A NATURAL HISTORY OF FAIRIES

A scientist’s survey of many types of fairies in their natural habitats.

Cast as the side project of a botanist from early last century (that would be the 1900s), this sumptuously produced scrapbook offers both general and clinical observations on dozens of fairy species—from tiny puffball fairies to (judging from the picture) the squirrel-sized mountain tunder—in gardens, homes, and wild climes ranging from tropical to arctic. Despite having wings (wingless varieties are called “elves”), hatching from eggs, and undergoing metamorphic life cycle transformations from legless “flutterpillars” to adult(ish) “moppets,” these nonmagical creatures are nonetheless classified as mammals by the fictive scientist. Roux follows suit in painted portraits of graceful, pointy-eared, anthropomorphic mites clad in discreet floral or leafy garb and sporting butterfly or insect wings. Rendered in the style of Cicely Mary Barker’s Flower Fairies, the diminutive figures maintain a white default but do show some variation in skin tones, hair types, and facial features. Stereotypically, all but one of the jungle fairies, including a “pygmy fairy,” are brown-skinned, but specimens resident in other habitats or in adjoining entries often make a diverse showing. Savvy advice for responsible fairy watchers closes this nearly comprehensive (tooth fairies turned out to be too “elusive” to glimpse) catalog.

Worldwide in scope, thoroughly informative, teeming with relentlessly cute poppets.