The Blurb On The Back:

Poppy the fairy has very small wings, but that won’t stop her flying!

When a lost gnome needs her help, can Poppy fly to the rescue and still get to sleep on time?

This bestselling series is the perfect way to help little ones settle down for bedtime.

TEN MINUTES TO BED LITTLE FAIRY was released in the United Kingdom on 12th May 2022.  Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book

You can order TEN MINUTES TO BED LITTLE FAIRY by Rhiannon Fielding and Chris Chatterton from Amazon UK, Waterstone’s or Bookshop.org UK.  I earn commission on any purchases made through these links.

The Review (Cut For Spoilers):

It’s 10 minutes to bed but Poppy the fairy wishes that she could be flying around the glade, just like all the other fairies.  As the countdown to bedtime continues, she tries and she tries until suddenly, she’s in the air!  But with bedtime creeping ever closer, she spots a gnome on the ground who is lost and trying to find his way back home for his own bedtime.  Can Poppy help him and get back in time to go to bed?

The 7th in Rhiannon Fielding and Chris Chatterton’s picture book series is a cute affair that offers structure to care-givers trying to get their little ones ready for bed.  I enjoyed Chatterton’s body positive illustrations of Poppy and her mum and he gets a lot of emotion into the pictures but while Fielding’s rhyming verses left me a little cold, young children will likely enjoy the countdown to bedtime and Poppy’s adventures.

I can well understand why this series of picture books (all set in magical worlds where various creatures are given a countdown to bedtime) has been so successful.  It’s done in a very cutesy, reassuring way and the countdown gives the overall story some structure while the rhyming verse style is designed to be read aloud by the care-giver.  

I think it did veer from cute to cutesy at times (mainly because the rhymes felt quite forced at a number of points), but Chatterton’s illustrations help to keep it grounded (no pun intended).  I particularly enjoyed the depiction of Poppy as a fairy who is not incredibly thin and light (which is also true of the picture of her mum) and the way he gets the emotion into the pictures, e.g. when Poppy feels sad at not being able to fly and the gnome feeling anxious at being lost, works really well.

The countdown to bedtime gives the story pace and a sense of urgency while also getting little ones used to the idea that once the story has ended, they have to go to sleep.

All in all, this is not my bag and I can’t say that I’d rush to read more in the series, but I understand why the books are so popular with parents trying to establish a bedtime routine.