Finding new books with a fairy theme (a mom post)

As Ella continues to breeze through the Rainbow Magic Fairy series by Daisy Meadows I've started to look for some new books (or a new series) with fairy or whimsical other worldliness themes. To say Ella loves the Rainbow Magic series would be an understatement. They are short and breezy with similar plots but they also make her laugh. That's a winning combination for keeping a 6-year old reading and at this age my main goal is to encourage a love of reading, the sitting-down-with-a-book-for-hours-and-staying-up-late kind of love that has already taken root in just the last two years of reading every day.

And I'm happy to feed her desire to read books with fairy/magical themes so I've begun to gin up a list of new books, mostly through Amazon searches and cross references. The Rainbow Magic series is a bit easy (in terms of the level of reading) so I've also been looking for books that are a little more advanced in terms of vocabulary and plot.

I've generally skipped books that I think have a scary element or would make my kids sad. Ella especially likes happy and silly reads. If the kids stumble upon books they want to read that have heavy or serious topics, I'm willing to let them give it a whirl but for now my purchases have generally detoured around books that present issues like missing parents, ill children, lost siblings and frighteningly evil villains even though I know  this means we are skipping some great classics for now.

Below is my list of new possibilities.

Fairy Tales by E. E. Cummings

The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlit

Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg (Disney Fairies Series) by Gail Carson Levine

The Flower Fairies Chapter Book Series by Pippa Le Quesne -- Books include Zinnia's Magical Adventure, Sweet Pea's Precious Promise, Buttercup and the Fairy Gold, Wild Cherry Makes a Wish.

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards (Yes THAT Julie Andrews!)

My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett (recommended by a classmate's mom)

The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks

 We'll let you know what we think of these as Ella begins to read some of these and posts reviews!