This beautiful story comes from a mini book fairy in Serbia! Thanks to Lidija for sharing this on the Book Fairy Blog.

A quote from Roald Dahl is a great way to open this little blog entry!

I promise you that if somebody had caught me by the shoulder at that moment and said to me, ‘What is your greatest wish in life, little boy? What is your absolute ambition? To be a doctor? A fine musician? A painter? A writer? Or the Lord Chancellor?’ I would have answered without hesitation that my only ambition, my hope, my longing was to have a bike like that and to go whizzing down the hill with no hands on the handlebars. It would be fabulous. It made me tremble just to think about it.

– Roald Dahl, Boy: Tales of Childhood

Raise your hand if, when you were a little kid, you got asked a million times the same question over and over again: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Like your childhood wasn’t already difficult enough with all the big decisions you had to make every day, you now had to think about the future and what you wanted to become. No wonder that children had creative answers often followed by a list of reasons given by their parents why they couldn’t or shouldn’t become one of those things.

A child in Serbia knows what she wants

There were always, however, children that were brave enough to try and convince their parents why their chosen profession made sense. Or those who said they would not settle for one or the other, but pursue their dreams and make them a reality one day. We’ve all heard children choose from a list of possible professions and say that they will be a doctor, a teacher, a businessman, a king of the world, an astronaut, a musician, a bus driver, a painter, a scientist, but to hear a little girl say that she wants to be a book fairy when she grows up, surely warmed our hearts.

It was a nice and warm day when a book fairy in Serbia prepared books she wanted to drop for our #FairyDahlCelebration campaign in September. But this time was special, because she had a little fairy helper, a mini book fairy, to go with her.

A book fairy revelation

They were hiding books when all of a sudden a mini book fairy said:

“Aunty, when I grow up, I want to be a book fairy!”

So our book fairy in Serbia replied: “Well, you know what? You don’t have to wait to grow up to become a book fairy. You are one. You’ve been helping me hide books already.”

“Really? Well, I want to hide more books. What do I need then? I know, I need stickers and I need books. I have a lot of books I read when I was little so I can hide those. How do you buy stickers?”

“Don’t worry about that,” our book fairy in Serbia said. “I will share some stickers with you so you can start right away.”

And so they come back to our book fairy’s home and our mini book fairy is making a list of books in her head that she can hide as soon as she goes back home with her mom. She’ll need at least 10 stickers she says because there is already a long list of books she knows she can hide.

Needless to say that her mother and grandmother weren’t as pleased as her aunt when she arrived home. Our mini book fairy was choosing books and putting stickers on them until late at night, although she had to wake up early to be at school.

We asked this mini book fairy to answer a couple of questions for us. This is what she shared.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

“My name is Sofija and I am 7 years old.”

Why do you want to become a book fairy?

“Because I like to read.”

What do you like the most about the book fairies?

“I like that they hide books for people to find and read.”

Do you have a favourite book?

“Yes, I do. It is called 1000 Why 1000 Because.”

If you could become anything in the world what would you be?

“A doctor, a book fairy and a gymnast.”

Do you know a mini book fairy yourself? Send us an email at bookfairyemail@gmail.com if you would like to share their story!

Ready to become a book fairy?