THISTLE AND THE SHELL OF LAUGHTER (THE FAIRY CHRONICLES)

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By J.H. Sweet

Product Description
What if you discovered you had magical fairy powers? Meet the girls of The Fairy Chronicles, otherwise normal girls like you who are blessed by Mother Nature with special gifts. Their extraordinary adventures will change the world...

Magic surrounds us, though we can't always see it. Gnomes add color to the plants in our gardens, doves deliver our good dreams, gremlins occasionally break our things and Mother Nature keeps the balance between the light and the dark. But just because you can't see something doesn't mean it can't hurt you.

Luckily, Mother Nature has blessed some otherwise ordinary girls with an extraordinary gift: in addition to being girls, they have been granted a fairy spirit, each one as unique and beautiful as the girls themselves, each as wild and powerful as their counterparts in nature. Watch Dragonfly zoom by with the speed of her namesake, or witness Firefly use the incredible light that shines within her. Each fairy spirit is a powerful gift granting the girls who use them the ability to do amazing feats. But with power comes responsibility and the fairies might have the hardest of job of all: to protect Mother Nature and us, even though we don't even know they existed. Until now...

Editorial Reviews
From the Author
The Fairy Chronicles is a series of modern fairy tales full of magical creatures, both good and evil, and heroic characters who participate in dangerous missions to protect nature and fix serious problems. Ideal for all ages, reading levels ages 7 to 12, the stories include a diverse set of fairy characters and a wide variety of other magical creatures such as trolls, brownies, witches, dwarves, gnomes, elves, unicorns, goblins, wizards, dragons, ogres, magic gargoyles, gremlins, demons, nymphs, giants, and many more.

Each story has some sort of problem to be solved such as recovering the stolen Shell of Laughter, helping to break an evil curse, solving the mystery of the Magic Snowglobe, rescuing kidnapped bat fairies, trying to locate missing human shadows, or helping a dragon complete a dangerous quest. Characters and readers learn interesting things such as why fairies fear jigsaw puzzles, what the trolls’ favorite foods are, how dragons are born, why the flamingo stands on one foot, the reason human beings have a shadow, what the grasshopper uses buttons for, where courage comes from, how hope is spread around the world, and what causes nightmares. The Fairy Chronicles are stand-alone books and can be read in any order.

Visit fairychronicles.com for more information about the series.

About the Author
J.H. Sweet has always looked for the magic in the everyday. She has an imaginary dog named Jellybean Ebenezer Beast. Her hobbies include hiking, photography, knitting, and basketry. She also enjoys watching a variety of movies and sports. Her favorite superhero is her husband, with Silver Surfer coming in a close second. She loves many of the same things the fairies love, including live oak trees, mockingbirds, weathered terra-cotta, butterflies, bees, and cypress knees. In the fairy game of "If I were a jelly bean, what flavor would I be?" she would be green apple. J.H. Sweet lives with her husband in South Texas and has a degree in English from Texas State University.

Ever since she was a little girl, Tara Larsen Chang has been captivated by intricate illustrations in fairy tales and children's books. Since earning her BFA in Illustration from Brigham Young University, her illustrations have appeared in numerous children's books and magazines. When she is not drawing and painting in her studio, she can be found working in her gardens to make sure that there are plenty of havens for visiting fairies.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The colors of the forest became even deeper and blacker as they journeyed. The next evidence of sorrow they came upon was a tortoise that seemed consumed by grief. He was sobbing in agony and desperation, as though possessed by some terrible misfortune.

Again, Thistle and Snickers dosed out their laughter medicine, and the tortoise was relieved of the Spell of Sorrow.

Information found at: http://www.fairiesworld.com/fairy_book_store.php