Reviewed by Rosie Malezer for Readers’ Favorite
The Sweet Dream Fairy is a children’s book written by Caren Cantrell and illustrated by Pratip Bhattacharjee. Violet is a Sweet Dream Fairy who sprinkles fairy dust on children as they sleep, keeping all of the bad dreams at bay. After hearing a child’s distress call, Violet rushes to the child’s aid and finds Griffin the Goblin hiding under the young child’s bed. With a sprinkle of fairy dust, the goblin is gone, but not for long. As Violet leaves the home, Griffin takes her captive and steals her fairy dust, imprisoning her deep inside his cave. Violet sings and cries her very loudest, but to no avail. Griffin leaves the cave and instills nightmares into all of the children whom the fairy had blessed. One more cry for help reveals an unexpected visitor, who rushes to Violet’s aid in the hopes of restoring peace amongst the children once more. Reinforcements arrive and a plan is hatched to try to reverse what the goblin has done.
This is a wonderfully timeless classic tale of good versus evil, with Caren Cantrell’s imagination producing the magic of fairies and goblins for young children to enjoy. After being kidnapped by the evil goblin, the fairy knew to seek outside help as her only form of protection had been taken away. This teaches children that if they are in a bind, which they cannot get out of alone, there is absolutely no shame in calling for help. The fact that the goblin not only gained joy from imprisoning the fairy but also from bringing feelings of doom and gloom to children, whilst scaring them for fun, showed that he was also a bully, which needed to be stood up to immediately. The fairy did not retaliate with violence, but with kindness, bringing about a surprise ending that had me smiling from ear to ear. I thoroughly enjoyed The Sweet Dream Fairy and all of the lessons it contains, and recommend that this book be stocked in home, school, and day-care libraries for all children to enjoy.
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