Obnoxious Naledi and the Poppysmic Fairy, by Tracy-Lee Easthorpe

The theme of the story is an unusual English word, which is “Poppysmic”. Poppysmic refers to the noise produced by smacking the lips together.

Naledi is a little girl of 6 years old who is very feisty. She wants to be seen and heard but goes about doing so in a very obnoxious way. She doesn’t know any other way to have her voice heard.

The Poppysmic Fairy is a fairy who has powers to take sounds away. Naledi’s favourite things to do are singing, drumming and her favourite of all time is to make a poppysmic.

The Poppysmic Fairy tries to get Naledi to be quiet so she can teach her a better way of expressing herself without encroaching on others.

Naledi does not want to listen so the Poppysmic Fairy proceeds to take her sounds away, one by one, when Naledi is being particularly obnoxious. Finally, her favourite poppysmic sound is taken away from her.

It is only after this that Naledi is finally ready to be still and listen to what is trying to be taught to her by the fairy. The result is a happy and pleasant Naledi, who learns to let the light inside her shine bright and true by being herself in a respectful manner.

The Poppysmic Fairy is a magical creature

Who visits Naledi with a lesson to teach her

Naledi's obnoxious - and what does that mean?

She's as rude and annoying as ever you've seen

Let's open the book to help the story unfold

A secret lies hidden there in it I'm told...

About the author

Tracy-Lee Easthorpe lives in Johannesburg. This is her first in a series of children's books, the theme being unusual words. Her vision for the book is to spark a curiosity for words, and a love for reading for meaning in a fun way. She believes that we all have a bit of Naledi in us. We all want to be seen and heard and sometimes we need to remind ourselves that we can achieve this just by being our authentic selves. She hopes that the story of Obnoxious Naledi and the Poppysmic Fairy will bring joy, wonder and self-love into the lives of all who read it - little and big people alike.