"Review of the Herb Fairies Series" or, "Momma! I see chih-eed!"

I have long been interested in medicinal plants, and I have a kind of un-explored love affair with herbs of all kinds. So, when Mountain Rose Herbs told me about the upcoming Herb Fairies series from Learning Herbs, I was really rather stoked. My oldest kiddo watched the intro video with me, and she got very excited, too. That settled it for me, and I got it. It also came with some nice freebies like an attractive medicinal herb poster chart, and an e-book of herbs for your kiddos' cold & flu season. Here is my assessment of the experience & product so far. The below is kinda' long, so if you want the short version: I do recommend this series. It's neat-o, and works so nicely with our homeschooling. (note: I do not receive any compensation for my review, nor am I affiliated with Herb Fairies)

This is a series of chapter books (around 40 pages), with one released each month electronically. Thus far we have seen the books about Stellaria (chickweed) and Viola (violets). There are a lot of illustrations, which is delightful for readers of all ages, but especially necessary for my wee crew (ages 2.5, 4.5, and 6.5). Sometimes the illustrations don't always perfectly match up with the writing, but they are close enough that my kiddos don't notice.

Several things come along with the release of each book. You also get a poster of the fairy, a coloring page for the fairy, an mp3 version of the story read by the author, a past corresponding issue of Herbal Roots e-zine that is around twenty pages of more info on that month's herb (poems, songs, activity pages, and idea on how to use the herb), nicely laid out herbal recipe pages, a journal for kids to write down their thoughts and info learned, and the book in several e-reader formats as well as the .pdf version. I've really felt like we've gotten a lot of value for our money, and it was worth every penny for this unique product. 

I like that everything is electronically downloaded. The website is also very nicely organized with visuals like an icon for each book/herb that keeps it all very easy to find what you are looking for. This makes it possible for me to use it on my computer, on the tablet, and can print out what I need. I have more than one kiddos, so it's nice to be able to easily print out multiples of the same activity sheet or coloring page. At night, we read a chapter (or however many pages we can get through) on the tablet. I have the books printed off and in a binder because there is no substitute for the availability of hard copy, and when we have finished going through a book and its extra materials together, I then add it to the book shelf and the girls can look through it at their leisure. 

Although there is an online forum at the Herb Fairies site for users, it has yet to become a real community, but it does have the potential. The members are very actively interested in participating, sharing, and discussing the books, even wanting to share their own creations and fan art involved with the book series. At times tho', it seems like some of the staff have all but quashed it. I understand the need to protect copyrighted material, and I also understand from experience how hard it is to put something out to the public that you have so much of yourself, your time, and resources in. I think that the folks who put out Herb Fairies could nurture the obviously very active and devoted users they have. This is clearly a big deal to the readers who are downright fans and want to participate in a bigger way. This is all new, so we'll see how it shapes up. Update: No community has formed on the Herb Fairies site, and everything about that aspect has kinda' died-out. I'm not even sure why they keep a talking forum on the site.However, in the Spring of 2014 (around two years after this post) a Facebook group was started that looks very promising.

The stories have been lots of fun! The storyline to both books is repetitive in all the right ways for children to be able to follow along and absorb the information without having to focus on too many twists or new elements being introduced. There is a story-arch with the first book to be read in teh Springtime, and the last book finishing in the next year's Springtime with the herb for each book being introduced seasonally. They should be read in order.  (spoiler alert) The kids  in the story are out playing when they find a fairy who needs their help back in the fairies world, they help heal the ailments other magical type creatures (like trolls), and in the process describe the herbs and how to use them. The other magical creatures also have names the children must guess that are character traits and relationship descriptors (like, "trust" and "awareness"). I can't hardly wait to see what the list will be from all twelve books! The fairies names are taken from the botanical scientific names of each herb. It's just really chock full of info and details all throughout the stories, also introducing them to various crafts and hand-work like weaving or carving, cooking and painting, etc. The only difficulty I have is finding enough unique voices to read for the characters, and keeping them all straight! 

In our area we have had some difficulty finding some of the herbs, but after a few weeks we did finally gather some chickweed, and we will be making a road trip to another part of the state with a markedly different climate to gather, pot, and take home more. It is really important to me that for this learning experience to work, we need hands-on activities with the plants. If you just absolutely can't find any, there are places online that sell the seeds, or even plant starts.

My kiddos have been inspired to eat the leaves, cook with flowers, and go out gathering supplies from nature. They have made little poultices fro their owies, and even showed their friends these magical plants that are "powerful medicine". They have really taken their knowledge out into their activities. They have been excited to look for an identify plants, and hearing their little voices talk about the “chih-eed!”, or “Momma, can we eat this?” just makes me feel very satisfied that they are really learning to interact with their world in a useful way. They have eaten chickweed sandwiches, and made flower syrups.

Something that is very important to us in the materials we choose is that they support our understanding of the world and ourselves. I simply do not allow things into our home that disaffirm our innate dignity, or teach values that are contradictory to ours. There have been some fairy books, or books about learning about plants and the natural world that are based in a neo-pagan language, or a kind of earth-worship. The Herb Fairies is not one of those, and is not preachy nor does it espouse a particular framework of belief. It just keeps to the fairies, their little lives and houses, and what the plants do. Now, if you are firmly against the idea of magic, then these books are not for you. For us, the wonder of God's creation is indeed magical and miraculous! and having the sense of wonder and delight about the magic of the plants' "powerful medicine" works just fine for us in our Eastern Christian world view.

Conclusion:

I would whole-heartedly recommend it. We have learned so much, and my children have really absorbed the information including eating leaves! Maybe one day they'll actually eat a green salad for supper (might be too much to hope for right at this time). This is shaping up to be a good thing. The writers said that now is the year's trail period as they figure things out. For those who didn't jump on it right when it came out, it has been stated that sometime next year (2013) it will be re-released.