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Hope is a bright, thoughtful girl who intuitively feels others' emotions. She enjoys playing in the woods near her house and believes fairies live there. When Hope finds a clearing with a willow tree, she thinks that this must be where the fairies dwell. Hope begins making them houses, which soon turn into an entire community. Although Hope hasn't seen any of the fairies, she believes in their presence.
One day, an ominous shadow passes over Hope while she is working on the fairy village, and Hope's world goes black. When she wakes up, her fairy village has been destroyed. Hope becomes angry and internalizes these feelings. She soon develops a dark and gloomy disposition and abandons her trips to the woods. However, at night, in her dreams, the fairies visit her and plead with her to put love back into her heart and return to the fairy village.
McGluflin's picture book is about being hurt and learning to forgive. It is a little longer than many picture books and targets a slightly older crowd, particularly Head Start to early elementary school children. For this age, the story is simple and written in clear sentences, making it easy to understand. Jenn Sawyer's illustrations are excellent accompaniments to the story. They are bright and reactive, with those featuring fairies and Hope's emotional states standing out among the others. Parents and educators looking for a book to help discuss how to handle trouble and find forgiveness should find this book a valuable resource.