 Popsugar Reading Challenge category: A book about magical creatures that aren't dragons.
David and the Phoenix, by Edward Ormondroyd. This is a children's book from 1957, but it has a timeless feel, which seems appropriate for a book about an immortal bird. It reminds me of Scholastic books I read as a kid, where an ordinary child makes a magical friend. The Phoenix has a comically high opinion of itself, and announces that it will take charge of David's education. It takes him on adventures to meet other magical creatures: a sea monster, a banshee, and gryffins, gryffons, and gryffens (three related but very different creatures). The phoenix also has a nemesis: a scientist who wants to capture or kill it in order to study it. The phoenix is creative (and occasionally hilarious) in its attempts to evade the scientist, with David's help. The Thinklings edition includes Joan Raysor's marvelous illustrations. It also incudes an intro by Robert Natelson explaining that the story includes allusions to Ovid's Metamorphoses and other classics, but I totally missed them, and it didn't in any way interfere with my enjoyment of the book.
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