Fairyland in Art and Poetry (U)

Poetry to delight anyone who still believes in magic. "When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies." --J. M. Barrie, Scottish, 1860-1937, from Peter Pan The art of Englishman Richard Doyle offers lush glimpses into the world of the wee folk. Doyle's fairies troop through meadows, twirl in the moonlight, and enlist birds and bugs in games and mischief. His whimsical illustrations, chosen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection, are paired with poems by William Shakespeare, John Keats, Robert Louis Stevenson, William Butler Yeats, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Stevie Smith, and Langston Hughes, among others. Fairy sweethearts among the roses illustrate Wilder's "The Fairies in the Sunshine," elf babies in a snail race match Robert Graves's "I'd Love to Be a Fairy's Child," and a fairy queen carried by butterflies reimagines Shakespeare's popular "Queen Mab" soliloquy. A magical treasury that will enchant readers of all ages.