Christopher Robin’s Review of The Power Of Wonder And Whimsy and The Unwanted Fairy

I surround myself with unicorns, fairies, toys and shiny things, because the child inside asks for these things, because the child inside has been wounded. In that vein, Henares has written a book for the wounded child she once was. The process of writing is that we, as writers, are forced to reach for things inside of us that are difficult to face and examine. Some writers are unable to transcend their pain, trauma and tragedies, instead they implode, they commit suicide, they leave us too early. But to find a writer with talent, a compelling story to tell, and a strong will to survive, that can be one beautiful combo. To help herself heal from childhood trauma, This wonderful little book is full of hope and even a little humor through the darkest times. Her literary heroes and friends help her carry on and she pays homage to them. Once I asked her, after learning of her brutal past, “how are you still on the planet?” And she answered me that she simply writes, and that she has been writing through her pain since she was eight-years old. In this book she strives to regain her lost innocence, “to find the words to write god into existence.” As I struggle with the death and dying of those around me, her book has become a source of comfort. Poems are prayers for her, they are mantras…“Sin Fronteras: Dream of Ocana,” is evocative of a Beat poem: “and all those who live or have ever lived in the rapture of rhythm and poetry around the world sin fronteras!” Her words are never a cry for help or a pity-party. No, the words in this book, set in the 1980’s, are crying out for shelter and protection, something she never got. She weaves in the political climate of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, adding family dynamics and growing up in the Catholic Church. She also writes about pop culture, and movies that have kept her alive over the years: “Drag queens empowered not just the queer community, but everyone,” (About her favorite movie Too Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar). She also visits her Andalusian heritage and writes about her family members, past and present. The last ten pages are the reprinted pages of an illustrated story she wrote in 1984, “The Unwanted Fairy.” I don’t want to give away the ending, but I believe strongly that the haters will lose and the Fairy Princess will kick their asses!

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