A warmhearted story with striking illustrations to match. Fanny Agnes is a "sturdy girl" who foresees a prince?or at least the mayor's son?as the man of her dreams. She's even depending on her fairy godmother to provide one for her. But she marries Heber Jensen, a farmer, and they share a life filled with ups and downs, babies, laughter, and love. Finally, when the fairy godmother arrives (several years late), Fanny Agnes has discovered that she doesn't need her anymore?she's found her prince. The characters' expressive, round, cartoonlike faces give form to their personalities. Buehner's farm scenes, so dramatically angled and brilliantly hued in Jerdine Nolen's Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm (Lothrop, 1994), are softer here, with a more muted palette. Especially effective are overhead sky views, such as the scene of the fairy godmother flying over the watermelon patch toward a content Fanny. Fanny's strength is not the epic kind found in a tall-tale heroine like Anne Isaacs's Swamp Angel (Dutton, 1994); hers is strength of character to recognize the dreams that make life worthwhile.?Jane Marino, Scarsdale Public Library, NY Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.