Publishers Weekly
PW called this tale about a strapping Wyoming farm gal whose fairy godmother arrives too late an "amusing tweaking of the Cinderella story. Ages 4-8. (May) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
School Library Journal
K-Gr 3-A warmhearted story with striking illustrations to match. Fanny Agnes is a "sturdy girl" who foresees a prince-or at least the mayor's son-as the man of her dreams. She's even depending on her fairy godmother to provide one for her. But she marries Heber Jensen, a farmer, and they share a life filled with ups and downs, babies, laughter, and love. Finally, when the fairy godmother arrives (several years late), Fanny Agnes has discovered that she doesn't need her anymore-she's found her prince. The characters' expressive, round, cartoonlike faces give form to their personalities. Buehner's farm scenes, so dramatically angled and brilliantly hued in Jerdine Nolen's Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm (Lothrop, 1994), are softer here, with a more muted palette. Especially effective are overhead sky views, such as the scene of the fairy godmother flying over the watermelon patch toward a content Fanny. Fanny's strength is not the epic kind found in a tall-tale heroine like Anne Isaacs's Swamp Angel (Dutton, 1994); hers is strength of character to recognize the dreams that make life worthwhile.-Jane Marino, Scarsdale Public Library, NY
Kirkus Reviews
An ungainly farm girl named Fanny Agnes has a bit of the Cinderella in her and on the night of the mayor's ball goes out to the garden to wait for her fairy godmother. Instead, Heber Jensen comes a-courtin' and although Fanny dithers and declares she won't do windows, she shucks her princely dreams to throw in her lot with humble Heber. It's a hard life, but she gets treated like a princess in ways she never imagined.
This clever tale from the Buehners (It's a Spoon, Not a Shovel, 1995, etc.) has smart twists and takes and is shot through with such tenderness that the telling nearly shimmers off the page. The text yields corny humor and rural circumstance; the artwork is just plain wonderful. With the same oblique, absurdist edge he brought to Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm (1994), Mark Buehner creates an oddly palpable world for Fanny, Heber, and their kids: Readers get to know their home and the land surrounding it, feel the passage of time, share in their modest pleasures and dramas, and come to love these folk. A delightful wedding of winsome story and ingenious illustrations; there is no more to be asked of a book.
From the Publisher
"A truly wonderful mix of storytelling and art."-Booklist
"A delightful wedding of winsome story and ingenious illustrations; there is no more to be asked of a book." -Kirkus Reviews
