
We found an incredibly beautiful picture book version titled A Fairy Went A-Marketing
"A Fairy Went A-Marketing" originally appeared in Fyleman's book of verse, Fairies and Chimneys (c1920). The entire book can be viewed online at the Internet Archive. (By the way, if you've never visited the Internet Archive, you must! It is a virtual treasure trove.) Fairies and Chimneys includes several fairy-themed poems, and I especially like the short "Bird Lore" poems. Fyleman dedicated the book to her mother, "To the realest fairy of my childhood, my mother." Also, one of the poems in the book is titled, "Mother." Isn't that wonderfully sweet?
by Rose Fyleman
A Fairy went a-marketing —
She bought a little fish;
She put it in a crystal bowl
Upon a golden dish.
An hour she sat in wonderment
And watched its silver gleam,
And then she gently took it up
And slipped it in a stream. ..."
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Make Your Own Miniature Fairy Book Craft

Rather than illustrate just one part of the poem, my daughter decided to draw pictures for all the verses. Inspired by the creative make-your-own miniature books at DYI Dollhouse Miniatures, I designed a miniature "A Fairy Went A-Marketing" book for her to illustrate. She's still not entirely finished coloring her artwork but you can see her progress below. Working in miniature is a challenging task for a kindergartener, but she's a patient artist and not one to turn down a challenge. Now her fairies have their own fairy-sized book to read!
If you'd like to make your own, visit Google docs to print the miniature book template [pdf] I designed for this book. If you need assembly instructions follow the ones at DYI Dollhouse Miniatures. Just a little warning though -- making mini books is a rather addictive hobby! (Please let me know if you have trouble printing or if the formatting doesn't look right.)






Each week in April we hope you'll consider reading a poem (any poem, not just the one we have featured) with your child and then encourage your child to create an illustration based on the poem. This type of creative activity helps your child more thoroughly understand the poem and interpret it in his or her own way. If you would like to participate, please refer the original Kids' Poetry Challenge post and read the guidelines.
***Note: A few readers have mentioned that their child does not really like drawing or is not old enough to draw anything recognizable. If you prefer, please feel free to just post a favorite poem you shared with your child this week. Remember to only post a portion of the poem to avoid copyright issues.
We've tried to make it very simple for everyone to participate. Reading a poem together only takes a few minutes. The link-up will remain open all week long. Post the picture and accompanying text any day of the week and, if you have the time, stop by and visit the other participants' posts.




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9 comments:
What a precious little book! Her pictures are just wonderful. JDaniel loves rhyming. He seems to enjoy the illustration more than the poems when we read them.
Thanks for linking to Read.Explore.Learn.
Happy Easter!
Thank you so much for stopping by our blog, and letting us know about your link-up. We are so excited to participate and see everyone's great ideas!
I'm so glad I saw this! I didn't realize it was poetry month...we love reading poems, but now I'll make sure we make a point of it and add in the art component too! Thanks for the reminder!
What an interesting idea to make a mini-book. The blog you linked to looks fascinating. Perhaps I'll pick up this hobby when I have a bit more free time :)
Your mini book is absolutely ADORABLE, I remember loving that kind of thing when I was little. Those would be really fun to make for your doll house.
My son has become absolutely enamored with fairies after watching the Tinkerbell movie. He'd love the illustrated poem and the miniature book for sure! Thanks for linking up at Feed Me Books Friday!
That's just adorable. (I know that word must come up frequently, but it is *the right word.*
I think one of the best ways to raise children who love art and books is let them make books and art--so this is a winner, certainly.
Wow! Amazing--so happy to see you and your daughter enjoying poetry this way.
I'm off to check out the template and see if I think I can do this!
What a super mini fairy book! Do come back to my blog tomorrow when I've got a mini blog that you and your daughter might enjoy.
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