David and the Phoenix

This 1950s classic makes a wonderful read-aloud for the entire family. It's the only authorized edition which supports the author, Edward Ormondroyd. Included is a Foreword he wrote in 2000 for this Purple House Press edition!

David knew that one should be prepared for anything when one climbs a mountain, but he never dreamed what he would find that June morning on the mountain ledge.

There stood an enormous bird, with a head like an eagle, a neck like a swan and a scarlet crest. The most astonishing thing was that the bird had an open book on the ground and was reading from it!

This was David's first sight of the fabulous Phoenix and the beginning of a pleasant and profitable partnership. The Phoenix found a great deal lacking in David's education-he flunked questions like "How do you tell a true from a false Unicorn?"-and undertook to supplement it with a practical education, an education that would be a preparation for Life. The education had to be combined with offensive and defensive measures against a Scientist who was bent on capturing the Phoenix, but the two projects together involved exciting and hilarious adventures for boy and bird. Illustrated by Joan Raysor.

Preview included, of Time at the Top, also written by Edward Ormondroyd.

A quote from the author's Foreword:

"David and the Phoenix was my first book. I began writing it in the late 1940s when I was a student at the University of California at Berkeley. The kernel of the story popped into my head one day as a vision of a large and pompous bird diving out of a window, tripping on the sill, and crashing into a rose arbor below. Somehow (I'm still mystified by the process) the bird became the Phoenix and the window became a boy's bedroom window. With that settled, all I had to do was invent what happened before and after."

-Edward Ormondroyd

1102025721
David and the Phoenix

This 1950s classic makes a wonderful read-aloud for the entire family. It's the only authorized edition which supports the author, Edward Ormondroyd. Included is a Foreword he wrote in 2000 for this Purple House Press edition!

David knew that one should be prepared for anything when one climbs a mountain, but he never dreamed what he would find that June morning on the mountain ledge.

There stood an enormous bird, with a head like an eagle, a neck like a swan and a scarlet crest. The most astonishing thing was that the bird had an open book on the ground and was reading from it!

This was David's first sight of the fabulous Phoenix and the beginning of a pleasant and profitable partnership. The Phoenix found a great deal lacking in David's education-he flunked questions like "How do you tell a true from a false Unicorn?"-and undertook to supplement it with a practical education, an education that would be a preparation for Life. The education had to be combined with offensive and defensive measures against a Scientist who was bent on capturing the Phoenix, but the two projects together involved exciting and hilarious adventures for boy and bird. Illustrated by Joan Raysor.

Preview included, of Time at the Top, also written by Edward Ormondroyd.

A quote from the author's Foreword:

"David and the Phoenix was my first book. I began writing it in the late 1940s when I was a student at the University of California at Berkeley. The kernel of the story popped into my head one day as a vision of a large and pompous bird diving out of a window, tripping on the sill, and crashing into a rose arbor below. Somehow (I'm still mystified by the process) the bird became the Phoenix and the window became a boy's bedroom window. With that settled, all I had to do was invent what happened before and after."

-Edward Ormondroyd

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David and the Phoenix

David and the Phoenix

David and the Phoenix

David and the Phoenix

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Overview

This 1950s classic makes a wonderful read-aloud for the entire family. It's the only authorized edition which supports the author, Edward Ormondroyd. Included is a Foreword he wrote in 2000 for this Purple House Press edition!

David knew that one should be prepared for anything when one climbs a mountain, but he never dreamed what he would find that June morning on the mountain ledge.

There stood an enormous bird, with a head like an eagle, a neck like a swan and a scarlet crest. The most astonishing thing was that the bird had an open book on the ground and was reading from it!

This was David's first sight of the fabulous Phoenix and the beginning of a pleasant and profitable partnership. The Phoenix found a great deal lacking in David's education-he flunked questions like "How do you tell a true from a false Unicorn?"-and undertook to supplement it with a practical education, an education that would be a preparation for Life. The education had to be combined with offensive and defensive measures against a Scientist who was bent on capturing the Phoenix, but the two projects together involved exciting and hilarious adventures for boy and bird. Illustrated by Joan Raysor.

Preview included, of Time at the Top, also written by Edward Ormondroyd.

A quote from the author's Foreword:

"David and the Phoenix was my first book. I began writing it in the late 1940s when I was a student at the University of California at Berkeley. The kernel of the story popped into my head one day as a vision of a large and pompous bird diving out of a window, tripping on the sill, and crashing into a rose arbor below. Somehow (I'm still mystified by the process) the bird became the Phoenix and the window became a boy's bedroom window. With that settled, all I had to do was invent what happened before and after."

-Edward Ormondroyd


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781930900585
Publisher: Purple House Press
Publication date: 02/14/2021
Pages: 144
Product dimensions: 5.20(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range: 8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Edward Ormondroyd grew up in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, and Ann Arbor, Michigan. During WWII he served onboard a destroyer escort, participating in the invasions of Okinawa and Iwo Jima.

After the war he attended the University of California at Berkeley, where he received a bachelor's degree in English. Later he went back for a master's degree in library science.

He lived in Berkely for 25 years, working at various jobs while he wrote children's books. He and his wife Joan moved to upstate New York in 1970. They live in the country near Ithaca, in a house designed and partly built by Edward. Their seven children are all grown and independent. They have two grandsons and a granddaughter. Edward's interests include studying piano, gardening, books, birds, flowers (wild and tame), and listening to classical music.

What People are Saying About This

Nancy Pearl

The Phoenix leads David on an adventurous journey. (Nancy Pearl, NPR Morning Edition)

Bruce Coville

I adore this book. Rediscovering it was pure delight -- I realized it had had tremendous influence on my own writing.

David Weber

David Weber, New York Times Bestselling Author
Many years ago, a book taught a young boy that imagination and wonder have wings. It was this book -- David and the Phoenix -- and that young boy was me. It was an experience I never plan to recover from.

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