Five years before the birth of Disneyland, Children's Fairyland opened on the shores of Lake Merritt in Oakland, a 10-acre storybook theme park designed to immerse young children in the world of stories and imagination. Over the years, Fairyland has amused and engaged generations of children and inspired similar storybook parks (including Walt Disney's) around the country. This is the story of Oakland's Fairyland, the little park with an enduring impact. It is a place where books, theater, animals, gentle rides, and creative play offer an alternative to highly commercial and technological entertainments. Through archival photographs, keepsakes, and remembrances, Children's Fairyland offers a behind-the-scenes tour of this remarkable and enchanting place.
Author Randal J. Metz has worked and entertained at Children's Fairyland for 47 years. As a child, he worked at the park as an entertainer and ride operator; his later jobs included recreation specialist, event planner, archivist, and artistic director. He currently serves as director of the park's Open Storybook Puppet Theater, the longest-running children's puppet theater in the United States. In his spare time, he runs the Puppet Company in the San Francisco Bay Area and performs all over California as a professional puppeteer. He has published three books on Fairyland and puppetry.