Read through it quickly so can’t comment in depth on it. However, two particular themes impressed upon me: the importance of creativity and that people develop at different rates. The creativity that children seem to possess in limitless droves seems to gradually diminish as we learn more about what can happen and see everything else as impossible, impractical or inferior. It was nice seeing how it commended creativity over strict knowledge of possibility and prior experience. It also hit me how the Fairy Doll could be analogous for someone hitting their stride developmentally. Elizabeth struggles with a number of developmental tasks early in the story but when she is given the Fairy Doll she suddenly has the capacity to do them. While the transition seems a bit unrealistically sudden, it is a children’s book. It does make you think about how pressure and stress can restrict ability and how people mock individuals who haven’t yet accomplished particular tasks, even though there are a myriad of reasons that might be behind it and even though never accomplishing those things still wouldn’t mean that the person is inferior. It also explores sibling rivalry and bullying. I wasn't too fond of the idea of tit-for-tat that popped up a few times, but children would probably find it amusing and fitting. Essentially, it's a cute story and I think that there are a number of things that children could think about and discuss with their parents after reading this book.
