The Very Fairy Princess

PreS-Gr 2—Meet Geraldine, a very fairy princess, which means she behaves like a regular fairy princess but with her own unique flair. Geraldine believes that everyone has an inner sparkle and that if you let it out, you can be anything you want to be. Along with having refined tastes and being supportive and practical, Geraldine also knows that fairy princesses almost always have skinned knees and dirty fingernails. Written by the mother and daughter team of Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton, this is the first title (Little, Brown, 2010) in a best-selling series of picture books. The lively music, written by Scotty Huff, accompanies the charming text, expertly narrated by actress Alison Cordaro, and the beautiful ink-and-color pencil illustrations of Christine Davenier, here animated by Megan Johnson and Kyle Kerns. DVD extras include a conversation with the authors. This enjoyable segment is not to be missed. Viewers will delight in hearing how the two authors worked together on this series and dealt with creative differences along the way. Hamilton also talks about growing up as the daughter of a celebrity and the experience of their first collaboration, a book Emma wrote when she was five.