Swordbird by Nancy Yi Fan

Title: Swordbird
Author: Nancy Yi Fan
Release Date: January 18, 2007
Publisher: Harper Collins Canada
Format: Hardcover
Number of Pages: 240
Genre: Young Reader 9-12 Fantasy

Summary:
"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." (http://www.harpercollins.ca/books/Swordbird/?isbn=9780061131011)

About the Author:

"Nancy Yi Fan spent the first part of her childhood in China, where she was born in 1993. When she was seven years old, Nancy moved with her parents to the United States and attended American schools. Birds, a life long passion of the author's, provided the inspiration for Swordbird. After awaking from a vivid dream about birds at war, Nancy wrote Swordbird as a way to convey her message of peace to the world." (http://sites.google.com/site/wwwswordbird/swordbird4.htm)



Review:

I have an 11 year old niece and I thought it would be fun for us to read a book together. We stacked up a bunch on the floor and she proceeded to read through the back of all of them and eventually settled on Swordbird. We read it out loud, each taking turns (she is much better at voices and actions than I am.) I really enjoyed this book for two reasons. One, it gave me a chance to spend some time with my niece doing something we both love: reading. Two, this was a fun book. I could not help but constantly remind myself that a CHILD wrote this book. It's still amazing to me. It was a really great adventure story, with many different kinds of birds (some of which neither of us had heard of), lots of action, and times that were happy and/or sad. Overall, it was a fun read and I'm looking forward to when we start reading the sequel, Sword Quest.

I asked my niece for some comments. I apologize for the "modern" speak:

"the dude that died is my favourite bc he risked his life just for his team (Milton.) and i didnt like the names bc they were hard to pronounce and i liked it how the writer changed the words like somebird and things like that. And i liked the settings and how they fought and idk". Spoken like a true child of today! Lol. Thanks for your review!

Happy Reading everyone!!!!

Related Links:

Nancy Yi Fan's website http://sites.google.com/site/wwwswordbird/index.htm

Harper Collins Canada http://www.harpercollins.ca/books/Swordbird/?isbn=9780061131011

amazon.ca http://www.amazon.ca/Swordbird-Nancy-Y-Fan/dp/0061130990/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330024166&sr=1-3
indigo.ca  http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Swordbird-NANCY-YI-FAN/9780061130991-item.html?ikwid=swordbird&ikwsec=Home
readingtoknow.com http://www.readingtoknow.com/2007/11/swordbird-by-nancy-yi-fan.html