Written By: Emily Hawkins
Illustrated by: Jessica Roux
For Ages: 6 years and up
Language: English
Topics Covered: Nature, Fantasy, Science.
Summary: This book is a beautiful blend of fantasy and science! It has a unique mixture for the reader who loves fairies and wants to learn more about them, and real scientific information about things like bone density, geography, and animal classification.
The illustrations are quite diverse and show all types of fairies that live across the globe, integrating aspects of that ecosystem into how the fairies live their lives, such as different ways to camouflage themselves and migration patterns. I love the pages that have different leaf identification charts and information about plant pollination. A Natural History of Fairies leans into the magic of the world, and has letters from the reader’s Aunt Elsie (a renowned scientist) on a trek to find more elusive fairies.
Overall, I really love this book, it’s just a whole lot of fun. I especially love the illustrations and I think it can help reluctant STEM readers learn about the natural (and magical) world!
This book was kindly sent by Quarto, but all opinions are my own!
Emily Hawkins
Emily Hawkins is a children’s author who loves making complicated things easy to understand. She has written more than 40 books about all sorts of things, from mythical creatures and magic to mathematics, ocean animals, dinosaurs, cars and trains.
Her work has been featured on the New York Times bestseller list (Oceanology, 2009) as well as winning the Children’s Travel Book of the Year Award (Atlas of Animal Adventures, 2016). Her interest in myth, folklore and storytelling was in-part inspired by her work as an editor on the internationally popular Ology series, which has sold over 18 million copies worldwide.
Emily holds a first-class English degree from Nottingham University, and lives in a village near Winchester, England, with her young family. You can find her on Instagram @emilyhawkinsbooks.
Jessica Roux is a Nashville-based freelance illustrator and plant & animal enthusiast. She loves exploring in her own backyard and being surrounded by an abundance of nature. Using subdued colors and rhythmic shapes, she renders flora and fauna with intricate detail reminiscent of old world beauty. She is currently available for freelance work so feel free to contact her.