I have always believed in things unseen…
As a child, I used to lie in the grass and look up at the clouds and wait for angels to appear. My angels were pretty fierce—I attended a Southern Baptist church, what can I say?—but I looked for them nevertheless.
I used to have a book that I carried around with me until it was ragged and falling apart. It was a book of woodland plants and where you could find fairies. I looked everywhere. I don’t know that I ever “directly” saw one, but I would have told you they were real.
You might think I’d have grown out of this by now. I am, after all, 53 and my mother told me I would outgrow any number of things. But I didn’t. I still believe in fairies and magic in every day life.
I met a girl named Ashley…
Three years ago, I met a young girl named Ashley. She loved wearing my capes (I am fond of drama in my wardrobe, so I have lots of capes) and I loved her intrepid spirit. She rides horses, does gymnastics, and swims like a fish. She is braver than most adults I know. So I wrote her a book. This is the first one. It won’t be the last one and I hope the next one is as true to her spirit as the first one is.
I hope you believe in magic too. A day without magic is a dreary place, indeed.
Recommended Readings
“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, by Lewis Carroll
“Through the Looking Glass”, by Lewis Carroll
“Faeries”, by Brian Froud & Alan Lee
“Fairy and Folk Tales of Ireland”, by W. B. Yeats
“How to Find Flower Fairies”, by Cicely Mary Barker
“Just So Stories”, by Rudyard Kipling
“Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Book”, by Terry Jones & Brian Froud
“Winnie the Pooh”, by A. A. Milne & Ernest Shepherd