Friday, November 17, 2017

The Rise of the Phoenix by Suzanne Burke


Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Synopsis:
A fantastic fantasy read for both children and adults! Logan peers into the wardrobe mirror and notices that the phoenix bird symbol on his collar is glowing fiery orange. That night, Logan is transported through his dream to a medieval land of enchanted forests, castles, and dragons. There, he meets a beautiful greyhound named Tess and learns of the 500-year-old mystery of the phoenix! Tess and Logan discover, through King Hywel’s book of secrets, that the phoenix is their only hope of saving the kingdom from certain doom. Can they find Logan’s old wizard friend, who can help decipher the code in the secret book, before a terrifying black mist engulfs the entire kingdom? *Contains illustrations, historical chapters, and educational projects at the end for children to expand their vocabulary and critical thinking skills.

My Thoughts:
Like the other two books in this series, there is so much to love. First, the main character is a greyhound.  I have a group of students who live for books where the main characters are animals. This is a fantasy, and there is so much history involved as well.  The book is a great adventure. There are dragons and wizards, and so much more than middle school kids love to read about. Most importantly this author's book always has something to teach, yet you aren't being preached at.  Middle school is a time when people are judged on so many things by their friends. It is a time of jealousy and bullying. These are issues that are tackled in this book.  In addition to such a great story, we have so much information about greyhounds. You can tell that this is really a passion for this author. I look forward to sharing not only this book with my students but also future books.

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