The Mole Sisters and the Fairy Ring

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University. She is the author of several books, including The
Mountain Is Moving: Japanese Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret
Laurence: The Long Journey Home.

The Mole Sisters, best friends with each other, are endlessly curious,
always ready to try something new, and, in their own way, philosophers.

The Mole Sisters and the Fairy Ring is a summertime fantasy where green
predominates. While out walking, the sisters discover a fairy ring and
decide to become fairies. Flowered hats and belts made from the flowers
and leaves around them easily transform them into fairies, and the two
dance merrily until tired.

In The Mole Sisters and the Way Home, the sisters’ walk is
interrupted by an unexpected snowstorm. “What fun!” they say, as
they roll snow to make two large snow-moles. Next, they stumble upon a
cave and proceed to explore it in high glee. Enchanted by stalagmites
and stalactites, they soon decide that two of the cave drawings are
images of themselves. Happy with the day’s adventures, the sisters
return to build a fire in their burrow.

Schwartz’s sophisticated handling of colour in her charming
coloured-pencil illustrations goes well with her deceptively simple
text. Burnt sienna dominates the autumn walk, the Sisters’ snug
burrow, and some of the cave drawings, while their walk in the snow is
in cool blue, white, and black. Like all the Mole Sisters adventure
stories, these picture books are aimed at preschoolers. Highly
recommended.