Swordbird (Swordbird, 1) - Softcover

Fan, Nancy Yi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061131016 ISBN 13: 9780061131011

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2008

Synopsis

The blue jays and cardinals of Stone-Run Forest have turned against each other. According to legend, only Swordbird, son of the Great Spirit, has the power to conquer evil and restore peace to the land.

Teenage author Nancy Yi Fan weaves a captivating tale about the heroism, courage, and resourcefulness in the birds of Stone-Run's quest for peace.

About this title

About the Author:

Nancy Yi Fan is the New York Times bestselling author of Swordbird and Sword Quest. She appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show as one of the World's Smartest Kids and on The Martha Stewart Show. Nancy spent part of her childhood in China, where she was born in 1993. Birds have been a lifelong passion of hers and provided the inspiration for her novels. She began writing her first novel, Swordbird, when she was eleven years old. Nancy attends Harvard University.

Mark Zug has illustrated many collectible card games, including Magic: The Gathering and Dune, as well as books and magazines. He lives in Pennsylvania.

From Publishers Weekly:

Yi Fan's tightly woven story delivers a manifest message promoting peace and freedom. Starring woodland bird characters, the saga pits the tyrannical hawk Turnatt, captor of "slavebirds" whom he shackles and puts to work building his fortress, against the cardinals and blue jays. Though once friendly, these two benign flocks are now at war: Turnatt's soldiers have stolen eggs and food from each flock (the hawk eats a purloined egg daily, believing this will "keep death away"), and have led each camp to believe the other is responsible for the thefts. One of the slavebirds, a robin named Miltin, escapes to tell Aska, a brave young jay, about Turnatt's evil doings and his plan to enslave all the local woodbirds. Blue jays and cardinals join forces to vanquish the despot, a mission that entails several diverting twists, including a search for the necessary elements to summon the Swordbird, the "mystical white bird, the son of the Great Spirit." The author occasionally relieves the tale's ample tension with snippets of humor. While feasting with a traveling troupe of winged thespians, for instance, the cardinals and blue jays drive away Turnatt's marauding forces by bombarding them with bean soup and raspberry pies. Experienced readers will recognize the familiar allegory here, but the book will likely appeal to Redwall fans, and this young writer is worth watching. Ages 8-12. (Feb.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0061131016
• ISBN 13: 9780061131011
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256
• Illustrator: Zug Mark