Fairyland
#3064.02 of 664 ranked universes · full ranking
Books 5 books Status Complete 2011–2016 Reading commitment Medium Catherynne M. Valente Last reviewed 2026-08-18
Overview
September, a bored twelve-year-old girl from Nebraska, is swept away by the Green Wind to Fairyland, a whimsical and perilous realm where she befriends a Wyverary (half wyvern, half library) and a marid, defies a tyrannical Marquess, and returns across four more books to a Fairyland that keeps changing as she grows up alongside it. Catherynne Valente's 5-novel portal fantasy sequence.
Portal fantasy, Fairy-tale retelling · For Middle grade
Core Canon: Reading Order (5 works) counts toward ranking
The Fairyland Series Catherynne M. Valente
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making | 2011 | 1 | core | 3.95 (41,882 ratings) |
 | The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There | 2012 | 2 | core | 4.17 (10,662 ratings) |
 | The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two | 2013 | 3 | core | 4.01 (5,648 ratings) |
 | The Boy Who Lost Fairyland | 2015 | 4 | core | 4.16 (2,922 ratings) |
 | The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home | 2016 | 5 | core | 4.47 (2,279 ratings) |
The 5-novel Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan) core sequence, 2011-2016.
Library / Expanded (1 work)
- The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland -- For a Little While (2011) ; Tor.com companion novella/interstitial piece.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Fairyland? Fairyland's Core Canon is 5 books, plus 1 more in the wider Library/Expanded material.
- What is the reading order for Fairyland? Publication order, starting with The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Fairyland finished? Complete (2011–2016).
- How much reading does Fairyland take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 5 Core Canon books · ~1,296 pages).
- How is Fairyland ranked? #306 of 664 ranked universes on this site, based on 63,393 reader ratings across 5 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #306?
Ranked #306 of 664 ranked universes.
- Average reader rating of 4.02 across 5 core books.
- A smaller readership (63,393 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Uneven reception: its books range from 3.95 to 4.47.
- Less than 0.01 behind #305, Myth Adventures (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 5 books · Complete · 63k ratings · Ranks #306 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length portal fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (5 Core Canon books)
- The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (2011)
- The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There (2012)
- The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two (2013)
- The Boy Who Lost Fairyland (2015)
- The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home (2016)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- Andre Norton Award (Best Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book), 2009: won: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making; Won by the original 2009 self-published serialized version of book 1, not the 2011 Feiwel & Friends print edition; SFWA's own award-year convention names the award by eligibility year, with the ceremony held in 2010.
- Mythopoeic Fantasy Award (Children's Literature), 2012: finalist: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what Fairyland and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Magisterium Portal fantasy / Epic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.03
- Time Quintet Portal fantasy / Mythic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 3.98
- Inkheart Portal fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 3.94
- Hamster Princess Fairy-tale retelling / Comic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.23
Official resources
- SFWA: Andre Norton Award archive
- The Mythopoeic Society: 2012 Mythopoeic Awards
- Wikipedia: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.02 across 63,393 ratings on 5 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Fairyland series admitted; Core Canon = the 5-novel sequence accepted 2026-08-18
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-08-18
Rule: Core = all 5 novels in the sequence (2011-2016). Expanded = the 2011 Tor.com companion novella. The original, 2009 self-published serialized version of book 1 -- textually distinct from, and the direct ancestor of, the 2011 print edition registered here -- is the version that won the Andre Norton Award.