CHILD OF FAERIE, CHILD OF EARTH

Little, Brown & Company, 1997. 1st Edition 1st Printing. Hardcover. New/No Jacket. color illustrations by Jane Dyer. CONDITION: Mixed. UNREAD, but not perfect, 1997 Little, Brown hardcover (pictorial boards), DJ missing, first edition, first printing. Beautiful color illustrations by Jane Dyer. PROBLEMS: No DJ; a blank label covers "something" - and very well since I can't tell what it is; and this was slated to be an elementary school library book until someone objected. So I bought it. This is probably my favorite Jane Yolen/Dyer book. CONTENT: On Halloween, when magic is in the air, a little girl encounters a fairy child who takes her to his magical world and pleads with her to stay. Knowing she doesn't belong, she refuses, convincing her fairy guide to return with her to her home and travel for a time "over the human road." Yolen adds some sweet details to a story with a familiar folktale ring, presenting all in pleasing poetry that slips easily off the tongue for reading aloud. Dyer's illustrations are a study in colorful contrast: the quaint, apple-cheeked girl with a circle of flowers in her hair; the fairy boy in diaphanous green with sun-dappled wings; a landscape bright with brilliant harvest colors; an enchanted hall "bedecked in candlelight." A story about a friendship that stretches across some unusual boundaries.