Fairies And Magical Creatures

The Sunday Age

Sunday August 3, 2008

Frances Atkinson

FAIRIES AND MAGICAL CREATURES

Robert Sabuda, Matthew Reinhard

Walker Books, $44.95

It was only a matter of time before Robert Sabuda, the master of pop-ups, tackled fairies and their kin. Apart from the elaborate three-dimensional pop-ups, the book is full of flip-ups with information about all things tiny that sport wings, tails or pointy ears. For example, in 1695 a French courtier wrote about "enchanted folk" and some of his minor characters went on to appear in versions of Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. There's a story about fairies kidnapping newborns and replacing them with "fussy, sickly fairy babies" and we meet other folk who ride on the backs of bumblebees. The ideal reader is any child who understands that Sabuda's books are a bit like fairies: look as much as you like, but resist the temptation to rip their wings off.

© 2008 The Sunday Age

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