I’ve taken to calling November “Building a Library‘s Month of Failure” around the house. First, my daughter tells me that she wants to “pause” our reading of The Phantom Tollbooth. (Sigh.) Next, she tells me that she doesn’t want me to read her any more chapter books at bedtime, even though my wife – my wife who, in case you were wondering, did NOT start a blog all about how much she loves sharing books with her daughter – gets to read her Harry Freakin’ Potter at bedtime, a book that my kid is LOVING. And, finally, THIS happens…
My daughter, who is lovely and amazing and is such a fantastic reader, comes to me and says, “I want to write a fan letter to my favorite author.”
I perked up IMMEDIATELY. She’d never asked to do this before.
“That’s great!” I said. “Who are we writing to?” In my head, I began thinking about how I could get the mailing addresses for Lane Smith, Kate DiCamillo, Cressida Cowell, Mo Willems, Adam Rex, the estates of Shel Silverstein or Roald Dahl, etc. And then she hit me with the bombshell.
“I want to write a fan letter to Daisy Meadows who writes the Rainbow Fairy Books.”
Daisy Meadows. The Rainbow Fairy Books.
MONTH. OF. FAILURE.
Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion…
“SERIOUSLY?” I replied in an immature tone, practically guaranteed to send her further into Daisy Meadows‘ open and waiting arms. “She is seriously not your favorite author. Seriously. She’s not, right?”
“I like her books,” my daughter responded in a firm and even voice. “I want to write her a fan letter.”
And, because I am a patient and tolerant daddy and because we’ve been trying to encourage our daughter to practice her handwriting more often, I sighed and said, “I’ll go get the lined paper.”
Here is the finished fan letter in question, which, admittedly, is insanely cute:
So, why am I in such a fit over something so adorable? Well, for those of you unfamiliar with Ms. Daisy Meadows, let me explain why my daughter’s request had such an impact on me.
Daisy Meadows does not, in fact, EXIST.
She’s a corporate creation, a myth, a collective pseudonym for a group of ghost writers who churn out adventure after adventure in the Rainbow Magic series of beginning chapter books. Now, I’ll admit, if she told me she wanted to write a fan letter to, let’s say, Carolyn Keene, the collective alias used by all the authors who’ve written Nancy Drew books over the years, I wouldn’t have had a problem. Because Nancy Drew is a smart, independent role model and “Rainbow Fairies”… just sound like an antiquated post-feminist nightmare.
What are the Rainbow Magic Fairy Books, you may ask? To quote their corporate press release:
Rainbow Magic™ is an international publishing phenomenon, capturing the attention of young readers around the world since 2003. With over 100 titles to date, the biggest girls’ brand in series fiction follows the exciting adventures of two young girls, Rachel and Kirsty, as they help their fairy friends seize their stolen magic back from Fairyland’s troublesome Jack Frost. Whether hunting for magical moonstones or tackling naughty goblins, the two best friends always have lots of fun.
Finally, a role model for today’s impressionable youth…
YEAH. And there is a seemingly endless amount of Rainbow Magic books out there, all broken down into sub-series focused on the Rainbow Fairies, the Princess Fairies, the Weather Fairies, the Jewel Fairies, the Pet Keeper Fairies, the Fun Day Fairies, the Petal Fairies, the Dance Fairies, the Sporty Fairies, the Music Fairies, the Musical Animal Fairies, the Green Fairies, the Ocean Fairies, the Twilight Fairies…
They just keep coming, wave after wave, like zombies or the Borg.
But there are kids, for whatever reason, that legitimately love these books. They’re quick reads, they’re disposable, they’re sparkly and shiny, you can find them at Target, and… they’re CRAP. Have I mentioned that yet? That they’re complete crap?
Granted, they’re not the worst thing I’ve ever read and there is a basic storytelling competence to the books that has to be acknowledged, but they’re definitely not good. They’re simplistic, they’re formulaic, and they pander, pander, pander. It’s like they just grab a bunch of popular market-tested keywords for the young girl demographic (Horses! Shiny! Magic! Shoes!), throw them together, and then, six weeks later, they publish “Shiny Boots the Magic Horse Fairy: A Rainbow Magic Adventure #347.”
Here’s a sample passage from (sigh) one of my daughter’s favorite Rainbow Magic titles, Selena the Sleepover Fairy:
Rachel gasped.
“Kirsty, look up there!”
Kirsty stood up and clutched Rachel’s hand in excitement.
“That looks like fairy dust!” she exclaimed. “Oh, Rachel, do you think we’re about to have another adventure?”
“Let’s find out!” Rachel said.
The girls hurried toward the trees. They were friends with the fairies who lived in Fairyland, and often helped out when Jack Frost caused trouble. Maybe the fairies needed their help again!
(Daisy Meadows has, apparently, never met an exclamation point that she didn’t LOVE!!!)
This doesn’t make me feel like it’s my birthday and Christmas all at the same time… sigh…
So, that’s not awful, but it isn’t very good, right? And the idea of my daughter writing a fan letter to a registered trademark – a letter that will, at best, land on the desk of a marketing intern and be responded to with a form letter and a coupon code for online Rainbow Bucks – it really bothered me.
But, as I’ve found out again and again, Father does not always know best, so, out of respect for my daughter, here are the reasons why I let her write that letter:
- According to Wikipedia (which did cite their sources in this case), the “Rainbow Magic books by Daisy Meadows were the most-borrowed children’s books at libraries in the United Kingdom, and the second-most borrowed books overall at those libraries, for 2010 and 2011.” Sure, popularity doesn’t necessarily indicate quality, but there’s obviously SOMETHING about these books that is resonating with kids.
- I have to keep reminding myself that, when my daughter first started reading Easy Reader books on her own, a large majority of those titles were pretty underwhelming too. There were a few standout Easy Reader series for developing readers (looking at you, Elephant & Piggie), but most were simple, dull, and based on a TV show, toyline, or movie. But even those milquetoast Easy Readers appealed to my daughter in such a way that they DID actually encourage her to read independently.
- My daughter was introduced to the Rainbow Magic books by an older friend whom she adores, a friend that read the Fairy Books aloud to her and made them seem so vibrant and fun in her retellings.
- Thanks to the endorsement from her older friend and all the sparkly, glittery covers, my daughter picked out her first Rainbow Magic Fairy Book and read it to us. ALOUD. It was over a period of several days, but, as much as it pains me to admit it, Selena the Sleepover Fairy was the very first chapter book that my daughter read OUT LOUD, ALL THE WAY THROUGH, BY HERSELF.
That last bullet point is the important one. I might not understand the appeal of the Rainbow Magic Industrial Complex, but, for whatever reason, at this point and time, they are actually inspiring my daughter to read independently. And that’s amazing.
I will never admit that they’re good books, because they’re quite clearly not, but I will let my daughter read them (in moderation) and, if she wants to write a fan letter to a corporate ghost with a ridiculous pen name to thank them for creating a book that she really wanted to read… so be it.
Yes, it might feel like a failure now, but, if spending some time with Ms. Daisy Meadows lets my daughter develop the reading skills that will one day let help her read Anne of Green Gables, Matilda, or maybe even The Phantom Tollbooth on her own, I have to be willing to lose this battle in order to win the greater reading war down the road.
So, all that being said – Does anyone know how to mail a fan letter to Fairyland?
{ 52 comments… read them below or add one }
Ahhh…this exact situation JUST happened to me, which is how I was led to your post!! Too funny. But thanks for posting some possible addresses! I’m curious to know if anyone ever got a response by sending letters to those addresses.
I came here looking for the address because my daughter had written Daisy Meadows a fan letter as well. I know the author penned this blog entry 5 years ago, but for those parents here more recently, no worries. My daughter also loves Dahl, Blyton, Baum, etc. You can love fairies and the phantom tollbooth at the same time
Thanks for the laugh and the address!
Hi, I’m almost 18 and the other day someone sent me something about the Rainbow Magic series because when I was little, I was OBSESSED. I have maybe ten of the sub-series and maybe 15 of the individual ones. I was doing a quick google search when I came across this post and I’m so upset to see this response to them because I would not be who I am today without these books. Everyday at recess from kindergarten to fourth grade my best friend and I would play games about these fairies, and it actually helped us make more friends. I’d even come up with my own fairies, write stories about them and draw pictures of them. To this day my dream is to become and author/illustrator and I plan to study both in college BECAUSE OF THIS SERIES. I’m sorry that you don’t like the books but they’re not exactly your demographic sir, unless you were pregnant as a 5 year old girl. Oddly enough, these books continue to inspire me. I’m sorry that you wish your daughter would read something more challenging but most kids my age barely pick up the books assigned to them. So, if this series encourages your daughter to read and be imaginative, then I think that’s something awesome that you’re unfortunately overlooking.
I respect your opinions about the writer who don’t exist and you not liking the story book. But kids can see and appreciate things that we, adults, don’t see and appreciate. I guess your daughter is imaginative that made her appreciate the beauty of the story book. We just have to explain that writing the author is not a great idea because she doesn’t exist at all.
Seriously? We’re talking about kids. The only requirements for their books are age appropriate topics and language. If we want to encourage the readers of the future we must first let them find their own way to enjoy it. There will be plenty of time for great works of literature. I’m happy seeing children reading instead of watching TV or playing video/computer/phone games.
Hi
My daughter, Niamh, is struggling a little to fit in at school and to top it all off there is no rainbow magic fairy called Niamh- which is upsetting her more! Please could you make a Niamh fairy, it would make her incredibly happy!!
Many Thanks
Dear rainbow magic,.
My 2 granddaughters love love love your books they are 3 and 5. Problem is there are a lot fairies with names…the 3 year old asked me if I could ask you if you could do a book with the name Holly…she says it not fair we never find a book with her name It!!!..we chuckle…but….I thought I’d give it a try…she was around Christmas that’s where Holly comes in. We really do try to get books with her name..but to no avail……thank you in advance?
Dear Author of the Rainbow Cloud Fairy Books,
I love fairies but the only thing about the Fairy books is that you put Jack Frost in them and my mommy won’t let me read them. She thinks that I shouldn’t have it in my mind. It would be so nice if you didn’t put that in because then my mommy could read it to me. I’d LOVE to hear back from you. I speak from all children that love fairies.
Eiley Kelly
Age 5
Dear rainbow magic i think your books are great make more they are relly fun and creative and i think Jack Frost should stop stealing the faries items and the goblins should stop listening to the lce lord and be fun funny and beacame a fairy it is so funny how goblins are terrified of babies and your books are not trash or yuck do not listen to aelnnea your books are great and creative i think you should make more like Rachel the fashion fairy l love your books a lot and
Daisy medows is a great name the name of a daisy and a pretty medow where flowers live i am ten and my name is Claire thank you
You don’t know how much I appreciated this article
My son was looking at her sisters Rainbow Magic Books. He doesn’t like them either. He told her ‘I bet that author isn’t even real. Look! There’s no author’s bio!’.
Then he googled it and found this, and showed it to me. I am howling with laughter and appreciation. You, sir, have articulated everything I feel about these darn books.
But, I’ll let my daughter read them anyway.
Thanks
Bless you! Thank you for so perfectly summarizing my thoughts. That someone (nay…. A group of someones) can get together and get PAID to churn out this kind of CRAP in the form of rainbow fairies, while so many true and competent and talented writers out their cant get a book published….. Well, it’s an insult to any parent with moderate critical thinking skills. And no, I don’t write, but I do think of all my English-major friends trying their hand at creative writing. My 2nd grader read a chapter out loud to me and it was like nails on a chalk board
“nails on a chalkboard”…. EXACTLY. It’s EXACTLY like that. Thank you.
Had to laugh when I found this– I spent the afternoon trying to critically review FOUR of the Magic Animal Friends books and wondering if there was a fan website. My daughter’s loved Phantom Tollbooth when they were able to read it for themselves in third and then sixth grade, but I could never interest them in Anne at all. Mercer Mayer’s Little Monster books were some of their favorites, and there was a pretty hot and heavy Animorphs phase that had me combing the thrift store for the books. If it makes you feel any better, they turned out okay. The first book I read by myself was The Berenstain Bears’ Picnic– and I ended up becoming a school librarian. Deep breaths! ; )
I love your bookes and I read all of them my favorit is louren the puppy fairy
As a grown-up who still loves glitter, but who was reading Shakespeare in the 7th grade I can see both sides of this argument. These books are crap. BUT they do inspire imagination, and at least the girls aren’t wussy little push-overs, they’re strong and independent and rather fearless, which I like. It’s the same reason I let my 10-year-old daughter watch some Barbie movies (NOT Life in the Dreamhouse though, for the love of God!)- in the Fashion Fairytale movie she got fired and dumped in the same day and instead of wallowing that life is over she jumped on a plane overseas to help out a family member.
At least these girls are learning about teamwork, strength in numbers and friendship and standing up for themselves and their friends.
And yes, I do believe they will lead to better things. My daughter finally enjoys reading and is finally branching out into American Girl, and her list includes Little House in the Big Woods, The Secret Garden and Little Women- because she wants to read more books about brave girls having adventures. Anne of Green Gables and Mommys kid-novel about Grace O’Malley the Pirate Queen are just around the corner.
hi how are you ? yesterday i checked out some rainbow magic books that is the weather fairies and i got confused that Hayley the rain fairy was the last fairy to put on the feather. but in top of the book put a picture that Hayley was the 3rd fairy to put on the feather on the roster. but why. please reply as fast as you can. Anyways I really like your books Ms.Meadows.
We love your books but why don’t you put your really name on them.
please comment back.
because its a group of people not just one lady .
that is ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Regardless of my personal feelings about the series, my students are learning to write letters and I have two that want to write to her. I have searched and search, but can’t find an address to send fan letters. Did you ever find one?
Thanks,
Sarah
1-4th grade
Coralville, IA
GREAT TIMING. I finally got an answer to this! I contacted Scholastic and they told me — while they couldn’t give out Daisy Meadows’ address or phone number (wink-wink) — they would be happy to forward any letters to her.
So, your students (or anyone else) can reach Daisy Meadows at:
Daisy Meadows
c/o Scholastic Inc.
557 Broadway
New York, New York 10012-3999
Hope that helps!
I’m so thankful that you investigated and foind a way to get the letter to “Daisy Meadows.” I, too, had students write to her as their favorite author and I was struggling to find a way to get them to the correct person! Thanks for the information!
Wow. This will be crushing information for my son. I think I’ll let him go on believing Daisy is everything he thinks she is. Stumbled upon this post also searching for Ms. Meadows address to forward a letter from him. He is obsessed with her books and wrote her a letter asking her to write a story about a boy fairy. The chances of anyone seeing the letter? Probably none.
Thank you so much! My niece in London has written a wonderful letter and really wants to send it to ‘Daisy Meadows’. I hope the address is still current
I am sorry but I do not agree. I am ten and I love them. We kids like them because these books help make our imagination better. WAY better. I read college books and still love this series. So please don’t hate.
No one hates you! It’s awesome that you’re reading. Books are written for different age groups, so while adults might think these books are lame, you shouldn’t! It’s made to help you grow your imagination. Or to help Scholastic make money. Or both.
Am a teacher who assigned a book project. One of my better readers also chose “Daisy Meadows”. I agree – What on EARTH is the draw for these books? They are indeed TERRIBLE. My 13 year old LOVES them and has now hooked my FOUR year old. They are even more dreadful as a read aloud…
I also suggest writing to the PUBLISHER in c/o the author. That’s what many of my students had to do with all of the current author’s who no longer accept snail mail, only emails. What will happen to the good old fashioned art of letter writing?
Oh lord, yeah, I’ve always begged off having to read the Rainbow Fairy books aloud.
And that’s just pathetic about certain authors only accepting emails. Is there anything more charming than a handwritten letter by a little kid? And they’re saying they don’t want them? Insane.
Also trying to find an address for my daughter’s letter…Ugh!
I relate to every word you wrote. Every. Word. I am perplexed as I hold a recently penned and illustrated letter from my daughter to Daisy Meadows. I want to honor her request to mail it, but am seriously disheartened that this will not turn into a Mr. Crenshaw-esque pen pal relationship…
P.S. Did you ever find an address?
Hi reply someone plz I love rainbow magic
I agree
My daughter Clare lovedthese books so much and I could never get her nose out of one of them. But once she found out there wasn’t a fairy called Clare she stopped reading them! She said that was ‘very lazy!’
Are you kidding me? Daisy Meadows isn’t real????? I have an extremely gifted 2nd grade student who just wrote an outstanding paragraph about her favorite person in the whole world. Did she choose one of her parents or grandparents? A favorite teacher or aunt or uncle? NO!!! She chose Daisy Meadows! This particular student is not only gifted, she is kind, helpful, respectful, and everything a teacher ever wishes for in a student. I decided to “surprise” her with a direct link to Daisy Meadows downloaded onto my iPad so she could learn more about her and possibly even communicate with her. Well, I guess I’M the one getting surprised instead!!! Anyway, thank you for your insightful story about your daughter. I thoroughly enjoyed your perspective, and it helped to soften the blow of discovering that Daisy Meadows is a pseudonym. My student is hoping to grow up and write great books just like Daisy Meadows. Who knows??? Maybe now she can get her wish and even BECOME Daisy Meadows!!!!!
Here’s the thing, we may not like the books (I haven’t read any, so I can’t judge), but the kids do. How many of the books by Judy Bloome (one of my faves) where the same story or predicament? I was an avid reader and in middle school tackled “Dune” successfully. I STILL have a series of Sci-Fi Fantasy I love.
My daughter is 8, and started reading at 2. She was reading chapter books at 3 or 4. She is now in the 2nd grade, reading on a 6th grade level. She has ALWAYS had a thing for fairies. In 2012, she was diagnosed with Aspergers. These books are a way for her to focus, and she looks forward to going to the library to get new books. We go to the library probably twice a week, and after the books are read, she can take her AR tests. While they may not be Pulitzer prize-winning books, they ARE building the foundation for a life-long love of reading.
I’ve written letters to celebrities, fully expecting to never get a response. It’s the fun of the process. Just a thought from a single mom and reader.
Funny! I think the books are garbage too. I stumbled across this while also looking for the address for my daughter to write a fan letter. I have no idea which ones I have read to my daughter since they are all the same story, but my daughter is able to remember. I humor it, soon it will be over. My older daughter who chooses a lot of newbury award winning books went through the same stage. I should have thrown them out!
I am 10 years old and agree. These books are trash!!!!!!!! i used to love them like 2 years ago, but now, i realized they’re not very good. EVERY book the same thing happens.
Fairy says, “Goblins stole my magic item!”
Kirsty and Rachel, “Don’t Worry!!! We’ll help you!!!”
Goblins fall into trap.
“Waa!!! Here!!! take the magic item!! dont hurt us!!!!” Goblins say.
And then all is well.
UGH!!!!! ITS SO STUPID. AND YOU CAN TELL DAISY MEADOWS IS A PEN NAME. I MEAN THINK ABOUT IT. Daisy Meadows? Kind of ironic that her first name is a flower and her last name is a place where flowers grow. So, yea. These books suck. I like books like Harry Potter, The Alchemyst (book 1 in the secrets of the immortal Nicholas Flamel) The Unwanteds, and Wolves of the Beyond. Another very good book is Out of My Mind. But out of my mind is very sad. Anyways, point is Rainbow Magic books are just different fairies with a few little tweaks on the adventure, the books are pretty much the same. And its dumb becuz there are like MILLIONS of those books. i dont have all of them, but i have a lot, but i didn’t realize how much it was until yesterday when my mom forced me to sort my books out. I made all of the books in a series in stacks and the rainbow magic books stack made it like 3 inches shorter than the POOL TABLE. 3 INCHES DIFFERENCE(roughly. ok maybe a bit more than 3 inches but still!)
Those books ARE TRASH!!!!! and this is coming from a 10 YEAR OLD GIRL!!! I AM ONLY 10!!!!!!!! such dumb books shouldn’t even be allowed to be published.
Come on Dad!!! Let your daughter expand her imagination! How old is she? Not very from what you posted…. She may not read advanced authors or what you want her to read but it seems to me that….she’s READING and LOVING it!!!!! Lighten up and get excited and live that she is reading!! My little girl has read 32 of the fairy books!! Bad? NOPE!!!!!! Come on Daddy!!!!!!!!!
Thank you so much for sharing the information. My daughter wrote her first letter to Daisy Meadows yesterday and is waiting for me to provide her an address to mail it out. I am sure I would have failed this task without google.
One last piece of info in my exhaustive hunt for information on a mailing address for the pseudolicious Ms. Meadows. Got this email from Scholastic today:
“Thank you for contacting Scholastic. I am happy to provide you with information on how to send a letter to Daisy Meadows.
We are delighted to hear that you daughter would like to send a fan letter to Daisy Meadows! I’m very sorry, but we are unable to provide you with an author’s address, phone number, or email. However, if you send your letter to us, we will be happy to forward it to the author. For your convenience, I listed our address below:
Author Name
c/o Scholastic Inc.
557 Broadway
New York, New York 10012-3999
While we can’t promise that you’ll receive a response, we do know that authors read letters from their readers and appreciate hearing from them.
We encourage you to contact Customer Service at 1-800-SCHOLASTIC (1-800-724-6527) with any additional questions or concerns you may have.”
Thanks! Anyone got any kind of answer?
Nothing yet. I’ll keep you posted!
Oh, great. I discovered this blog in search of the address for Daisy Meadows. My daughter has a letter and addressed envelope due in class tomorrow. Seriously? What now? Please tell me you found an address.
Unfortunately, we haven’t mailed our letter yet for exactly this reason. It’s very, very strange to me that the Rainbow Magic industrial complex makes it so hard for their fan base to send fan mail.
Here’s my advice – if you look on the “special thanks” page of your daughter’s favorite Rainbow Magic book, you will find the name of the real world author who actually wrote the book. If you Google that author, you might actually find a mailing address or an email address for them.
I’m sorry that this is the best that I can do. Let me know if I can do anything else to help.
OK, here’s what I’ve found. If you live in the US, the Rainbow Magic Books are published by Scholastic, so I’d address fan mail to:
Daisy Meadows
c/o Scholastic Media
557 Broadway
New York, NY 10012
I think that’s your best bet for getting the letter to someone involved with publishing the Rainbow Magic books. I did also find fan mail addresses for two of the other Rainbow Magic authors – although most of these addresses are via other publishers (not Scholastic). Just in case, here they are:
Narinder Dhami
Hyperion Books for Children
114 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10011
USA
Linda Chapman
c/o Puffin Marketing
80 Strand
London
WC2R 0RL
OK, I tweeted Scholastic last night and they tweeted back some great information this morning. So, if you’re looking to send fan mail to Daisy Meadows, here is what Scholastic recommended to me:
“We accept author mail at our HQ: 557 Broadway, NY NY 10012. Just address it to Daisy. Thank you!”
And Scholastic then added:
“Please email us at [email protected] for information about sending a letter to Daisy Meadows.”
So, Daisy Meadows fans (and parents) out there, hope that helps.
Loved this! Your post made this reading teacher smile and I’m glad I found your blog.
FYI- Mo Willems might just write back. He answered my son’s letter and we just about died. It was like getting mail from a rock star:
http://thereadingandwritinghouse.blogspot.com/2011/01/more-mo.html
What a lucky girl to grow up with a family who lives a reading life!
That is SO COOL! What a great letter for a kid to receive! And what a great blog too. I’m so happy that it’s on my radar now.
Charley is an amazing child, she will grasp the rope of culture and quality that you throw to her – let her enjoy frivolity and it will give her something to measure quality by – have no fear she is destined for greatness!
Please tell me you’re not actually mailing your daughter’s FIRST fan letter! Send them a copy & keep the original!
No worries, Kelsey – if it was a REAL author and not the Kid Lit equivalent of Joe Camel… I might consider sending the original. But, for the Rainbow Fairy Books, not a chance. If I do actually mail it – I still can’t find where to send snail mail to the imaginary Ms. Meadows – I’ll make a color copy at work and send them the copy.
A stack of these books made their way into our home hidden under some hand me down clothes from a friend desperate to get them out of her house. My daughter went through a phase when she loved reading these books. They were easy to read for when she first started reading independently. I was happy that they were not requested as read aloud books. Thankfully, she seems to have moved on from them.
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