Swordbird

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.

Publishers Weekly

As any fan of Brian Jacques's Redwall saga knows, the forest is teeming with societies of animals that have complicated dynamics. Thirteen-year-old author Yi Fan's debut novel joins the genre with her tale told from the birds' vantage point, translated handily to audio by Delaney. The narrator's steady, assured delivery paints a captivating fantasy world for listeners, replete with feathered heroes and villains. Turnatt, the tyrant hawk, forces his enslaved woodbird subjects to steal eggs and food from both the blue jays and the cardinals, causing the two bird tribes to blame each other and go to war. But when a neutral party reveals Turnatt's plan, the warring factions join forces to seek out the Swordbird, Son of the Great Spirit, the only true hope to help them restore peace. Though listeners may have trouble differentiating Delaney's bird character voices, adventure, action and allegory abound here, helping this recording to take wing. A bonus interview with the author is included. Ages 10-up. (Feb.)

Nancy Yi Fan is the New York Times bestselling author of Swordbird. Her Chinese translation of Swordbird was published in a bilingual edition. Nancy spent the first part of her childhood in China, where she was born in 1993. Birds, a lifelong passion of the author's, provided the inspiration for her novels. When she isn't talking and writing to readers worldwide, Nancy gets straight A's in school, practices martial arts, and takes very good care of her pet lovebirds, Ever-sky, Pandora, and Dippler. She lives in Florida with her parents.