The best books of nature and fantasy storytelling for children

I love Jackie Morris’s introduction about the author of this book's life story. I found it inspiring and heartwarming to learn that it was written by a twelve-year-old girl’s prodigy child. 

I understood how the girl's genius captures the natural world's mystery, fantasy, and wonder and expresses it with crystalline words.

This book is a classic story that transported me to a realm where fairies come alive—I felt I could be there dancing with them, too.

I love the story's initial opening with the magical expression, “Once upon a time.” It’s like opening a gateway to my mind’s eye, imagining life in that country that was very close to Fairy Land, guided by the exquisite illustrations in the book.

I like also very much the simplicity of the names of the characters, like for example, “Princess Niente (Princess Nobody) and of the structure of the story divided into three chapters.

The end is sweet: “Journeys end in lovers meeting, and so do stories.” And offered me a pearl with the quote of Apuleius and the poem.

The introduction of this book struck a chord with me because it describes in such detail the trials and tribulations of the traveler children’s way of life between the historical period of 1914 to 1955. 

It was a time of poverty and suffering for the youngest born from families of an outcast minority community, considered the oldest indigenous group of the population in Scotland.

I understood that the oral tradition of storytelling to the traveler children was like a precious inheritance the children would receive from their parents.

The book offers diverse stories, including animal fables, wonder, and horror tales handed down through generations of traveling people.

I also love the cover illustration with the painting “Harvest Moon” by John Maxwell.

I love how the wonderful illustration of the tree with three children on the book's cover evoked my imagination to read this story. This feeling was reinforced when I opened the book and read the quotation on the first page: “So much world all at once” by Wislawa Syzmborska.

It is, indeed, a fascinating story that immersed me in a rich plot and introduced me to a diversity of characters who gained life in the little town of Blackbird Tree.

In this story, I could see the mastery of creating a tapestry, with the written words as the threads that bring together different worlds, feelings, and emotions, like love, friendship, and forgiveness.

I was enthralled by the narrator's voice in this story, told from the perspective of a little girl. She shares her life and adventures with her beloved parents and cat. The girl is Julia, and I also love her name.

I found the setting for this story, a lighthouse on one of the small islands of the Shetlands in Scotland, fascinating. This fascination grows with the strong connection to the sea life that in this book takes the form of the Greenland shark and the blue night sky filled with stars at night and flocks of birds during the day.

The poetic prose of this book, combined with the stunning illustrations, captivated me profoundly.

At the same time, serious issues are approached, such as the pollution of the oceans. And the drama of this story is woven with such humanity around the mental illness of bipolar disorder and the bullying that children suffer.