Pixie Hollow Paint Day

Children's Literature - Cynthia Levinson

Step 4 in the "Step Into Reading" series, this book focuses on paragraphs. This simplistic story features the Disney fairy Bess, the "art-talent fairy," who has run out of paint to finish her picture. She asks other Disney fairies to help her make more. With the exception of Rosetta, whose refusal to participate is unexplained, they agree and gather flowers, berries, and butterfly dust with which they make paint. Suddenly, a frog jumps into the coconut-shell paint pots, splattering paint on the fairies and on Bess's picture. Although the style of her painting abruptly metamorphoses from Thomas Kincaid to Jackson Pollack, she decides she likes it, thus ending the story happily and tritely. Except for the fact that it is written in paragraphs—and soft-sells other Disney products—it is hard to understand why teachers would find the story edifying. The author misses the opportunity to convey information about paints; mashed blueberries do yield blue liquid but, fortunately, orange has other sources than butterfly dust. It is possible that girls will enjoy the story. If this book is the only way for boys to learn to read in paragraphs, however, their future prose will consist of long blocks of text. Reviewer: Cynthia Levinson