Mirrna and the Marmots: A Story of Two Endangered Species

Lisa Arsenault is an elementary-school teacher in Ajax, Ontario.

The little fairy Mirrna leaves the polluted shores of southern British
Columbia and flies north in search of her family and uncontaminated
beaches. A storm blows her inland, where she crashes, shattering her
wings, and is eventually found by a group of marmots. They share their
food and their burrow with her, and she stays with them until she has
repaired her wings. When she leaves to continue her search for other
fairies, as a gift to them for their hospitality, Mirrna plants an
instantly growing forest over a logged-out area on the mountainside and
a garden of the plants marmots most love to eat.

An introduction by the Vancouver Island Marmot Preservation Committee
informs the reader that there are fewer than one hundred Vancouver
Island marmots left. They are an endangered species, as, of course, are
fairies. The pairing of fairies and marmots is a clever stratagem for
delivering the ecological message of this book in a light-handed,
nonscientific way. The traditional fairy-tale format is blended together
with the introduction of contemporary themes—endangered animals,
pollution, the need for reforestation, and so on—in a seamless,
graceful fashion. Highly recommended.