We need more illustrated middle-grade books!
I read When Fairyland Lots Its Magic on my way to Kolkata for the Junior Kolkata Literary Meet, and there was so much to love about it! The way Bijal Vachharajani plays with fairytales (like Gretel and Hansel), the comments about odd names (Little Red Riding Hood? Who names a child after the clothes she wears?), and the puns about pages and trolls … delightful!
At the JKLM, Bijal and I were in conversation, purportedly about storifying important issues such as climate change and democracy through fairy tales and fantasy. Of course, we did talk about issues and why they find their way into fiction, but we also spoke about the joy of stories and the things we do when we write. We spoke of magic, and how we find it in nature, in ourselves, and between the pages of a book.
Retelling fairytales with the idea of the climate crisis looming over us isn’t easy, but I enjoyed the way it was done in When Fairyland Lost Its Magic. Funny and relevant, what I loved most was the way text, pictures and layout play on the page. Rajiv Eipe’s illustrations sparkle, adding life and humour to a lovely middle-grade story about coming together to bring magic back to a world that’s full of it, if only you know where to look.
| Title | When Fairyland Lost Its Magic |
| Author Illustrator | Bijal Vachharajani Rajiv Eipe |
| Tags | Climate Fiction, Middle-Grade, Fairytale Retelling |
| Rating (out of 5) | 4 |
| Age-group | 10+ |
P.S. We read and loved Bijal’s Help! My Aai Wants to Eat Me at my book club in 2022. Bijal also did a lovely workshop on green writing for my online creative writing programme.
Other books I’ve read that play with traditional fairytales (or fairytale themes) in a fun way:
- Spellbound (Chapter Book)
- Dungeon Tales (Middle Grade)
- Dungeon Tales II (Middle Grade, also a book club read)
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