The fairy who wouldn't fly by Pixie O'Harris
![cover image](https://www.readplus.com.au/covers/fairywhowouldntfly.jpeg)
Retold by Bronwyn Davies. Ill. by Pixie O'Harris. NLA Publishing,
2014. ISBN 9780642278517.
(Age: 7+) Recommended. Fairies, Australian classics. The story of
the fairy-who-wouldn't-fly is retold in this attractively published
book from the National library of Australia for modern audiences.
Many grandmothers will read this to younger children, and new
parents will pick it up to marvel at the story written in 1945 by
this well known Australian author and illustrator. Classes will have
these stories revealed to them and those interested in classic
Australian literature will be thrilled to see it reprinted. The
illustrations have lost none of their immediacy. They are vivacious
and marvellous, reflecting the Australian bush and its fairies with
panache.
The fairy-who-wouldn't-fly is ejected from the woods by the fairy
queen who needs fairies that work, not one who lies around all day
in her leaf bed dreaming. She is sent to the Woodn't, where she
must learn to fly. Here she meets frog-who-wouldn't-hop and
kookaburra-who-wouldn't-laugh amongst others. When they find a lost
child, the animals all learn the skills they were born with in an
attempt to console the child and reunite him with his parents. All
works out well, and the fairy is renamed Fairy Fleet-Wing when she
is reunited with the other fairies.
National Library of Australia has republished this with a new cover
and has included many other illustrations from their collection.
This one has been rewritten to give it more of a slant towards
accepting challenges and difference, and flows along very well,
although it seems odd to rewrite these stories to reflect more
modern themes in children's books, so I will be intrigued about how
it is received.
Fran Knight