Flower Wings: Marigold Fairy Makes a Friend by Elizabeth Dennis, illustrated by Natalie Smillie

Photo courtesy
of Lizzie Nolan

Lizzie Nolan is a Senior Librarian in Youth Services at the San José Public Library. Under the great inspiration of this very blog she helped start a mock Odyssey award blog for great childrens’ audiobooks at Ears on the Odyssey.

In an enchanted garden, Flower Wings are fairies with magical powers from the blossoming flowers. Marigold Fairy is best buds with Butterfly, and they do all things best friends do together in the garden: eat, cook, and tend to the vegetables. But oh they spot a pest! Can a pest be a friend too?

Marigold Fairy Makes A Friend is the second in the Flower Wing series from the Simon & Schuster imprint Simon Spotlight’s Ready to Read collection. As Editorial Director Siobhan Ciminera notes in this Guessing Geisel interview, the Ready to Read books follow to a set of well developed design principles that focus on helping make a positive reading experience for new readers. The adherence to these guidelines certainly mirror some of the Gesiel award criteria.

Book cover of
Flower Wings: Marigold Makes a Friend
by Elizabeth Dennis, illus. by Natalie Smillie

First off, Natalie Smillie’s illustrations create a bubbly and gentle world of fairy dust and blooming flowers that certainly have child appeal. Smillie’s rounded drawing style invokes an inviting softness. The garden world too is incorporated in simple ways: Marigold’s Fairy’s dress is an inverted marigold and dinner table lights are flower petals. And all the fairies are encased in just a wee bit of sparkle dust.

True to the stated “Level One” standards, this book has “easy sight words and words to sound out”, “simple plot and dialogue” and “familiar topics and themes.” For the most part, the illustrations match the plot and the word choice is limited and very focused. The plot is very simple, but still child relatable. Marigold and Butterfly want to do the right thing but how can they take care of the garden and include the pests as friends?

The final page of this read contains a bit of educational back matter titled: “The Science behind the Story” that explains that marigold and butterflies have a real symbiotic relationship in the nature world. While informative, the design uses a small font without much white space, which might be lost on readers at this level. A two page spread might have worked better.

Moreover, this book could work well for those readers who are attracted to but not ready for the Rainbow Magic Fairy world. Featuring a main character of color, Marigold Fairy is also an example of everyday diversity.

Though not top of my list for Geisel award 2019, Marigold Fairy Makes A Friend is affable and glittery, and could find a reader with someone looking for a little magic.