Shanna and the Water Fairy

Book excerpt: The magic of spring, the gift of life and water in a dry land, and the power of kids to make a difference in our world. Eleven-year-old Shanna finds a secret pool on a class field trip to the "waste land" near her new school. The land nearby is dry and covered with scrub brush, but in a hidden pocket there is a wild profusion of flowers, trees and life around a trickle of water. Shanna's teacher says the waste land is scheduled to be bulldozed for a building project and the tiny spring will be destroyed. But Shanna discovers something amazing that few outside her goddess-oriented family would believe-a magical protector of the spring, maybe even a real fairy. Shanna and her eight-year-old brother Rye decide they have to do something to save the spring and its magical resident. Amid a sharing of the festival of Beltane, the kids learn how passion and action can blossom to make positive change. This story is partly based on events from the author's childhood, involving an endangered spring in dry country. But it is also an integral part of the Children's Wheel of the Year, a collection of stories about the adventures of Shanna and Rye which make the concepts and themes of seasonal celebration come alive for children.