The Serif Fairy: Explorations in the World of Letters
Written and illustrated by Rene Siegfried; translated by Joel Mann
Mark Batty Publisher; $15.95
32 pp.; ISBN-13: 978-0979048623

Review by Amy Brozio-Andrews

The Serif Fairy's lost her wing -- the magic one that's especially important since it allows her to fly. And so she undertakes a long and arduous journey through forest and city, lake and field, to try and recover it. The various locations, themed and illustrated according to font style, include the Garamond Forest (featuring the font type Garamond), Futura City (Futura Book), Zentenar Gate (Zentenar-Fraktur), and Lake Shelley (Shelley Andante Script). All of the artwork -- the fairy, the trees and animals, all of the trucks and buildings in the city -- is made up of letters in different type styles set against simple pale pastel landscapes. A capital O superimposed on a Y becomes a tree, a lowercase J situated between two capital B's is a butterfly. An intricate combination of C's, D's, K's, U's and other letters becomes a crane; E's join an O and several F's to make a tiny crab at the bottom of Lake Shelley.

Rene Siegfried's The Serif Fairy: Explorations in the World of Letters, translated by Joel Mann, is a light and creative storybook that's stronger on the visual appeal than plot. The story itself is charming, but the weakness is that there is a quest (the Serif Fairy's search for her missing wing) but there's no real drama, no huge obstacle to overcome, nothing standing in her way. The story merely recounts the fairy's travels and where she looks for her missing wing. While the illustrations are highly creative and will certainly keep young readers interested in picking out letters they recognize, the story itself may fall flat for some readers: "All around it was growing lighter, and the vastness of the landscape fascinated her no less than the great swarm of butterflies she encountered, which she longed to gaze at indefinitely." It may be beautiful, literary writing, but it may also be too much for your young reader; nothing's worse than a book that's frustrating.

Independent publisher Mark Batty Publishing's foray into children's books is an admirable effort. The company specializes in visual communications, art, design, and typography, and The Serif Fairy does reflect that commitment to the typographic art. The book won the Type Director's Club Award and balances education with entertainment. The endpapers breakdown each of the illustrations into their composite letters, and an end section of the book provides a full alphabetical look at each of the four fonts used, pointing out similarities and differences between them. Appealing to font fanatics of all ages and those with artistic tendencies, The Serif Fairy is a solid introduction to typography and the ideas of varying stroke thickness, distinctive flourishes, and feet (or serifs) on letter are presented in their most basic form, making them accessible to readers of all ages and all levels of familiarity with typography.