When Fairyland Lost Its Magic by Bijal Vachharajani

nisha.singh@harpercollins.co.in | 15 November 2023

PRAISE FOR WHEN FAIRYLAND LOST ITS MAGIC

Robert Macfarlane, author of The Lost Words and The Lost Spells says, ‘What a tremendous achievement this book is! Bijal and Rajiv make witty wonder out of awryness, find a story-telling tone and visual idiom that’s somehow simultaneously grave, funny, furious and forwards-looking. They re-tell Grimm for our grim Anthropocene, but without (quite) letting hope slip out of sight. A subversive book that will make children want to read on, and also make them want to question the world beyond their windows and screens.’

Zai Whitaker, author of Salim Mamoo and Me say, ‘Another gem by Bijal Vachharajani, and with added shine from Rajiv Eipe’s fantastic illustrations. Rapunzel, Cinderella and other old friends bring us the realities of climate change, in a gentle yet powerful series of stories which all reading-ages will enjoy, read aloud, discuss and laugh and shake their heads over. It brings us even closer to the story people we love, because like us, they are suffering from the results of climate change. But in the end…no, wait for it.’

Rohan Chakravarty urf Green Humour says, ‘All my life I’ve been disenchanted by fairy tales because they’ve all been unidimensional. And every time I’ve read them, I’ve always rooted for the villains; be it the child-eating witch from Hansel and Gretel or the Big Bad Wolf, because they’ve been the only interesting characters in the fairy tale world. Now, from the witch who wields her broom to make words flutter and the wizard who turns every surface he touches with his pen into gold, comes a series of fairy tales that I can actually enjoy, guffawing at the writing, and gushing at the illustrations, WITHOUT having to root for the villain: human-made climate change. Behind the grimmer-than-the-Grimms premise are two geniuses making merry with their own spins on fairy tales, and having the last laugh!’

Talking about When Fairyland Lost Its Magic, author Bijal Vachharajani says, ‘For me, the real magic in our lives is nature – all woods are enchanted, all creatures magical, all forests full of stories. That’s what this book celebrates, the real-world magic around us, and how our enchanting natural world is being threatened by the climate crisis. I hope children go looking for magical encounters with nature after reading When Fairyland Lost Its Magic.’

Illustrator, Rajiv Eipe adds, ‘What I love about this story is that behind the humour and irreverence is evident an intense love for the natural world and a yearning to preserve what is left of it. Making drawings for the book allowed for lots of silliness in adapting fairytale characters for the times we live in, but it also needed to (attempt to) inspire a sense of wonder for the natural world.

Tina Narang, HarperCollins Children’s Books – Publishers says, ‘Bijal’s storytelling is refreshingly understated. She speaks of larger problems like climate change and environmental issues, but does it subtly and with a  brilliant dash of humour. So you go away enthused and entertained  but not dispirited. And she’s done it again in her newest book, When Fairyland Lost Its Magic. Bijal has woven the climate crisis into fairytales and Rajiv Eipe has swept his brilliant brush over the book, and what has emerged is an absolute feast for the eyes. And with smog escaping even from Fairyland, there couldn’t have been a more relevant time to release the book!’