Fairy Door Diaries: Eliza and the Flower Fairies - by Megan McDonald

About the Book

"Imagine a door. A teeny-tiny fairy door. Now imagine it's magic. Open the door. Enter the enter the enchanted world of Eliza, who longs to believe that pixies, elves, brownies, hobgoblins, and the like are real. Now imagine Eliza's delight when dshe discovers that a bit of fairy dust and a tiny handmade door can magically transport her to the lLand of the Fairies. There, she is Eliza of the Elves, champion of fairy folk."--From jacket.

Book Synopsis

From the beloved author of the Judy Moody and Stink series comes the first in a sparkling series of chapter books about a girl whose love for magic and fairy folk takes her on enchanting adventures

Imagine a door.
A teeny-tiny fairy door.
Now imagine it is magic.
Open the door.

To some, the low door in Eliza's bedroom might look like an ordinary entrance to a crawl space under the stairs. But to a believer like Eliza of the Elves, it's the door to the Land of UnderStair, a secret hideout all her own. In that crawl space, festooned with twinkling lights, Eliza keeps her favorite book, her collections of precious items, her stuffed animals, and her new diary. And in that crawl space is another door, a teeny-tiny one that can transport Eliza to a world of tangerine sun and lemon-pudding sky, a place where flower fairies perch on every bloom and a new flower springs up whenever you pick one. But in a far corner of that world, Eliza tries to pick a strangely beautiful flower--"Nooooo!" cries her friend Poppy--and things soon go terribly awry. Can a brave, wilting Poppy rescue Eliza from beyond the hedgerow before the Demon Wind steals all the flower fairies' scents, leaving the snapdragons with no snap? In this launch of a new series, Megan McDonald brings her well-honed flair for wordplay to delicious villains like the witches Wolfsbane and Belladonna as she follows a child with a big imagination to a different fairy realm in each book. Lenny Wen's delightful, richly colored artwork brings Eliza's world to life with fanciful details sure to have readers creating their own cozy retreats--and visiting magical lands beyond the door.

Review Quotes

McDonald, author of the Judy Moody series, has created another wonderful series for early chapter-book readers in the Fairy Door Diaries. . . Wen's illustrations, rendered in gouache and colored pencil, beautifully augment the tale's enchanting nature. This gentle adventure will be embraced by little ones who know the world is full of magic.
--Booklist (starred review)

Fairy fans will find an enchanting new world.
--Kirkus Reviews

Lenny Wen utilizes radiantly colorful illustrations limned with intricate, foreshadowing detail to bring the fairies' world to life in this joyful tale of learning to believe in oneself and rejoicing in magic both grandiose and mundane.
--Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Megan McDonald is the author of the popular Judy Moody and Stink series for older readers, the Judy Moody and Friends series for beginning readers, and the first chapter book Bunny and Clyde. She has also written many other chapter books and picture books for children. Megan McDonald lives in California.

Lenny Wen is the illustrator of Smiling Eyes by Linda Sue Park, among other books, and the author-illustrator of Spicy Spicy Hot! and Wolfgang in the Meadow. Born in Indonesia, Lenny Wen now lives in Austria.