Nathaniel is summoned to the lawyer's office. His parents have been missing for three years and so now they are declared dead and it is time to read the will. Nathaniel has been cared for by Miss Lumpton. The lawyer explains she will receive a 'tidy sum' and with that news she heads off out the door. Now Nathaniel truly is alone. Well not quite. He has one relative - Phil A. Fludd. The lawyer puts Nathaniel on the train and he heads off alone. He has no idea so many surprises are in store. Phil A Fludd is a lady called Philomena. She is a Fludd and the Fludd family have a long history of exploration of the planet. Phil is also an aviatrix and within one day of his arrival Nathaniel finds himself on board a tiny plane flying off to Arabia to see the Phoenix. This is an event that only happens every five hundred years
"As the sun sets on the Phoenix's five hundredth birthday, it returns to its place of birth and builds a funeral pyre. Amid the rays of the setting sun, it sets itself on fire, burning until it is reduce to a pile of ash. The secret to a phoenix hatching is to be sure the pile of ash never grows cold."
Nathaniel has to fly across the world with Phil, ride a camel, cope with a new friend who is a Gremlin called Greasle. When they arrive Phil is taken away by the Bedouins and so Nathaniel has to tend the phoenix by himself.
My favourite scene is when Nathaniel has to repair the plane while it is in flight:
"Very glad for the rope that anchored him to the plane, Nate stood up. Struggling to keep his balance, he crawled out of the cockpit and lowered his feet over the side until they touched the wing. Gripping the side of the plane for dear life, he shuffled his feet along the wing, inching closer to the propeller."
I loved all the loose threads in this first installment. There is the dodo Cornelius, the mystery of the missing parents who I like to imagine are not really dead, there's the 'black sheep' of the family who may be the mysterious thief who tried to steal the The Book of Beasts and of course there are sure to be more beasts to discover.
Read more plot details by clicking these review comments:
Playing freely with historical detail and using traditions of English boys’ adventure stories and colonial clichés about Bedouin culture, this American author has crafted an exciting tale. Straightforward sentences, chronological narrative, short chapters and Murphy’s plentiful black-and-white illustrations make this appropriate for middle-grade readers looking for a series to grow with. Kirkus
La Fever does a graceful job of keeping the story hovering around a third grade reading level while sprinkling historical, mythical and adventurous details here and there along with some great vocabulary. Books4YourKids
I find it really exciting when a book series has its own web site. The pages for the Nathaniel Fludd Beastologist series are fabulous. So far there are four books in this series. There is also a Wikipedia entry. I was assisting with the stocktake (inventory) in the library of a friend when I spied this book. I have talked about Kelly Murphy in previous posts. I adore this cover, I recognised Kelly's art and so I was sure this would be a terrific book - and I was right! On Kelly's page you can see some illustrations from this book and on R.L. LaFevers (Robin Lorraine) own web site you can read an extract from each book.
This series are perfect for confident readers from Grade 2 and up. The first paperback was published in 2011 so if this series sounds appealing I suggest you rush out and order them today - books do seem to go out of print so quickly. It would be good to follow this series by reading The Doldrums. These books are for older children but would make a terrific family or class read aloud.
Aspects of this story also made me think about one of my favourite book series which begins with Time Stops for no Mouse. This book is also not at the same level as the Nathaniel Fludd Beastologist series but I highly recommend it as a brilliant read aloud.
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