TWINKLE, TWINKLE, FAIRY FRIEND

Cute fairies flit about rainbows and forest friends in a rewritten song set to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”

Opening on a minute fairy with bubble-gum–pink hair, light-brown skin, and a star-tipped wand, the book follows her through a magical day seemingly designed to elicit squeals of delight. Readers watch as she flies with butterflies, romps in the rain with fellow fairies, and lunches with friendly mice and chipmunks before finally returning home to be safely tucked into bed. The fairies have round, oversized heads and a variety of light and dark skin tones, and at least one fairy eschews pink and purple. There’s no attempt at subtlety in the illustrations: Pages burst with colors straight out of a candy store; the wide-eyed fairies frolic about giant flowers and grinning insects; and a glossy cover is plastered with iridescent sparkles. It’s not high art, but it’s easy enough on the eye. Overwrought singable text matches the art’s unabashedly enthusiastic tone, with lines that gush about “sparkle magic in the sky” and “happiness that never ends.” While the stanzas aren’t difficult to sing aloud, the refrain drones, and the uninspired verses—with occasionally strained rhymes such as “Twinkle, twinkle, come and play. / Oh, what things you find today”—edge toward cloying.

All sparkle and no substance. (Board book. 1-3)