As I watched, the ash beneath the logs began to stir. Flashes of colour glowed through the grey: red, gold, purple, emerald, like jewels…Something was moving in the embers. A bird with a tail like sunrise. I watched it step right out of the embers and preen itself.
When Tashi’s Uncle lands the family in trouble, Tashi is furious. But when he meets a phoenix, he thinks it might be the answer to the family’s problems. But will the phoenix land the family in more trouble when it escapes?
Tashi and the phoenix is the fifteenth title in the Tashi series, aimed at primary school aged readers. As with its predecessors, it contains a story within a story as the happenings in the boy Jack’s family inspire a story form Tashi about life in his village.
Tashi’s adventures this time around include an encounter with a phoenix and a mission to save a hoity princess from an unwelcome marriage. Tashi’s solutions are always clever and entertaining.
Young fans will enjoy this new pair of adventures as much as the previous ones – and they will also appeal to those who are new to the series.
Tashi and the Phoenix, by Anna Fienberg and Barabare Feinberg, illustrated by Kim Gamble
Allen & Unwin, 2008
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