I often think the best picture books for kids are the ones in which they recognise themselves, so I think The Grumpy Fairies by Beth Stevens has something for all children and their carers, because the little fairies in this book are proper grumpy. Or as Beth Stevens puts it “I mean foot-stompy, frowny, bottom-lip-sticking-outy kind of grumpy. I mean ‘it’s just one of those days’ grumpy.”
Yes, these little fairies are so grumpy that they don’t want to help with their fairy jobs. They stomp noisily through the woods, and are far too busy being grumpy to help the mouse gather acorns for its burrow, take the snails for a walk or help clean up the hedgehog poo! But living in the woods is a goblin, and his favourite food is fairies – not the syrupy sweet sickly good and helpful fairies, but the sweet and sour grumpy fairies – and it’s not long before our grumpy little friends are forced to confront their own behaviour!
It came as no surprise to me that Beth Stevens won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for Best Illustrated Book 2021 with The Grumpy Fairies. The pictures of the fairies are guaranteed to make anyone with a slightly grumpy on occasions small child giggle, from the stamping feet to the face plant on floor tantrum, the poses are highly recognisable, and the lack of co-operation is gently poked fun at with a huge amount of warmth and good humour.
I like to pick out The Grumpy Fairies as a bedtime read on days when the terrors have been particularly uncooperative – I mean come on guys, I was only asking you to put the pen lids back on, it’s not like I was making you clean up hedgehog poo!
Picture Book Dragons 