David EllwandRecensioner

I really love this book. It is so beautiful and imaginative, making me wish I could join the fairies with their parties and amazing outfits :)

I was not a huge fan of the illustration because they it looked like real objects placed the book, it just want not a fan of the style for a book thats a silly singing one, didn't think it matched.

A sourcebook of inspirations from Nature

This large format board book starts off with the well-known words on the first spread but succeeding spreads add some new verses to this favourite nursery rhyme. The vintage teddy bears photographed in this book are not ready to go to sleep and their father tells them what other teddies are up to by the light of the stars. The last spread repeats the traditional rhyme but shows teddy bears in space suits bouncing around on the moon. An added extra is the little speaker set into the book which plays the tune (quite loudly) when pressed.
This book is a great way to introduce or extend the nursery rhyme and there are plenty of interesting things to talk about in the pictures.

Growing up, it was quite the norm for me to see a camera in my father's hands and to be the subject of his many creations. Our family had a real treasure trove of photographs taken by Dad.

I even had the experience of helping him and learning from him in our old garage where half of it had been converted into a photo processing lab. Dad had a contact printer and an enlarger. He had rolls (huge rolls) of photographic paper. He had large jugs of the processing liquids, white enamel pans for bathing the pictures in the processing liquid, and a line stung at the end where the wet pictures where hung to dry.

Yes, photography was part of Dad's and my lives.

The opportunity to review Retro Photo: A Personal Selection of Vintage Cameras..... was one I simply couldn't pass up. I truly hoped to see Dad's argoflex in there. And he had one of those large "newman's" cameras that used plates for the images.

Retro Photo.... was a real treat to stroll through visually and mentally picture my Dad's enjoyment of his cameras and the pictures he took. No, I didn't find Dad's Argoflex nor his German camera pictured in the book. But treasures they are.

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy from Candlewick Press to facilitate a review of my honest opinions which are freely given. I was not compensated.

This is one of my favorite books. It brings me back to my childhood to when I believed in fairy tales. Also, I'm an art minor and find the clothing in this special book to be very inspiring. My paintings include many of the outfits in this book.

Cinderlily tells the story of a flower who wants to attend a royal ball that her sisters are invited to. Though her petals are wilted, her fairy godmother brightens them up, and she goes and dances with the Sultan. However, when she races home, a petal falls. The Sultan searches for her and finds her resulting in a happy ending.

Illustrations are photographs of actual flowers.

GENRE: Fairy Tale (magical element of the fairy godmother)

USES:
- have students find things in nature to create stories with (appeals to the naturalist learners) and allow them to photograph scenes to make a story line
- compare and contrast to other Cinderella stories

Summary: Cinderella, with flowers instead of people and petals instead of attire.
Genre: Traditional Literature
Awards:
Illustrations: Computer-manipulated images of flowers on dark backgrounds.
Age group: K- 3
Themes:
My impression: I was not impressed. I do not think it promotes good body image. I feel it is problematic and distracting.

This Fairy Tale is retelling the story of Cinderella through the life of flowers. There are several different kinds of flowers that play different roles. It is in rhyme and has a moral of the story.

Cinderlily is a fairy tale similar to Cinderella. This floral fairy tale has the same story line of the original Cinderella; the only difference are the characters. Cinderlily is told she can not attend the ball but her beautiful lilly sisters can. After cleaning and cleaning, Cinderlily's godmother shows up and brightness up her petals. When she arrrvies at the dance she is chosen out of all the other lillys to dance with the Sultan. When she charges back home a petal falls from her beautiful stem and is changed back to normal. The Sultan searches for whom the petal may fit. Not long after she is found by the Sultan and they live happily ever after.

Unique baby consists of photography of babies and a collection of popular quotes. This book would be a great choice for parents to be or unexpected pregnancies. This book displays important stages of babies by displaying photos and uplifting quotes. My favorite quote was " A baby is an angel whose wings decrease as his legs increase." This books does well using images to portray important moments in life from newborn up to one.

Eh, skip the text in this book. The fairy story wore thin very quickly. Instead, absorb and peer over the photographs. In terms of literature, this book is a miss but it is visually gorgeous and interesting. So check out the pictures and manipulations and skip the words unless you are way into fairies.

A fascinating and slightly creepy little story, told in the format of a journal-within-a-journal and illustrated with exquisite photographs.

Read my entire review:

http://www.wandsandworlds.com/blog1/2008/11/book-review-mystery-of-fool-vanisher...

Another Cinderella story, told with flowers. It's great for teaching about different types of print and story progression.

Was like reading a museum but very well designed book with a twist. Not sure how to sell it to kids though. A bit sophisticated.

This book is amazing. It contains beautiful black and white images of babies expressing a myriad of emotions. In addition to the images, the book contains short quotes on almost every page. Some are humorous, some profound, each beautiful. Elementary children will enjoy the pictures, but not the quotes. I don’t think that they will understand them. I think that it would be more suited to a middle school or high school library. In an elementary lesson, I would use it to teach emotions, and feelings. In high school, I could see it being used as part of a photography class. It could be used in a writing class. Children could tell a story to accompany the photo.

2 ans

Genre: Fairytale
Review: This is a fairytale because it has a happy ending. It plays towards ones imagination as it turns flowers into characters. This also exemplifies a fairytale because it is based off of the story of Cinderella, which has been told over and over again.

Style: This book has unique way of resembling the story as the illustrator creates the images through photography and natural materials like flowers. Each flower is beautifully placed in order to help the story come alive. The Illustrator took some so simple and produced a work of art.

This book would make a great gift to expectant parents or anyone who enjoys looking at beautiffully taken pictures. Ellwand presents a series of quotes from famous and "regular" people on the experiences of parenting. The quotes are great; some are poignant while others are funny. The author also does a good job of incorporating a diverse array of babies, many ethnicities are included. Although I am not a parent, I loved this quote in the book: "There are two lasting bequests we can hope to give to our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings."

Reviewed by Candace Cunard for TeensReadToo.com

David Ellwand has always been fascinated by the Downs. This rolling landscape of open plains and beech trees, with its legends about faeries and other fantastic creatures, has always excited him. He never quite believes in the legends, but one day he discovers a flint stone with a hole naturally worn through the center, a stone which, when looked through, will allow him to see the creatures around him that cannot be perceived by the naked eye. One day, he follows a will-o'-the-wisp to the ruins of an old house near some flint mines, where he discovers a padlocked chest in an outhouse. He brings the box back to his studio, pries it open, and begins to document the contents. Within, he finds old phonograph records, which he decodes to discover the secret of the objects inside the box.

The middle of the book is a transcript of the phonograph recordings, detailing the discoveries of Isaac Wilde, a photographer from the 1880s. The recordings explain that the contents of the box were collected by Wilde over the course of a mining expedition in the Downs in 1889. Wilde was supposed to be present to photographically document the scene, but as he hears from the residents of the area about the strange goings on and the myths of faeries, he decides to find out for himself if they are really true. He searches for clues of the faeries' existence, and eventually works to create a camera that could capture their images.

Both the frame narrative of Ellwand's discovery of the box and Wilde's narrative about his experiences in the mines are accompanied by haunting images of the Downs and of the contents of the box. The photographs range in style from color prints to black-and-white to reproductions of older styles of photography, like silver-gelatin prints and daguerreotypes. This is no picture book--the images enhance the story in new and different ways. The book's layout and formatting are visually pleasing, and meant to attract the attention of the eye. The realism of the photographic illustrations helps heighten the sense of wonder at the finished product, and leads one to question if this account is fact or fiction.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book--I read it in one sitting! The writing itself was clear and occasionally wistful, detailing Ellwand's fascination with the English Downs and exploring the intersection of the worlds of science and fantasy at which Isaac Wilde finds himself. A wonderful "picture book" for adults!

In this book the author discovers a mysterious box that holds artifacts from and the diary of a man who claims to have discovered a way to see into an alternate world – one inhabited by fairies and little people. The book is beautifully executed and the photographs are wonderfully atmospheric, but the ending is ultimately unsatisfying.

Age appropriatness: primary
This book is a good example of fairy tale because it is a remake or alteration of the original Cinderella story. In this book Cinderella is a lily flower.
The media in this book is collage and photographs.

This is a great book, as it has lots of pictures of teddy bears. They are all singing a song which we can join in: "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands". I tend to get carried away with the "turn around" verse and carry on turning around while Daddy has moved on to touching his nose.

this past week i read one of the books for the book awards reading challenge, Fairie-ality by David Ellwand. It won the British Book Award. This is a beautiful, stunning book for the pictures alone. Fairie-ality is the fashion catalogue of the premier couture house for fairies, the House of Ellwand. But it is so much more than that. It loosely tells a story of fairies frolicking, having balls, dating and ends with a wedding with outfits for all events shown. The clothing is exquisite. They are made from leaves, stems, rose petals, lilies, violets, thistles, feathers and more. It's a shame they don't make them for the big people. There are hats and dainty little shoes, party dresses, frocks, wedding gowns, trousers, pants, skirts, men's clothing, women's clothing. if you like fairies, then you will like this book.

I found this book a few years ago when shopping for Yuletide gifts and promptly chunked down a portion of my Christmas Club stash right then and there on moi! I couldn't resist it and it surprises me that it isn't more well known. It is truly splendid! It's a colorful catalog of fairy fashion that had it been available to me when I was a fairy loving child would have made me feel like I'd died and gone to heaven. The emerging spring flowers outside my window have reminded me of this book and as it's one of my favorites I want to introduce it to you. I hope you'll check it out because words really do not do it justice. It's really not a children's book per se yet it holds a lot of appeal for the childish among us, young and old alike. While its imaginary tone is from the world of make-believe, its artistry is very real indeed. I would have to say this is the most beautiful book I've seen in years.

Forget about Paris or Milan or New York! If you want to know who's burning up the runways with the season's haute couture, look no further! Enjoy this detailed catalog of The Fashion Collection known as Fairie-ality from the innovative and expressive House of Ellwand, designer to the Folk, par excellence.
It is an elegant, beautifully crafted coffee table volume in a gold hard cover edition. It is delightfully witty and captures the fashion world's nuances and idiosyncrasies in good fun and high style. Whimsical water color sketches of a type from fashion's heyday in Vogue Magazine introduce the various themes and creations while full dazzling color photographs present exquisitely detailed and meticulously handcrafted high fashion of the fairy realm.

The commentary is breezy and bright and oh, so, in the know! Charming inserts such as a mix and match catalog, removable invitations in envelopes, and advance notices are sprinkled throughout the book. Gatefolds, velum and foil papers add a distinctly lavish touch. The artistry is unparalleled and uses the finest of natural materials, including feathers, seeds, and myriad examples of the exotic floral and other botanical resources joined with a master's eye for flair, movement, and color. Enjoy eclectic designs filled with flash from shoes to hats and everything in between.

Not only are we invited into this exclusive world of fashion but we are made privy to the parties, the cotillions, moonbeam swims, firefly hunting, midnight dancing and all of the biggest names in fairy society. Fashions for ladies and gentlemen grace these pages as do fashions for the entire wedding party from the flower girl to the bride. As the wedding fashions featured in this collection indicate, it is a very chic bride who will walk the bridal runway on the arm of her proud father this season. The detail here and the witty humor can be enjoyed over and over again with each foray seeming to present new delicacies of fashion delight.

The descriptions for the designs are each more tantalizing than the one before as evidenced by this commentary for the astonishing Maid of Honor dress: "Silky crow feathers and a single green parrot feather gather in layers, creating the touch-me velveteen look of the skirt - spellbinding. The bodice and straps are lily leaves; the overbodice, a whispering tracery of skeleton leaf. Sumptuous."

One of the many reasons I love this book is that as a child I spent many dreamy hours making fairy fashions myself along with fairy houses from things I gathered on my treks through meadow and marsh, up hill and down dale. Fairies have been in my life since I was a toddler at my Nana's knee. My Nana was a fashion designer and a talented seamstress and she was Welsh so of course she had an inside track to the fey folk. She spent hours telling me all about the secret lives of fairies and of course she knew endless details about fairy fashion. This book is like the ultimate result of many fashion fantasies I had in my heart back then. It's so much fun to see fairy design come real in photographs! Nana would have been so pleased with this book.

This book is a true work of art from beginning to end and I think most anyone will at least admire it's detail and perfection of execution. Fairy friends will, of course, be enraptured by it. Any creative, artistic, whimsical, young at heart, fashion conscious, costume or dress-up aficionado will treasure it. It's the pick of the crop. Tre chic!