Small Houses, Big Books
by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 9/13/2004
A three-book Fairy Houses series by Tracy Kane has become the inspiration for two fairy-related projects in coastal Maine. The Ocean View Retirement Community in Falmouth just opened a Fairy Houses Village, where residents and their grandchildren can construct dwellings for magic folks. In July, the Children's Theatre of Maine mounted a musical production of Fairy Houses. Pamela DiPasquale and Jim Alberty, whose previous credits include a production based on Janell Cannon's Stellaluna, retold the story of a girl on vacation in Maine who wonders what will happen if she builds a house for fairies to live in.
The books and play reflect Kane's own fascination with the tiny fairy shelters of bark and sea shells that she first found on vacation at Monhegan Island off the coast of Maine, where fairy houses have been built by generations of children. "A simple vacation trip when Tracy came up with the idea for Fairy Houses has really changed our lives," said her husband, Barry Kane; the couple co-founded Light-Beams Publishing to publish her books.
The Fairy Houses series is available from Light-Beams at www.light-beams.com or from Ingram and Baker & Taylor. Although it is sold in many bookstores and toy stores in New England, as well as at L.L. Bean, the Kanes are looking for a distributor to give the series a more national presence.
