Written by Maida Silverman. Illustrated by Manuel Boix. First edition, 1989. Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers.
"In a time long ago, when fairies could mingle with mortal folk, a little girl named Janet lived with her mother in a cottage at the edge of an ancient forest. As always in summer, Janet awoke at the sound of the earliest bird of morning. She hurried to the room where her mother slept, but her mother was not there. Janet quickly dressed and ran into the garden.
"Mother, are you here?" she called.
"The sun winked through the tall trees, and the trees waived their branches, but only the birds answered Janet. Slowly and sadly, she went back to the cottage.
"Mother has gone away again to work on our neighbor's farm," she told her littlest doll. "I wish I were big enough to help, so I could go with her."
When Janet's mother returns, they go collecting wild berries. Stopping by a well to rest, her mother falls into a deep sleep, an enchantment cast by a Fairy Queen who beguiles Janet with a glimpse into the well, a portal to the fairy world below. The Queen invites the girl to go with her, promising to bring her back but in fact plans to keep her as a playmate for her own daughter. Janet manages to escape the cruel Fairy Queen and return to her mother, and her mother fights the Queen to keep her.
Maida Silverman also wrote A City Herbal, Dinosaur Babies, My First Book of Jewish Holidays, Festival of Lights: The Story of Hanukkah, and Anna and the Seven Swans.
Manuel Boix (1942 - ), of Valencia, Spain, is an award-winning painter, sculptor, and illustrator. He created most of the artwork of the Valencian Folk group Al Tall. Children's books include Don Quixote, Tirant Lo Blanc, The Magic Box, Socrates,
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Condition: Fine/Near Fine. Dust jacket: Light shelf wear; light edge wear at head and tail of the spine. Quarter-bound beige/blue cloth cover boards. Pages are clean, undamaged, and complete.
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