This book is dedicated to all the children out there who feel like misfits, or like they don't belong.

Preview audio:

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Once upon a time, there lived a young fairy. Her name was Nerida. She was a flying talent fairy, and she lived a simple life, living by herself in Willowton. She had a little home in the middle of a giant oak tree, and more than enough food and water. She was happy. Well, happy enough for her circumstances.

Nerida wasn't a very talkative fairy, and she only had a few friends. One of them was a flying talent fairy, like Nerida herself.

Now, there is something you should know about Nerida.

She was afraid of heights. And for a creature who was supposed to fly all the time, it made some problems...

Nerida was once talking with her friend, Trixie. She told Trixie that she had heard about a high flying race.

"Really?" said Trixie.

"Yeah. But I'm too scared to enter. I hate flying!" She told her friend.

"You're just making that up. We're fast flying talent fairies, which means we love flying."

"Not really." said Nerida.

"Of course it does. Now I'm gonna go sign us up! See you at the race."

Nerida opened her mouth to say no, but Trixie had already left. And Nerida knew something Trixie didn't. There was a thirty berry cancellation fee!

The next morning, Nerida woke up with a bad feeling. She had promised herself she would go practice, but she knew something was going to go wrong. But she had to do this, so she got up, put on her clothes, and walked to the flying practice arena.

She was headed there when she ran into her friends, or more like her enemies. She kept her head low, and tried to ignore them, but they began to tease her.

"Hey there Scaredy Nerdi! Nerdi the scaredy bug can't fly, Nerdi the scaredy bug can't even try."

"Please don't call me that," Nerida said, but they just flew away laughing.

Nerida wiped her eyes and started to practice.

Nerida's practice was going great. She was actually flying for once and she was good at it, too. She had almost finished when one of her not-so-friends flew next to her.

"Nerdi the scaredy bug can't even fly, Nerdi the scaredy bug can't even try."

Nerdia felt herself loose confidence.

"Please don't say that, it's not helping!" Nerdia felt her wings start to give out, and she began to feel scared.

Nerida's not-so-friends laughed. They kept chanting their mean little rhyme. Nerida's wings gave out. She screamed as she went tumbling down into the bushes below her.

Nerida sat up in the bushes, upset.

"I can't fly! I can't now, and I never will be able to!"

Nerida's friend Trixie, who had been flying nearby, rushed over.

"Nerdia? What's wrong?" Trixie asked.

"I fell. I can't fly at all! I'm going to make a fool of myself." Nerida wiped her eyes.

Trixie smiled. "You'll do great. Now, the race is tomorrow. Good luck!" Trixie flew away.

Nerida stood up and brushed off her dress. "Great. I guess I'm going to race and mess up in front of all of Willowton tomorrow."

Nerida flapped her wings, and carefully flew home.

Nerida got home and tucked herself into bed.

She watched as the sun set, and she slowly fell asleep...

The next day Nerida woke up and practiced flying around her room before breakfast. She did jumping jacks and push-ups. She ate her favorite fruit, strawberries. She put on her flying dress. She grabbed her bag with snacks, an extra dress, and water in it. She was ready.

Nerida flew to the competition. She followed the crowds to the check-in desk. She signed in, and got her number. "Great." She sighed. She was number 13, the most unlucky number ever.

She pinned it onto her dress, set her bag down, and fluttered over to the starting line.

Nerida took her place with the rest of the fairies.

The announcer began to count down the seconds until the race started. "10...9...8..." Nerida got ready to go.

"7...6...5..." Nerida flapped her wings.

"4...3...2..." Nerida leaned forward.

"1!" All the fairies took off.

Trixie flew over to Nerida. "You ready to do this?"

Nerida shook her head.

"Great! Now, don't feel bad if I get ahead of you. I'm not leaving you. I just want to win." Trixie smiled.

Nerida took a deep breath. "Okay. Good luck..."

The race was going great! Nerida wasn't that far behind the crowd, and she was totally confident. Trixie had left Nerida behind, but she wasn't worried.