kids, offers a charming and whimsical array of activities, crafts, and ruminations to encourage children to find wonder in the natural world. Readers are encouraged to step outside, look around, and enjoy some essential "open-ended time in nature." Spikol suggests a list of top 10 tools for a "Forest Magic Search" and a DIY secret notebook for "planning, creating, and designing," then delves into potential activities featuring green plants and wildflowers, foraging, mushrooms, "wee" forest inhabitants, or hidden worlds. She offers abundant prompts for creative thinking, such as recipes for dandelion tea and lembas bread, fanciful crafts like a "mini magical moss garden," and hints for sighting myriad marvelous creatures, including gnomes, trolls, and, of course, fairies. Metallinou's full-color, deeply saturated art offers images of fairy folk, the instruments needed to make the magic, and children taking part in the suggested activities. Science, folklore, and imagination come together in this delightful offering brimming with ideas to get kids thinking, observing, and discovering outdoor wonders. --Lynn Becker, reviewer, blogger, and children's book author. Originally printed in Shelf Awareness.