Literally a fairy tale of the Emperor's son who went into the forest and found a beautiful gold flower. Looking closer, he found the light from the gold flower was made by a glowing tiny, magical fairy. Brightly colored with intricate features. When the Emperor found his son, he captured the fairy and placed her in his castle under glass.

Frequently, the fairy tried to escape to no avail. Failing to thrive, the Emperor brought thousands of flowers and surrounded them near her glass container. Late at night, the son took the fairy back and let her fly away into the forest. The Emperor lost his kingdom when his soldiers locked him away with his son.

Remembering the Emperor's son freed her, she flew back and all the flowers near the tower bloomed in bright profusion. The fairy placed a small vine at the base of the tower. It grew tall and strong enough for the Emperor and son to escape

The Emperor's kingdom was returned to him and he vowed never to capture the flower fairy again. He made a garden with his own hands. The fairy came to visit infrequently.

When an emperor's son comes across a lovely little faerie in the woods, his instinct is to keep his distance and admire from afar, but his greedy father has no such restraint, making the faerie a captive in his palace. But although she is showered with jewels, and then freshly-cut flowers, the faerie begins to fade, as do all the flowers and crops of the kingdom. Will the emperor learn his lesson, and release the faerie in time...?

An original fairy-tale with an ecological twist, Frank Asch's The Flower Faerie is a book with a message: don't try to capture or master the natural world - treat it with respect, and you will be repaid with bounty. But although I agree with the message, I found the narrative rather forced and unappealing, and Vladimir Vagin's illustrations somewhat uneven. His color spreads - heavy on the pinks and purples - were not to my taste, although his black and white paintings were quite lovely. All in all, a rather forgettable book - not one I would recommend fairy-tale fans make any great effort to seek out. ( )