Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson.
G. P. Putnam's Sons/Penguin Group: NY, 2009.

Fire is the second of this elemental series; the first was Water. McKinley and Dickinson are a husband and wife team, both having received awards on their own, both excellent storytellers. McKinley's forte is in the retelling of folk tales (such as Beauty, The Outlaws of Sherwood, and Spindle's End, though she also received a Newbery for The Hero and the Crown and a Newbery Honor for The Blue Sword. Dickinson writes fantasy with a strong sense of the historical, tending towards ancient history. The Ropemaker and A Bone from a Dry Sea are books I've read of his (He has written close to fifty. As he is British, his books are harder to come by here.).

Spirits closely related to fire would be the phoenix, hellhounds, and dragons. It's no surprise the first story incorporates the phoenix. The connection of the phoenix and the lifespan of individuals is the crux, with a forest caretaker keeping the phoenix as a companion (it cannot be called a pet with its nobility). I love their relationship, the details of the phoenix's routines, and the old retainer's life. In the second story, a hellhound is adopted as a pet, but uniquely it is fighting evil in the area. The setting is a horse stable with a young girl responsible for caring for horses and giving riding classes. I enjoyed her character and that of the hellhound the most. The third story was not as appealing to me. It seemed to me to be how a tribal community might have reacted to dragons attracted to their fires. What I like about the story is that the main character wasn't so sure it was necessary or good to destroy the nest of dragons. That was different. What I didn't like was that he went ahead and played a major part in destroying them anyway. The Salamander Man has creatures less traditionally linked to fire. But the man himself becomes full of fire when the salamanders combine their power. This is an interesting story, with wizards mostly as the bad guys. Too much power for anyone to hold, so the salamanders need to go back to their origination. The last is a dragon and dragonrider story with a young fellow training unofficially to be a healing wizard. Wizards are the 3rd rung on the ladder of respect. Though the boy has great potential, he hides because of the lack of respect. The dragonrider academy provides an opportunity for him to attract attention and gain respect for the healing profession. This is the longest and best of the stories. I would like to see it expanded into a novel. It felt like the story could have been extended so much farther.

related-mythical animals, short stories, phoenix, hellhounds, dragons, dragonriders, horses
RL=7th-adult



Previous Choices

October 2006 - A Week in the Woods by Andrew Clements
November 2006 - The Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce
December 2006 - Victory by Susan Cooper
January 2007 - Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
February 2007 - Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel
March 2007 - A Bone From A Dry Sea by Peter Dickinson
April 2007 - The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages
May 2007 - Firehorse by Diane Lee Wilson
June 2007 - Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt
July 2007 - The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper
August 2007 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J K Rowling
September 2007 - Wind Rider by Susan Williams
October 2007 - Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge
November 2007 - The Secret of Sarah Revere by Ann Rinaldi
December 2007 - Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
January 2008 - Firebirds Rising ed by Sharyn November
February 2008 - Click by 10 authors
March 2008 - Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
April 2008 - The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
May 2008 - A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd
June 2008 - Madapple by Christina Meldrum
July 2008 - A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
August 2008 - Sabriel and Lirael by Garth Nix
September 2008 - The Freedom Writers Diary by The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell
October 2008 - Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Munoz Ryan
November 2008 - Paint the Wind by Pam Munoz Ryan
December 2008 - Something Rotten by Alan Gratz
January 2009 - The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
February 2009 - The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
March 2009 - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
April 2009 - Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass
May 2009 - Starclimber by Kenneth Oppel
June 2009 - Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass
July 2009 - Wild Things by Clay Carmichael
August 2009 - Paper Towns by John Green
September 2009 - Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith
October 2009 - Steinbeck's Ghost by Lewis Buzbee
November 2009 - City of Fire by Laurence Yep
December 2009 - Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. il Keith Thompson
January 2010 - Firebirds Soaring ed by Sharyn November

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