"Good Fairies" and "Bad Fairies" Activity


We'll examine, analyze, critically evaluate, and discuss these sources during an in-class activity that is designed to give you practice distinguishing among scholarly gems and sources that are not appropriate for essay #4.

For each source below, in relation to your essay, identify whether it is:

a) appropriate (good fairies)
b) inappropriate (bad fairies)
c) possibly appropriate/inappropriate (undetermined fairy)

Sources (Fairies):

  1. Alexander, Skye. Fairies: The Myths, Legends, & Lore
  2. Lenihan, Edmund, and Carolyn E. Green. Meeting the Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland
  3. Virtue, Doreen, and Howard D. Johnson. Fairies 101: An Introduction to Connecting, Working, and Healing with the Fairies and Other Elementals
  4. Bord, Janet. Fairies: Real Encounters with Little People
  5. Evans-Wentz, W Y. E. Fairy-faith in Celtic Countries
  6. Narváez, Peter. The Good People: New Fairylore Essays
  7. Templeton, Herminie. “How the Fairies Came to Ireland”
  8. Ógáin, Ríonach Uí. "Music Learned from the Fairies"
  9. Béal Beo
  10. Forgotten Fairies of Irish Folklore


  • Document type
  • Author (feel free to look up what else the person wrote.)
  • Abstract/summary
  • Physical description and page length
  • Publisher/press (feel free to Google it!)
  • Date of Publication
  • Language
  • Subject headings/descriptors
  • Chapter titles
  • Notes
  • For tales: Is it original, or a retelling?