Small Persons With Wings

Summer book reviews continue! Fancy that. Small Persons With Wings (by Ellen Booraem) is another potential Newbery Award book this year, at least if you follow some of those trying to predict the winner. Do I agree? Not so much.

Small Persons With Wings is a story of growing up and make believe. Mellie has grown up with a "small person with wings," a fairy by any other description (but they don't like to be called that). She has enjoyed having Fidius around so much that she told all of her classmates about him. When she tried to bring him in for show and tell he left, leaving her with nothing to show (and resulting in being made fun of by her peers). Worse is that she seemingly hijacked a birthday party of one of the cool kids, leaving her to feel that girls wrath throughout her childhood.

Mellie is referred to counselling because of this make believe issue. When her parents come in for an intervention, they confess that fairies don't exist. The result is Mellie stifling her beliefs, and pouring herself into art and science books to keep out the make believe thoughts. The family eventually needs to move to Boston because they've been told that Mellie's grandfather has passed away. Upon arrival they meet a horde of fairies, the Parvi Pennati, which prompts her parents to admit that they are aware of the existence of these small fairies... er, small persons with wings. The rest of the story takes the reader on a journey learning about the Parvi, why they are there, and a plan to help the Parvi return what they've lost over the years.

Does this book have a home in my classroom? Absolutely. I enjoyed it, particularly because of the lessons about bullying and self image embedded in the storyline. I think it has a niche with those students that like a little twist on reality, added fantasy to your typical storyline without too much of a departure. Where it falls short of some other books is that the story seemed to drag too much in the middle. The beginning pushed you along and you felt for Mellie. Once you arrived in the middle too much time was spent on the Parvi, magic, and the people next door. It had enough twists to keep you interested, but not enough meat in the story to really make you want to finish (*I used to be a big closer of books that I lost interest in, but have since opted to try and finish most of my summer reading in order to be fluent in kid lit.) I don't see the Newbery in its future, but we'll see.

Rating: 3 out of 5.