| 2008 Boys’ Life reading contest winners
Third Place: Tyler Tate, Roseville, Calif. (“Swordbird” by Nancy Yi Fan)
As a kid, did you ever want to write your own book and have it published? I found a great book this year titled “Swordbird” by Nancy Yi Fan. She was 12 years old when she wrote the book. I selected this book to read because a kid wrote it and it was about birds. I like all animal stories, especially ones that have fighting in them.
The story begins when the cardinals and blue jays go to war. They each think the other is responsible for stealing their eggs. On the other side of the forest, the evil owl lord, Turnatt, was building a fort using slave bird labor. He and his army of evil crows were the ones who were actually stealing both the cardinals’ and blue jays’ eggs and eating the eggs. When one of the slave birds escapes, he finds one of the clan members and tells them what is really happening. The cardinals and blue jays make peace and set out on a quest to find Swordbird, the legendary bird that can stop evil. In the end, Swordbird brings peace throughout the land.
This was my favorite book because it was exciting, adventurous and had a good lesson. The lesson was that we should communicate with each other and not resort to violence first. The war occurred because the cardinals and blue jays jumped to conclusions instead of talking to each other and finding out the facts. In the end, their suffering could only be relieved by working together. |