Author | Edward Ormondroyd |
---|---|
Illustrator | Joan Raysor |
Cover artist | Raysor |
Genre | Children's fantasy novel, adventure fiction, humor [1] |
Publisher | Follett Publishing Company |
Publication date | October 1, 1957 [2] |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (hardcover), audiobook (2002) |
Pages | 173 pp [1] [3] |
ISBN | 1-930900-00-7 (2000 hardcover ed.) [3] |
LC Class | PZ8.O7 Dav [1] PZ7.O635 Dav 2000 [3] |
David and the Phoenix is a 1957 children's novel about a young boy's adventures with a phoenix. It was the first published book by American children's writer Edward Ormondroyd.
The story focuses on the friendship between the protagonist, David, and the phoenix. David is taught the ways of the mythical world.
David moves to a new house at the base of some beautiful mountains. The next day, rather than settle into the new house, he decides to climb the mountains. Upon reaching the summit, he encounters the Phoenix. They are, at first, frightened of each other, as the Phoenix had been chased by a scientist for several weeks and David had, of course, never seen anything like the Phoenix before. The Phoenix is flattered by David's attentions, though, and decides to educate David about the legendary creatures in the world.
The first adventure in the Phoenix's curriculum for David involves seeing the Gryffins. They first meet a witch who goads the Phoenix into a race. They are captured by the arrogant Gryffons, who sentence the Phoenix to death for bringing humans into their magic world.
They escape, and the Phoenix keeps his appointment with the witch. David returns home to meet the unpleasant scientist visiting his parents. The two friends implement plans to avoid the scientist, firstly by finding some buried treasure with the help of a gruff but friendly sea monster, and spending the gold coins on magic items to foil the scientist's plot to capture the rare bird.
While visiting the magical world to buy necessities, David has a brief adventure with a prankster Leprechaun, meets a cantankerous potion-selling hag, and a faun. The Phoenix rescues David from remaining too long in this world, which could absorb those beings who are not magical.
The Phoenix and David sabotage the scientist's equipment and frighten him into leaving town. The old Phoenix celebrates his 500th birthday, and soon reveals he must "bow to tradition," and build himself a pyre of cinnamon logs. David tearfully complies with his friend's wishes, buying the necessary items from town.
The Scientist shows up and follows David up the mountain trails. The Phoenix is reborn, but as a hatchling, does not yet comprehend its peril. David appeals to the young Phoenix, who dimly recognizes a friend, and flies away to avoid capture. David watches as the old Phoenix's feather changes from blue to gold.
Ormondroyd attended UC Berkeley on the G.I. Bill, taking a Bachelor's degree in English and a masters in Library Science (MLIS). Adopting a largely bohemian lifestyle with his roommates, Ormondroyd remembered his college years as “one of the happiest times of my life.” [4]
After graduating, Ormondroyd was disinclined to pursue a career in academia, preferring to seek various blue-collar jobs. Describing his employment history as “hopelessly mixed in my memory” Ormondroyd worked for a number of industrial enterprises, including a paper processing plant in the Berkeley area, as well as an able-bodied seaman on oil tankers that serviced operations in Alaska and Hawaii. [5] Living in the Berkeley area, Ormondroyd briefly clerked in a bookstore and was “writing not-very-good stories and keeping a journal...It will be no surprise that after library school [MSL] I got a job as a librarian.” [6]
Ormondroyd’s literary magnum opus emerged at college, where he first conceived the plot and characters for David and the Phoenix. Ormondroyd reports that “I’m still surprised that it happened. It was as if the choice made me, rather than the other way around.” [7]
The origins and inspiration for his fantasy character the Phoenix were recalled by Ormandroyd in 2011:
I was walking on the UC Berkeley campus when a vision flashed in my mind of a large bird hurling itself out of an upstairs window and becoming entangled in a rose arbor below. It’s a complete mystery to me where that came from. [8]
Ormondroyd, familiar with the Legend of the Phoenix. attributes his “vision” to a number of literary influences, among them T. H. White’s adventure The Sword in the Stone (1938), while the personality of the Phoenix may have had its origin in the “pompous” Major Hoople, featured in the newspaper cartoon Our Boarding House. David’s adventurous travels perched on the mythical bird’s back were drawn from The Wonderful Adventures of Nils (1907) by Selma Lagerlöf. [9]
Ormondroyd admits that he never documented the precise chronology of his “seven-year” effort writing David and the Phoenix, from its inception in college to its publication by the Follett Publishing Company in 1957, which entailed numerous rejections by publishers, Follett among them initially. [10] During these years, Ormondroyd subsisted in part on his stipend provided under the GI bill. [11]
His agent and editor Muriel Fuller coached Ormondroyd in writing a “leaner” and “better” version of the book. [12]
David and the Phoenix reached a wide audience when it was included in Weekly Reader Book Club and was awarded the silver medal for best juvenile story of 1957. [13]
This book enjoyed a resurgence of popularity early in the 2000s in the wake of Harry Potter and the filming of Roald Dahl novels. As of October 2005, there had been negotiations between the author and a private animation-film company to produce a feature-length "David and the Phoenix" screen adaptation. [ needs update ]
In 2002 Full Cast Audio released an unabridged [a] recording of the novel read by a cast of ten actors and Ormondroyd as the narrator. The production was hailed by AudioFile magazine, which said, "Every line of the book's warmth, humor, and gentleness comes to life in [Full Cast founder] Bruce Coville's superb multicast production."[ citation needed ]
A 1967 Dark Shadows storyline featuring Laura Collins (Diana Millay), apparently a woman, but in actuality a phoenix, who tries to lay claim to a nine-year-old boy named David. Fans had speculated that this might have been inspired by the book. To date, it is unknown if writer Malcolm Marmorstein publicly addressed this.
David Weber used the book as a recurring motif in the Honor Harrington novel At All Costs (2005), with a brief footnote about his own childhood love for the book. The original cover of At All Costs shows Honor Harrington reading from David and the Phoenix to her infant son Raoul. Weber's 2010 novel Out of the Dark also mentions the book as a favorite of one of the main characters' children.
Douglas Noel Adams was an English author, humourist, and screenwriter, best known as the creator of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (HHGTTG). Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy developed into a "trilogy" of five books which sold more than 15 million copies in his lifetime. It was further developed into a television series, several stage plays, comics, a video game, and a 2005 feature film. Adams's contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academy's Hall of Fame.
The Chronicles of Amber is a series of fantasy novels by American writer Roger Zelazny. The main series consists of two story arcs, each five novels in length. Additionally, there are a number of Amber short stories and other works. While Zelazny's will expressly forbade sequels by other authors, four posthumous prequels authorized by Zelazny's family were authored by John Gregory Betancourt.
The Adventures of Luther Arkwright is a comic book limited series written and drawn by Bryan Talbot in the period 1978–1989. The story is adult in tone, with many mythological, historical, and political references, and a little explicit sex.
The BFG is a 1982 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. It is an expansion of a short story from Dahl's 1975 novel Danny, the Champion of the World. The book is dedicated to Dahl's oldest daughter, Olivia, who had died of measles encephalitis at the age of seven in 1962.
The Secret Adversary is the second published detective fiction novel by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in January 1922 in the United Kingdom by The Bodley Head and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company later in that same year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $1.75.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a fantasy novel written by the British author J. K. Rowling. It is the seventh and final novel in the Harry Potter series. It was released on 21 July 2007 in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury Publishing, in the United States by Scholastic, and in Canada by Raincoast Books. The novel chronicles the events directly following Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005) and the final confrontation between the wizards Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort.
The Dark Tower is a series of eight novels, one novella, and a children's book written by American author Stephen King. Incorporating themes from multiple genres, including dark fantasy, science fantasy, horror, and Western, it describes a "gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. The series, and its use of the Dark Tower, expands upon Stephen King's multiverse and in doing so, links together many of his other novels.
The New Series Adventures are a series of novels relating to the long-running BBC science fiction television series, Doctor Who. The 'NSAs', as they are often referred to, are published by BBC Books, and are regularly published twice a year. Beginning with the Tenth Doctor, a series of 'Quick Reads' have also been available, published once a year. With exception to the Quick Reads, all of the NSAs have been published in hardcover to begin with, and have been reprinted in paperback for boxed collections that are exclusive to The Book People and Tesco. Some of the reprints amend pictures of the companion of the novel from the cover. Some of the hardback editions have also been reprinted to amend pictures of Rose.
Swallows and Amazons is a children's adventure novel by English author Arthur Ransome first published on 21 July 1930 by Jonathan Cape. Set in the summer of 1929 in the Lake District, the book introduces the main characters of John, Susan, Titty and Roger Walker (Swallows); as well as their mother, Mary; and their baby sister, Bridget. We also meet Nancy and Peggy Blackett (Amazons); their uncle Jim, commonly referred to as Captain Flint; and their widowed mother, Molly Blackett. It is the first book in the Swallows and Amazons series, followed by Swallowdale.
Lancer Books was a publisher of paperback books founded by Irwin Stein and Walter Zacharius that operated from 1961 through 1973. While it published stories of a number of genres, it was noted most for its science fiction and fantasy, particularly its series of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian tales, the first publication of many in paperback format. It published the controversial novel Candy by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg, and Ted Mark's ribald series The Man from O.R.G.Y. Lancer paperbacks had a distinctive appearance, many bearing mauve or green page edging.
Twig is a children's fantasy novel written and illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones. It was originally published by Macmillan in 1942. The book was reissued in a 60th Anniversary Edition by Purple House Press in 2002.
Triple Jeopardy is a collection of Nero Wolfe mystery novellas by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1952. Itself collected in the omnibus volume Kings Full of Aces, the book comprises three stories that first appeared in The American Magazine:
Tunnels is a subterranean fiction novel by British authors Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams. It was initially self-published as The Highfield Mole in 2005, and re-released as Tunnels by The Chicken House in 2007. The story follows Will Burrows, a 14-year-old 'archaeologist', who stumbles upon an underground civilization called The Colony. Will and his friend Chester flee The Colony and set out to find Will's father, in the Deeps, a place even deeper in the Earth than The Colony.
Edward Ormondroyd is an American writer of children's books. He is best known for David and the Phoenix, a fantasy novel. His time travel novel Time at the Top was filmed for television in 1999.
The Faerie Wars Chronicles is a fantasy action young adult novel series written by James Herbert Brennan. The first book in the series, Faerie Wars was published in the United Kingdom in February 2003 by Bloomsbury Publishing. As of 2011, there are five books in the ongoing series.
Purple House Press is a publishing house based in Cynthiana, Kentucky. Founded in 2000 by former software engineer Jill Morgan, it specializes in bringing out-of-print children's books back into print.
The Patriots novel series is a five-novel series by survivalist novelist and former U.S. Army officer and blogger, James Wesley Rawles. It is followed by his Counter-Caliphate Chronicles novel series.
Out of the Dark is an alien invasion science fiction novel by David Weber released by Tor Books on September 28, 2010. It is an extended version of the short story of the same name published in the 2010 anthology Warriors edited by Gardner Dozois and George R. R. Martin. A sequel, titled Into the Light, was published more than a decade later in January 2021. The third book in the series, To Challenge Heaven was released on January 16, 2024.
"The Cop-Killer" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published as "The Cop Killer" in the February 1951 issue of The American Magazine. It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection Triple Jeopardy, published by the Viking Press in 1952.