Whenever I’m asked about the inspiration for my middle-grade Zahra of the Uwharries series, my thoughts drift to childhood as I explain that hikes with my dad planted the first seeds. We lived smack dab in the middle of the “sticks”—as my New York cousins described it—in the mountains of northern New Jersey.
My dad was an avid hiker who loved and appreciated nature. Going for a walk after supper meant walking up the pipeline—a swath of clearing along the mountain ridge where we lived—or along a scenic stretch on the Appalachian Trail. Saturdays often found us making the trek to Surprise Lake or exploring a trail in the Catskills.
“Why are we walking up those trails in the woods?” I’d ask as my dad laced up my size-three hiking boots and then filled his canteens with water embellished with a squirt or two of lemon juice.
“When we get to the top, it will be worth it,” he’d say. “The views are incredible.”
Walking up and down mountain slopes several paces behind my dad, I would gaze at the trees. My eyes would focus on leaves, branches, bark, and knotholes. I’d scan the underbrush and rocks for tiny fairy-elves that may be watching and reporting back to my mom about my behavior—she had me convinced tiny fairy-elf creatures were always just out of eyesight, taking copious notes on my good and bad deeds.
Then we’d finally reach the peak, where he promised we could sit and eat our sandwiches. But standing there with my dad, food was the last thing I thought of as we gazed at the mountainscapes from the pinnacle. The views were more than incredible. They were magical.
My love for hiking and observing nature followed me into adulthood and south into North Carolina. Though I live within the city limits of our town, my cousins would still label my lifestyle as rural. Meanwhile, I continue to seek out beautiful places to hike—like the Birkhead Mountains Wilderness. I’ve hiked its seven-mile loop many times.
There are places within the Birkhead Mountains Wilderness that are as magical as that first mountaintop view my dad shared with me. As I took notice of trees with knotholes, jutting rock formations, and quartz-covered paths, the imagination of a little girl who loved to hike with her dad awakened.
On the trail and off, questions began to nag at my brain. What lives in the knotholes besides squirrels or birds? Is there a woodland creature that may be kind of like a human, but small enough to live inside a knothole? A sprite-like creature that is not taking notes on the behavior of children? Maybe this woodland creature is a child?
Then my thoughts drifted to what the young creature looked like—legs like a frog, but the dainty hands of a fairy. But she isn’t a fairy—she’s a scraebin, which is a word I made up during a post-hike brainstorming session with myself.
On the walls of my home office, I posted pictures of trees with knotholes and the majestic rock formations from my hikes. A sticky-note with the word “scraebin” was stuck to the wall between the printed photos.
Then, early one morning, when it was still completely dark outside, I woke up with the first scene I would write for Society of the Sentinelia. I still didn’t know Zahra’s name, but I knew she was 11 years old and had to approach a giant 11-year-old human to solicit help to find her family. I knew she ended up separated from her family after the tree where they lived was destroyed by construction workers clearing land for a house being built for humans.
The inspiration for the series, which includes Society of the Sentinelia (2022), Blind Fairy (2023), Omega Crag (2024), KIMIMILA RETURNS (May 2025), and CRIMSON EAGLE (2026), came from a lifetime love of nature and whimsy instilled by my parents. Set in the Birkhead Mountains Wilderness of central North Carolina, the books chronicle the hero’s journey of Zahra, an adolescent sprite-like “scraebin” who discovers she is tasked with saving her species—and possibly all of Earth’s creatures.
This middle-grade series marks the apex of a journey that began with a pair of size-three hiking boots on a little girl who followed her dad up and down the trails chasing the promise of an incredible view that would be etched in her heart forever.
Micki Bare is a graduate of NC State University, where she earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s of Arts. She is the author of the award-winning Zahra of the Uwharries middle-grade magical realism series, which includes Society of the Sentinelia (2022), winner of the 2022 AAUW NC Young People’s Literature Award; Blind Fairy (2023), winner of the 2023 AAUW NC Young People’s Literature Award; and Omega Crag (2024), which was named a Golden Wizard Book Prize book for 2024. The fourth book in the series, KIMIMILA RETURNS, will be released in May. The final book in the series, CRIMSON EAGLE, will be released in 2026. Bare was a columnist for 18 years. Her educational career spans three decades, with service as an administrator, marketing director, and teacher. Bare lives in NC with her husband. She loves to garden, read, cook, travel, and hike.