A witty short story from the collection, BEYOND THE STARS, written and illustrated by two Irish talents in children's fiction today

The first great snowfall of winter and Brian and his friends can't contain their excitement. They rush out to play in this magical new world before the daylight fades. Noticing a glistening above them, the children see the snow-laden boughs of the trees are dripping in icicles, each one dressed in a ribbony wisp of gold. `Ice fairies...' Brian breathes in wonder.

Trying to get a closer look, no one is sure whether or not the fairies are real, and as delicate white flakes start falling from the sky, they are soon distracted from finding out by throwing snowballs and having fun. Will anyone remember about the fairies, hanging silently from the trees? Or notice a mysterious old man sitting on a bench, trailing golden ribbon from his pocket...

A magical and imaginative tale brought to life by beautiful illustrations.

Look out for the other eleven stories, also available as e-shorts!

This book is part of a book series called Beyond the Stars .

This book has been graded for interest at 9-13 years.

There are 50 pages in this book. This is a short story book. This book was published 2014 by HarperCollins Publishers .

* Olwyn Whelan is a children's book illustrator living in Dublin with her husband and two children. She has been shortlisted twice for the Children's Books Ireland Award for children's books. Her latest book is Spellbound, written by the first Children's Laureate, Siobhan Parkinson. Siobhan Parkinson is one of Ireland's leading authors for children and teenagers, and she has won numerous awards for her writing. Siobhan lives in Dublin with her husband and grown-up son.