Behind the Scenes of “The Fairy Ring”

“The Fairy Ring” is a based on a true story. Well, sort of. 

When I moved to the West Coast from New York, I knew I would be missing many things: the particular flora and fauna, the look of the clouds in autumn, and most of all, my family. I wasn’t sure how this place would become my home. But it did. I found amazing friends, like-minded creatives, fellow nature-lovers, and new members of loving family who I cherish. I missed my old home when I was in California, and I missed my new home when I was in New York. I wanted to write a story about that exquisitely wistful feeling, and “The Fairy Ring” was born.

The story resonated with my friend and illustrator, Xiao, the artist behind our first story, “Night Owl and Early Bird,” and we both knew we wanted to make this one feel as special as the story that rang so true for us. Xiao’s watercolors, painted in her studio in England, captured the bittersweet feeling of love and distance, of needing to leave home to find it, of tenderness, and letting go. And honoring the bonds we share with those we care about.

On a lighter note, I did imagine fairies and magical creatures lived in the woods and nature, especially when I was four and playing in the woods in New Jersey. A family of deer would pass through, and sometimes a bear, which I would watch lumber through the brush in awe and wonder, and be very very quiet. The rain smelled sweeter there. The mornings were cold and misty, the afternoons warm and sultry, and the evenings pink and red, with the sound of bat wings overhead. One memorable summer, on a quest to pick herbs for a make-believe witches brew, I really did come down with a mysterious rash that made my parents fear me going into the woods. We may never know what caused that one, but I suspect the wee folk, or fairies, might have had something to do with it.

The woods became adventure for me, a leaving home and a return, and it’s not surprising that I found myself living in a forest in San Francisco, with coyotes and raccoons as neighbors. I had found my adventure in a different woods. 

And when it came time to think up a name for the place where my stories would live, I didn’t have to go far to find “The Storied Forest”.

We hope you enjoy “The Fairy Ring”!

"The Fairy Ring" - Bedtime Stories and Fairy Tales | Kids Book Read Aloud

Love,
Lauren