The Rainbow Weaver's Apprentice

The Rainbow Weaver’s Apprentice is a fantasy novel written by Elen Jagar. It was published in 2022 and received the Bookfest Golden Medal Award (2023), the Pencraft Book Award (2024), and the Readers’ Favorite Book Award (2024). This book is the first book in the fairy tunnel series.

I would consider this novel a high fantasy text because the setting involves a magical realm in which the protagonist Addie has to travel through a fairy tunnel world. When reading this book it was filled with adventure and had a fast-paced plot! This book is intended for children between the ages 9-12. I chose this book since the magical realm of fairies is intriguing to all age groups. As a second grade teacher, I see many of my students gravitate towards the “Rainbow Magic” series for young readers. And as an adult, I see many adult readers gravitate towards the ACOTAR series involving faeries. I was curious what a middle-grade fantasy involving fairies would be like!

In The Rainbow Weaver’s Apprentice, the story is about a young girl (Addie) who is in training to become a Rainbow Weaver’s apprentice. In this fairy world rainbow weavers use rainbow magic to keep peace and balance between the human villages and the fairy world/lands. Throughout the story Addie has a love for the magical parts of her training but struggles with the chores and responsibilities that come with her training.

The problem in the story is about Addie making a mistake during her training. She forgets to water the magical rainbow seedlings during sunset. Unfortunately, her mistake impacts her village and a thick fog spreads. The people of the village start getting sick. Because of Addie’s careless mistake, her people are suffering. Therefore Addie decides to try and fix her mistake by going on a journey by entering a magical/mysterious fairy tunnel. Addie learns that the tunnel connects different villages to the fairy world. As she goes on her journey she faces challenges and has to make choices. She also meets different magical creatures that become her friends.

Addie’s magical friends help her search for the healing magic she needs to help fix her mistake and save her village. I love how animals and nature come to life in this fantasy as Addie explores the fairy world. This book focuses on the themes of responsibility, teamwork, friendship, and self-discovery. I think this would be a great novel for the middle aged child because so many children at this age are learning to make sense of the world and navigate their own sense of autonomy when making decisions and learning responsibility.

The magical elements of this fantasy book provide a sense of adventure and motivation to right one’s own mistakes. As Addie goes on her quest, there is a shift in worlds that alters her perception of not only her apprenticeship but her reality. I would use this text in class to focus on the theme of overcoming challenges and have students make text-to-self connections about their own personal challenge(s) they faced and how they overcame it.

I would also use this fantasy novel to introduce the fantasy genre to my students because it is an easy read but still has many elements of adventure and magic that keep the reader engaged. I would have my students compare and contrast elements of low and high fantasy within the text since there is reference to both the human and fairy world within the text. Since this book is in a series format, students would be able to compare and contrast the different books within the series to see the development of the complex characters.

In addition to this, this magical world focuses on how rainbow weavers create color and patterns that affect emotions and events in their realm. Students can create an illustration of an important event in this book using color/patterns that conveys the author’s tone of a passage.