Crafts and Mythical Creatures

Before we move on to our April book, I wanted to share a few online resources related to Flight of the Phoenix.

If you're up for some crafts try making a small magnetic compass or a compass rose.

For more information on Mythical Beasts visit:

• An A to Z listing of Mythical Beasts
• American Museum of Natural History: Mythic Creatures - check out the Mythic Mystery Map!
• Dave's Mythical Creatures and Places
• Enchanted Learning's Extinct Animals

Enjoy!

If You Enjoyed Flight of the Phoenix...

If you liked Flight of the Phoenix, here are a few other fantasy/adventures you might enjoy:

The Last Phoenix by Linda Chapman

Four stepsiblings travel through time and space to help a scatterbrained phoenix gather the materials she needs to hatch her egg.

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke

After learning that humans are headed toward his hidden home, Firedrake, a silver dragon, is joined by a brownie and an orphan boy in a quest to find the legendary valley known as the Rim of Heaven, encountering friendly and unfriendly creatures along the way, and struggling to evade the relentless pursuit of an old enemy.

The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas

A young thief is drawn into a life of magic and adventure after picking the pocket of the powerful wizard Nevery Flinglas, who has returned from exile to attempt to reverse the troubling decline of magic in Wellmet City.

Author Interview: R.L. LaFevers

Following our Flight of the Phoenix book discussion, the Book Buddies Book Club had the opportunity to intervew the author, R.L. LaFevers. It was a huge thrill and we had a great time talking with her. She was absolutely delightful and thoughtfully answered all of our questions.

Our first question was for her to tell us one thing about herself that would surprise most people and it turns out that Ms. LaFevers loves to bake!

She has always been fascinated by mythical creatures and doesn't want to discount their existance. She reminded us that new species of animals are being discovered all the time, so why shouldn't we think that creatures like the Phoenix might actually exist?

Her favorite place to write is in a rocking chair by a window which overlooks her town and the ocean beyond (Ms. LaFevers is from Southern California). She writes either on her alphasmart or in a notebook and she doesn't write everyday. In fact sometimes she'll even take a few weeks off because so much of her writing is really thinking about things and paying attention to things. She spends a lot of time getting her stories worked out in her head before committing them to paper.

If she wasn't a writer she would definitely be a librarian because she loves books and knowledge.

Flight of the Phoenix took 3-4 months to write but she had been thinking about it for 4 years prior to that. There will be 8 to 12 books total in the series because there are so many beasts that she's excited to write about including griffins, manticores and the Kraken. At the moment she is finishing up work on the 4th Nathaniel Fludd book which comes out in April.

We also asked her why she decided to have the character of Phil Fludd be a female character. When Nate first hears that he'll be going to live with Phil he assumes Phil is a man. He quickly discovers that Phil is "Aunt Phil" short for Philomena. She said that she always knew Phil would be a woman and that the character came to her that way. Also there aren't enough women explorers and she's always had a fondness for girls names that can be shortened to a boys name.

In terms of the time period that the story takes place, she made a very conscious decision on 1929 because the setting needed to be late enough that her characters could get places quickly but she didn't want things like cell phones, GPS and radar available to help them. Also she couldn't set the story in the present time because today there are a lot of politics involved in traveling and it would be hard to do the kind of exploring she wanted her characters to do. The travel restrictions we have now were not in place in 1929 and lots of exploring was taking place during that time.

In her free time, she likes to think about her writing, read and spend time with her family.

We finished up by asking her what things she would like to learn to do and she said she'd love to be able to paint and draw. She'd also love to learn to sing.

We had such a wonderful conversation and we will never forget it! A BIG thank you to Ms. LaFevers for taking the time to talk with our book club.

March Meeting Wrap-Up

The Book Buddies Book Club met yesterday afternoon to discuss our March book, Flight of the Phoenix by R. L. LaFevers. We had a great discussion followed by our interview with the author!

We began by discussing Nathaniel Fludd, the main character in Flight of the Phoenix. He's described at the beginning of the book as someone who enjoys quiet walks, reading and drawing. It's Miss Lumpton, his governess, who describes him this way. We talked about whether or not this was a fair description of Nathaniel, who had never really been given the opportunity to explore other sides of his personality, and whether or not Miss Lumpton was the best judge of his character. Some felt that she was a good judge because she knew him the best and for such a long time. But others thought she was not a good judge because she never spent a lot of quality time with him and never encouraged him to try new things.

We talked about Nate's relationship with Miss Lumpton verses his relationship with Aunt Phil and how even though he just met Aunt Phil he already has a better relationship with her than with his former governess. Miss Lumpton was really only taking care of him for the money, whereas Aunt Phil seems genuinely glad to have him around and excited to train him as a fellow beastologist.

We discussed the items Aunt Phil gave Nate for his rucksack at the start of their adventure and what other things we might want to bring with us if we were going on such an adventure. We thought that a map, compass, change of clothes, water and a snack might also be good things to have when going on a journey.

Nate never received letters from his parents while they were away and Aunt Phil thinks that something isn't right about that. The Fludds always send letters to each other and the fact that Nate didn't get any is very suspicious. We thought about what might have happened and decided that they could have gotten lost in the mail but it's likely that Miss Lumpton intercepted them so Nate would never see them. She might have thought Nate would only be upset by his parent's letters or perhaps she worried that if he went off with them she would lose her "tidy sum" for caring for him.

We talked about Greasle, the gremlin, and how even though Aunt Phil didn't want her around she ended up being very helpful to Nate and saved both of them from the Bedouins at the end of the story.

We also thought a lot about Nate's adventures. Even though Nate does not think he is very adventurous he does some very exciting things in the story. We all had different ideas about which adventure took the most courage to carry out including fixing the airplane propeller, confronting the Bedouin girl and walking into the Bedouin camp to save his Aunt.

Finally we talked about mythical creatures and extinct animals that we would like to meet, if given the opportunity. Popular creatures included dragons, mermaids and Pegasus.

Overall we all really enjoyed Flight of the Phoenix, our first fantasy novel, and look forward to more of Nate's adventures!

BIG News and Meeting Reminder

I have some very exciting news to share! R.L. LaFevers, the fantastic author of our March book, Flight of the Phoenix, has agreed to talk with us at our book club meeting next week! I am honored that she is taking the time out of her very busy schedule to speak with us and answer our questions about her book and her life as an author. So, get thinking of some great questions we can ask her! If you come up with anything you'd like to share, feel free to add a comment to this post.

And a reminder that the book club is meeting next Monday, March 14th (yes, we're returning to Monday meetings!) at 3:30pm in the John Clarke Children's Program Room to discuss Flight of the Phoenix. Hope to see you there!

Nathaniel Fludd

Nathaniel Fludd, hero of our March book, Flight of the Phoenix, has his own website! Check out his sketchbook, the Book of Beasts and the Fludd Family Tree. There are also three other books in the series so far. Read on to find out more about Nathaniel's adventures...

The Basilisk's Lair (2010)

The continuing adventures of beastologist-in-training, Nathaniel Fludd, as he accompanies his intrepid Aunt Phil on a dangerous mission across West Africa to find a deadly basilisk that is missing and begins to find clues relating to the mysterious disappearance of his parents.

The Wyverns' Treasure (2010)

When Nathaniel and Aunt Phil are summoned to the Welsh countryside to calm the giant dragons known as wyverns, they suspect the problem was caused by the same sinister man who has been trying to steal the Book of Beasts.

And coming in April 2011... The Unicorn's Tale!

Author R.L. LaFevers & Theodosia Throckmorton

The author of our March book, Flight of the Phoenix is the very talented R. L. LaFevers. She has written many books for young readers including another series which I love, the Theodosia Throckmorton series. Visit her website to find out more about her life and her books!

Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos (2007)

Eleven-year-old Theo uses arcane knowledge and her own special talent when she encounters two secret societies, one sworn to protect the world from ancient Egyptian magic and one planning to harness it to bring chaos to the world, both of which want a valuable artifact stolen from the London museum for which her parents work.

Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris (2008)

When mummies go missing all over London, eleven-year-old Theodosia puts aside her fight against the Serpents of Chaos to save her father, who is suspected in the thefts, all the while avoiding a string of new governesses.

Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus (2010)

Theodosia's ability to detect black magic raises her suspicions about a magician known as the Great Awi Bubu, while Henry, home for the spring holidays, discovers an artifact at the Museum of Legends and Antiquities that is coveted by every black-cloaked occultist in London.

And coming in April 2011....Theodosia and the Last Pharoah!

March Book Selection

The March book will be Flight of the Phoenix by R. L. LaFevers. Flight of the Phoenix is the first in the Nathaniel Fludd Beastologist series. It's an exciting fantasy/adventure and I think we'll really enjoy it!

We will meet to discuss Flight of the Phoenix on Monday, March 14th (we're going back to Monday meetings) at 3:30pm in the John Clarke Children's Program Room. Copies of the book are available at the Children's Desk. Just stop by and ask for one!

Hope to see you there!

After learning that his parents have been lost at sea, ten-year-old Nate joins his father's cousin on a flight to Arabia where they must oversee the death and rebirth of the Phoenix, thus beginning his training as a "beastologist."