The cleverness of two girls fools legions of adults in this picture-book account of one of the earliest “viral” photographs ever taken. Cousins Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright wile away the summer of 1917 playing near the “beck” in their family’s garden—a stream that, according to Frances, is home to fairies. Borrowing their father’s camera, they return with what appears to be photographic evidence: Frances and Elsie surrounded by fairies. Their father laughs, their mother quietly wonders whether the photos—and fairies—are real. She shares them, and they eventually come to the attention of Arthur Conan Doyle, a true believer, who coauthors an article that includes the photos. The public speculates wildly: Are fairies real? Or is it all just an elaborate hoax? The girls’ creative mischief expands here into a broader exploration of humans’ desire and willingness to believe (or not believe) what’s in front of their eyes. (Ages 4–8)

The true story of British cousins who fooled the world for more than 60 years with a remarkable hoax, photographs of “real” fairies. Exquisitely illustrated with art by Eliza Wheeler as well as the original photos taken by the girls.

In 1917, in Cottingley, England, a girl named Elsie took a picture of her younger cousin, Frances. Also in the photo was a group of fairies, fairies that the girls insisted were real. Through a remarkable set of circumstances, that photograph and the ones that followed came to be widely believed as evidence of real fairies. It was not until 1983 that the girls, then late in life, confessed that the Cottingley Fairies were a hoax. Their take is an extraordinary slice of history, from a time when anything in a photograph was assumed to be fact and it was possible to trick an eager public into believing something magical. Exquisitely illustrated with art and the original fairy photographs.