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A New Drawing Has Been Discovered!
This new drawing, below, by Patricia Lou was discovered
among the draft illustrations for "The Stump Fairies of Miller
Hill"! It shows how the fairies work as a team to get a huckleberry
lifted up out of the patch.
The stump fairies harvest hundreds of
huckleberries in the fall and process them so they will last through the
winter. The berries are washed, sliced, diced, mashed, juiced, powdered
and then dried so that they can be used in meals during the winter when the ground is covered
with snow.
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About the Artist:
Patricia Lou is both a well-known artist and an art
teacher living in New Mexico. Patricia loves animals and spends much of her time
outside with her horses, dogs, chickens, geese, goats and cats.
These drawings are
copyrighted by Patricia Lou and cannot be used without her permission. You can type your comments to Patricia on the
Feedback
page.
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Patricia Lou did these wonderful drawings of
some of the characters
after she read a draft of "The Stump Fairies of Miller Hill". Patricia's drawings
help to bring out the character in the characters, and we are fortunate enough
to be able to present them to you exactly as she drew them--in color! Please give these images a minute to load!
Mikellandra and her best friend
Trilli met when Trilli was just a hatchling. Mikellandra was out gathering
downy feathers from empty nests when she discovers Trilli. Trilli, who
thinks she is about to be fed, begins to squawk at the top of her lungs!
Fearing that the cuvvy of fairy-hunting nighthawks will come to find out
what the ruckus is all about, Mikellandra sings to Trilli to calm her
down. And that was all it took! Best friends ever since, they try to meet
every other night at the scrub oak across the beaver pond to talk about their
lives. It is important to note that Mikellandra is the only fairy that can
speak the language of the nighthawks, and Trilli is the only nighthawk that
can speak fairy!
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Gallantro is the son of the
clan's leader Molino, and he has already proven that he has valuable leadership
skills. Gallantro is starting to lead missions on his own, and he is
respected and trusted by the members of the stump fairy clan. He is very smart,
he works hard, and he is a fierce flyer with a kind heart.
Gallantro has finished his formal education, and while he doesn't
attend Learning with the fairykids anymore, he spends his nights working
on various tasks in the stump. In his spare time he is putting the
finishing touches on his castle, and at some point in the future he will
take a mate and have his own family.
Gallantro leads the scouting mission to the huckleberry patch in this
first book, and he plays a major role in the harvest. His ability to
remain calm in emergency situations saves the lives of two of the
fairies in the clan, and earns him some special friends!
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In spite of her excellent flying
skills, Mikellandra cannot totally escape a nighthawk ambush. Here she lays battered and broken,
but never fear! Fairy injuries heal with time and treatment!
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Mikellandra is very fond of her
little brother Torron, and she tries to make him feel better when he is
sad! Torron would really like to be able to participate in travels
outside the stump, and he just can't wait to be old enough!
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Boris the wood beetle just can't seem to keep all 6 of his
legs under him, and here we see he has fallen again! While Boris performs the
valuable service of boring chimneys, storage rooms, and other parts of the
stump, he is getting older and less sure of his footing! Molino, the
leader of the clan, surprises Boris with the opportunity to bore his own
private ground level entrance, and Boris is very happy to do it since he
will not have to wander in from the top of the stump ever again!
Boris is happily addicted to Juariza's huckleberry muffins and will
do just about anything to get them!
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Cannabell the black widow is so
very charming and polite, unless she's hungry! Auddie and Dever visit
Cannabell even though they are scared of being charmed into the sticky
part of the web. Cannabell weaves the web slings the fairies use to
transport supplies to and from the stump.
Cannabell is currently between mates, but she has her next one picked
out!
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Diving with Spitz and Sputz the
waterbugs is a favorite fairykid activity in the summer months. With a
healthy coat of beeswax on his skin, Torron can brave the cold water in
the beaver pond. Torron is the champion fairykid diver of the clan, and
he takes every opportunity to practice!
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Celina the chipmunk has just
arrived in the Miller Hill territory with her three little 'munkies. Her mate will be
along soon. Celina made her den in a burrow under a flat rock so she
could stave off predators looking for her young. When her mate arrives,
they will seek quarters in a tree like a normal chipmunk family. Celina
and her 'munkies love huckleberries almost as much as the stump fairies
do!
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Mikellandra has the honor of
entertaining Celina's 'munkies Corleone, Carmine, and Carlito when
Celina has to leave the den. In this drawing, she sings them a song about a gosling and
teaches them to say her name in the fairy language. They've never seen a
fairy before and they can't wait for Mikellandra to visit them again!
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Mikellandra is in a bind, and
she recruits Spike the shrew to help her. Unfortunately, she has to wake
Spike from a deep sleep to ask him to help her get a message to Trilli.
Trilli doesn't speak any dialect of the rodent language, so
Mikellandra must give Spike the message in the fairy language.
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