Laura Schlitz - The Night Fairy

“Of course you like them,” the hummingbird said smugly. “They’re the most beautiful children you ever saw.”

Flory put her hand to her mouth to hide a smile. She was just in time to cover a yawn.

“I suppose you’re sleepy,” the hummingbird said. “You’re a night fairy, after all. I’m going out for more sugar water. Do you want another ride?”

“Yes,” Flory said happily. She thought about her little house and the heavenly softness of her hammock. “Please take me home.”

Her home was tidy and peaceful. Flory crawled through the door hole and stumbled over to the hammock. It had been a long day and a long night. She was covered with scratches, and her poppy-red dress was shredded so that she would never be able to mend it. All the same, she was very happy. She felt that she had never been so happy in her life.

She tore off her dress and climbed into the hammock. Tonight, Peregrine would come and carry her away. She wondered what his flight would be like. She looked forward to finding out. Bats fly high; she would swoop over the garden, close to the moon and the stars. . . . Her eyes closed. She was falling sweetly into sleep.

There was a scratching sound outside the door. Flory ignored it. But the noise grew louder, and at last she was forced to open her eyes. The light from the doorway was almost blotted out by two twitching paws.

“You promised me cherries,” said Skuggle.

Laura Amy Schlitzis the author of the 2008 Newbery Medal–winning book, Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village, illustrated by Robert Byrd. In addition to that much-honored and highly praised collection, her credits include A Drowned Maiden’s Hair: A Melodrama, the recipient of the inaugural Cybils Award for a middle-grade novel, as well as many other honors and accolades. Those two titles and her biography, The Hero Schliemann: The Dreamer Who Dug for Troy, illustrated by Robert Byrd, were all Junior Library Guild Selections. Laura Amy Schlitz’s retelling of a Grimm fairy tale, The Bearskinner, illustrated by Max Grafe, was named an American Library Association Notable Children’s Book and a Horn Book Fanfare selection.

Making a journey into the world of fairy in order to write about the night fairy, Flory, came naturally to Laura Amy Schlitz. “As a child,” she explains, “I adored fairies and fairy tales.” She was also motivated by the girls who came into the library where she works, seeking books about fairies. “They adore the prettiness of fairies, the miniature-ness,” she says, “but they are also nature lovers and lovers of adventure. They are in fact quite interesting little girls — the future wild women of America. I couldn’t help thinking that these little girls who love fairies deserve something lively.”

Laura Amy Schlitz has spent most of her life working as a librarian and a professional storyteller. She has also written plays for young people that have been performed in professional theaters all over the country. She lives in Baltimore, where she is currently lower-school librarian at the Park School.

Angela Barrettstudied at the Royal College of Art in England with Quentin Blake and is one of Britain’s most highly acclaimed illustrators. She has won the Smarties Book Prize and the W. H. Smith Illustration Award for her work and has illustrated more than twenty-four books for children, including many classic tales and fairy tales, biographies, story collections, and picture books. Among her many titles are Beauty and the Beast, retold by Max Eilenberg; The Emperor’s New Clothes, retold by Naomi Lewis; Through the Tempests Dark and Wild: A Story of Mary Shelley, Creator of Frankenstein by Sharon Darrow; Rocking Horse Land and Other Tales of Dolls and Toys, compiled by Naomi Lewis; and Joan of Arc and Anne Frank, both by Josephine Poole.

“When I was young,” she recounts, “creating miniature worlds was a favorite thought before going to sleep. If Flory had had a less exciting life, I would have enjoyed drawing a very detailed domestic interior for her. But she is a creature of simple needs, and after providing herself with a bed, clothes, and storage under difficult circumstances, she gets on with her mission outdoors. She is brave and resourceful — a perfect heroine.”

Angela Barrett lives in London, where she illustrates full-time.

Also by Laura Amy Schlitz

The Bearskinner: A Tale of the Brothers Grimm

illustrated by Max Grafe

A Drowned Maiden’s Hair: A Melodrama

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!

Voices from a Medieval Village

illustrated by Robert Byrd

The Hero Schliemann:

The Dreamer Who Dug for Troy

illustrated by Robert Byrd

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.

Text copyright © 2010 by Laura Amy Schlitz

Illustrations copyright © 2010 by Angela Barrett

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

First electronic edition 2011

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

Schlitz, Laura Amy.

The night fairy / Laura Amy Schlitz ; illustrated by Angela Barrett. — 1st ed.

p. cm.

Summary: When Flory the night fairy’s wings are accidentally broken and she cannot fly, she has to learn to do everything differently.

ISBN 978-0-7636-3674-6 (hardcover)

[1. Fairies — Fiction. 2. Magic — Fiction. 3. Friendship — Fiction. 4. Adventure and adventurers — Fiction.] I. Barrett, Angela, ill. II. Title.

PZ7.S347145Ni 2010

[Fic] — dc22 2008027659

ISBN 978-0-7636-5439-9 (electronic)

The illustrations were done in watercolor.

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