The story behind the publication of Nancy Yi Fan's Swordbird is nearly as enthralling as the book itself. A Chinese-born preteen living in New York, Fan channeled her lifelong fascination with birds and her concerns over war and terrorism into an exuberant sword-and-sorcery-styled fantasy two years in the writing. She then emailed the completed manuscript to HarperCollins…and the rest, as they say, is history. This allegorical tale of warring birds and their struggle for freedom has attracted an unusual measure of attention because of the author's young age. But there is nothing childish about Fan's innate gift for pacing, characterization, or storytelling. We predict many more successes for this talented prodigy.
The first book of the Warriors series, Into the Wild, was published back in 2003, and there are huge numbers of fans who welcome every new book (Thunder and Shadow, second in the Vision of Shadows series, comes out on September 6th). There are, in fact, so very many Warriors books that they can keep […]