The Fairy Tale Fan Club

Starred review from August 19, 2024
In a comical introduction, C.C. Cecily, Senior Secretary of the Fairy Tale Fan Club, describes at length fielding “Where are they now?”–type queries from curious humans to fairy tale icons (“If necessary, I add my own comments,” Cecily notes). But the fan letters printed throughout this work reveal much about the so-called fans, many of whom write in distinctively British snark. To the emperor of “new clothes” fame, one notes: “Gutted, mate! You must feel like a proper plank!” Another asks Sleeping Beauty, “You seem to have no personality. I mean—who are you?” The fairy tale protagonists, in turn, seem more tetchy than enchanted in their responses: Humpty Dumpty complains of being “unfairly anthropomorphized and labeled,” while the Little Mermaid replies, “No, my best friend is not a tropical fish. I’m from Denmark.” Though the fairy folks’ correspondences do occasionally go on, Ayoade’s clever phrasing and epistolary structure prove both sturdy and irresistible, and pen illustrations by Roberts, rendered in precise, fine lines and intricate cross-hatching, provide wry visual asides throughout. Characters are portrayed on the book’s cover with various skin tones. Ages 8–12.