The Stump Fairies of Miller Hill by Kelly Michal is the first work in a website-supported series of stories detailing the lives and activities of fairy clans in various habitats. Packed with interesting and memorable wildlife characters, this book is sure to attract readers from the children’s, educational, action/adventure, animals/pets, and religious/spiritual markets.

It is intended for young children as a read-aloud or for 8-12 year olds as a first chapter book. It is also suitable for young adults or adults working to develop their reading skills and vocabulary.

The work consists of approximately 25,000 words in ten chapters. It is an environmentally educational adventure loaded with memorable characters, and the story proceeds with a moral and ethical approach to community, ecology, conservation, and nature.

Readers can visit http://stumpfairies.com for photographs of some of the real-life counterparts of the characters, drawings and maps of the characters and surrounding habitat, and previews of new work in the series. Reader feedback will be collected as well.

Kelly Michal is a freelance writer with a love for the natural environment and all of the wild things in it. Kelly is educated in the field of environmental science and spends some of her free time educating children and adults in the areas of wildlife conservation and management, wildlife identification, and outdoor skills. She works in environmental chemistry and lives in New Mexico. This is her first book for children.

Early most mornings before it was light, Spitz and Sputz would paddle up to the edge of the lake and give the fairykids rides on their broad, rounded backs. The fairykids had been at Learning, and the games with the water bugs were a special treat before they went home for the day. Divina, Landra and Torron and all their friends had contests to see who could remain intact on Sputz's back when he dove to the bottom of the pond. Torron was very proud to be the reigning fairykid champion.

A dive with the water beetles required a hefty film of beeswax all over the skin to protect fairy skin from the cold water. Even in the summer, the water in the pond was very cold, and the beeswax helped insulate the delicate fairies from the frigid temperatures.

The Hill's honeybees, led by Buzzina the Queen of Valley Hive, lived in the fallen log across the meadow to the west. Buzzina and her crew of workers provided the wax for the fairies in return for small bags of pollen from the flower of the yellow fritillary, which was the sweetest and most coveted of all pollen. Only the fairies were small enough to slip inside the narrow opening of the drooping lily bloom, so they gathered the tiny, yellow spheres for the bees when it was produced in the summer.

Mikellandra flew lakeside first to check on Torron. When she saw he was engaged in his favorite sport of waterbug rodeo, she flew into the fungi forest to practice her flight maneuvers.

She whizzed around and around through the forest, practicing rapid stops and tight corners. Fairies could move their wings independently, so they could steer themselves very well if they were strong. She was perhaps the strongest flyer of her class, and wanted more than anything to be allowed to go on important journeys with the elder fairies.

She wanted to see the country and learn of the world and she was working hard to get ready for when that time came. When she was thoroughly exhausted, she flew over to the edge of the lake to watch the games. With her legs crossed in front of her, she caught her breath with big gasps of the cool nighttime air.

'Want a ride, Torron?' Spitz gurgled into the water. 'C'mon, get on!'

Torron made sure his skin was evenly smeared with the beeswax, and straddled the black back of the waterbug with both legs sticking straight out. He waited for the countdown. 'I'm ready, tell me when!'