Customer Reviews

David and the Phoenix

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

My husband made me read this, when he re-discovered his copy on his parents' bookshelf. Thereafter, I read it to every third grade class I taught for 15 years, and my husband, David, read it to our two boys. My classes did drawings of the action while the characters came to life in their minds. Wonderful! The fantasy is embellished with wonderful drama, emotion, and vocabulary to enrich one's life. I still think about the Griffens and Griffons sometimes, and frequently miss the antics of the ever-loveable Phoenix.

I first read "David and the Phoenix" in 1958 when it became a selection of the Weekly Reader Chilren's Book Club. I loved it then and I love it still. I cannot think of another book which quite so filled me with a sense of wonder. Edward Ormondroyd's vivid descriptions paint bright scenes of characters and places in the reader's imagination. It is the kind of book that a child takes to heart, where it very well may remain ever after. I know that, even before reading the recently reprinted edition, I could recount virtually every episode in the tale, with Joan Raysor's simple pen sketches still providing the framework for my mind's eye recreation of the story. The book is full of humor, adventure, wonder, and gentle wisdom. This is a genuine classic of imaginative children's literature.

This is THE book! This is the book that made this boy fall in love with reading over 40 years ago. This book was my first love. This book has never left my memory. It is as though I read it yesterday. This is the book which filled this 10 year-old with wonder and thrills. This book was the first piece of art that made me cry. Read this book to your children or grandchildren... or better yet let them read it themselves... but don't be surprised if they can't put it down and read in bed under the covers with a flashlight when they are supposed to be sleeping. Through the years I have met so many of my contemporaries who fell in love with this book and have never forgotten it. One doctor who had read it suggested that it helps children of that age deal with their questions about life and death. After reading the first two Harry Potter books I am convinced that Rowling must have read this book. Be sure to read the reviews of this book in the "Out of Print" section of amazon.com. You'll see the impact that this book has. The people who read and were moved by this book brought it back into print through the internet reviews, auctions and rare book sites. If you have a 9-12 year old child buy them this book. Thank you Purple House Press for listening and bringing this book back into print after 40+ years. Thank you so much, Edward Ormondroyd!

The reviews for "David and the Phoenix" are associated with a number of different imprints of the book available from different Publishers. Unfortunately, some Publishers are unethical to an extreme. A classic example is the reprint published by Books LLC, for which this one star review is reserved.

Books LLC do Print-On-Demand (nothing wrong with that) but the Books LLC version has been put together using automated OCR scanning with NO editing and no quality control whatsover. As some reviwers who've been unfortunate enough to be scammed into buying the Books LLC version have commented, the text is poorly formatted, virtually unreadable in places, there's numerous errors and no chapter headings and certainly no illustrations.

If you read the Books LLC website, you'll see that there, they clearly state there's no editing, the OCR scanning is done by a robot, there may be missing pages, numerous typos can be expected, there are no illustrations, no table of contents etc etc etc. In other words, the Books LLC version is very poor quality el cheapo reprint for much the same price as far better imprints. Your money is far better spent on a good quality imprint of the book. Even second hand is better than the Books LLC rubbish.

"The Phoenix caught David's glance, cleared his throat several times, and looked apologetically at the Sea Monster. `Monster, old chap,' he said soothingly, `I am deeply sorry for having doubted you just now. Deeply sorry.'

`Quite all right.' said the Sea Monster stiffly.

`Yes,' the Phoenix continued, `we both know that you have passed through perilous times, through dangers which (I must confess) would have left me a shattered wreck.'

The Sea Monster sighed sadly, but its whiskers were beginning to rise again."

David has just moved with his family to a new home at the base of a mountain, and he can't wait to explore its heights. While wandering the mountain, he comes upon the Phoenix, a man-sized bird who loves cinnamon and mangles his latin studies. While the Phoenix resists the idea, he soon agrees to give David lessons in life.

This is a great story, because much of it is lighthearted and silly, but then suddenly a very forbidding element enters in the form of the Scientist, who is intent on capturing the Phoenix for his own evil purposes. The book is unexpectedly bittersweet, which makes it very gripping emotionally.

The language is clean and crisp, and the author obviously has fun with the stodgy old bird who uses british phraseology and is comically indignant whenever he is offended.

Another nice touch is the chapter names, which are teasers for what is to come. For example, one chapter is "8, In Which David and the Phoenix Visit a Banshee, and a Surprise is Planted in the Enemies Camp." I wish all children's authors would include names for their chapters; when I was a boy, I distinctly preferred them, as they just seemed to add a bit of flavor to the text.

This is a great read that any young reader will enjoy.

This was my favorite book growing up. Hands down. (2nd place was "Follow the Leader" by James Garfield.) I was probably eight or nine when I first read it over 40 years ago. I have a copy somewhere in the house (yellow hard back if I remember). I was curious to see if it was still in print. After all these years for some reason the book entered my thoughts tonight - and I was amazed to see this book rereleased just this past week. What kind of "magic" does Mr. Ormondroyd perform on his readers? Does he reach out telepathically to his (now much older) young readers? Wouldn't surprise me - what with the hold this book had on me for years and years. See, this kid moves into a new house and finds that a mountain exits right in his own backyard. He's just got to climb that mountain and what he finds when he gets to the top...You'll just have to read this book. It begs to be read aloud to children. My youngest boy, Jesse, is eleven and I've got to dig out my old copy to read to him...better yet, I think I'll plunk down the cash on the limited edition. My way of directly thanking the author for the hours of pleasure he gave to me so many years ago.

Please everyone, consider buying the classic edition (ISBN 1930900015) of David and the Phoenix which we (Purple House Press) republished in 2001 :) It is the ONLY authorized edition in which Edward Ormondroyd (the author!) receives royalties, AND the pages are a facsimile of the original 1957 text including all of the illustrations by Joan Raysor! David and the Phoenix

I read this book when I was 9 years old....I am now 49...Like so many people on this list I thought I was alone in my ardor for this magical story. I was also suprised to find some similar threads in the Harry Potter books...the philosophers stone..the phoenix and the cast of mythological characters...who is this Ormondroyd?

I have an original 1958 copy of the Weekly Reader hardcover by Ormandroyd,from my childhood.I recently began reading it to my youngest child,who has never shown much interest in chapter books.Now he is relentlessly begging for just "One more chapter please".I am enjoying rereading what was one of my very favorite childhood books and am delighted that my son can't wait for me to read him the next chapter.After the first 3 chapters my son noticed the "In which the ..." beginning of each chapter title, and we started joking about it with me saying to him "In which it was time to turn off the light and go to sleep" I am curious whether Ed Ormondroyd was an Ornithologist in real life.I wish he had continued the series,I did and do love the book.

This book is dearer to me than any other I've ever read. It was recommended to me by my best friend when I was in sixth grade (1964). I was an avid reader, even as a child, and this was the first book ever to make me cry. As I grew to adulthood, I forgot all about it. Then one day I found myself in Acres of Books, the most amazingly cavernous used book store located in Long Beach, CA. I wandered into the youth fiction area, and suddenly the title came back to me. I knew I had to find that book again, but the books were arranged by author name, and I had no idea who wrote it. I determined I would comb the shelves, book by book, until I found it -- when I literally looked up and there it was in front of me! -- with no dust jacket, just a faded yellow hard cover. I immediately purchased it. Later that summer, as I was on a weekend campout with the Girl Scout troop I led (the girls, including my daughter, were probably 9 & 10), I decided to read it to them. I read half of it the first night, and the other half the second night. Those who were still awake when we finished shed tears as I did while reading. It was a great experience. I later gave the book away to the now-adult friend who had originally recommended it to me. She was thrilled, and still has it. Today I just ordered another copy -- a limited edition hard cover, signed by the author. I hope to read it to my grandchildren some day.