The Girl Who Drew a Phoenix
Grade 1–3—A girl finds a phoenix feather and decides that drawing the creature might help her to acquire its magical powers. Although Feng Huang works hard, her picture makes the other children laugh because it resembles an owl or a bat more than a phoenix. Pitying her, the Queen Phoenix swoops down to Earth and allows the child to spend a day drawing her. Although Feng Huang's renditions improve greatly, she still cannot capture the mythical beast's spirit. The Queen Phoenix again intervenes, giving the child a list of the bird's powers so that she can learn about each one. Through her diligence, she meets several gorgeous creatures that each embody a virtue—wisdom, clear sight, equality, generosity, and right judgment. Afterward, Feng Huang draws a glorious phoenix that gives her and her friends a ride through the heavens. The powers are relatively abstract, and as Feng Huang understands the opposing forces at work in each one—generosity and greed, wisdom and ignorance—she "draws away" the negative aspect. Brilliant splashes of color and imaginative details bring Demi's vision of this mythical creature to life. What doesn't come alive is the story, which seems little more than a vehicle for the paintings. In addition, no sources for the author's understanding of the phoenix in Chinese mythology are given, and adult readers, who surely will be needed to facilitate a child's understanding of the abstractions, will be left wondering if this phoenix represents traditional Chinese wisdom or Demi's imaginative re-creation of the creature.—Barbara Scotto, Children's Literature New England, Brookline, MACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.