David and the Phoenix Part 20

David and

the Phoenix

Edward Ormondroyd

_Ill.u.s.trated by Joan Raysor_

David knew that one should be prepared for anything when one climbs a mountain, but he never dreamed what he would find that June morning on the mountain ledge.

There stood an enormous bird, with a head like an eagle, a neck like a swan, and a scarlet crest. The most astonis.h.i.+ng thing was that the bird had an open book on the ground and was reading from it!

This was David's first sight of the fabulous Phoenix and the beginning of a pleasant and profitable partners.h.i.+p. The Phoenix found a great deal lacking in David's education--he flunked questions like "How do you tell a true from a false Unicorn?"--and undertook to supplement it with a practical education, an education that would be a preparation for Life. The education had to be combined with offensive and defensive measures against a Scientist who was bent on capturing the Phoenix, but the two projects together involved exciting and hilarious adventures for boy and bird.

A wonderful read-aloud book, adventurous and very funny, with much of the magic as well as the humor of the fantastic.

_Follett Publis.h.i.+ng Company_

_New York_ CHICAGO _Toronto_