This inspirational story is the part one of a series of books about a family of condors taken care by a disabled girl named Matica and her Australian family residing in Peru amongst Indians and the wildlife of that country. Matica, a sandy-blonde girl who does not seem to grow in length appropriate for her age, goes through a series of hard events to make sure her condor friends Tamo, Tima, and their son Talon (which this book and those succeeding it are about) survive poachers and thrive in their natural habitat.
I thought this book was moving and endearing because it is a children’s book but the lessons in it are universal and can also benefit adults too. All throughout the book, Matica and I both discovered the beauty of purpose and advantage and how after the storm and turbulence, you come to realize that you have a reason for being here on earth. Matica is disabled and initially she had thought that her life was meaningless, that she did not fit in with her settings and environment, that she was a no-good individual that the Peruvian Indians were excluding from their society and was considered by them to be “weird” and or “cursed.” However, by the end of the book, she comes to terms with her own existence and that despite being disabled, she had a purpose, she had an advantage for living and that is to care for the condors she has named Tamo (the adult male); Tima (the adult female); and Talon (their son).
This book should be in your home library yes, yes, yes! I say this because it has a moralistic teaching about it that you can revisit over and over throughout your life. If you think you are a worthless, invalid person, just pick this book from your shelves and reread it and you will forget about your trouble. It is God-fearing, it is family-oriented, and it is inspirational. Great for your children, grandchildren, nephew/niece, godson/daughter, etc. Come on, reward that dear, favorite child of yours with a didactic story like this! Hey, and while you’re at it, get the other books in this 5-part series as well!
About Gigi Sedlmayer
Gisela (Gigi) Sedlmayer was born on 19 May 1944 in Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin in Germany.
Her family escaped to the West just before the infamous wall went up. They moved around in Germany until finally settling in Munich where Gigi studied architectural drafting and met Albert in 1965, marrying in December 1967. She worked as a civil draftsperson in various private consultancies in Munich.
Since her uncle was a writer, she tried to write short animal stories herself. Nothing further came of it, but she developed a love for the written word and started to consume books.
In May 1975, Gigi and her husband moved to New Zealand. Because of language challenges, she started a handicraft business. As a specialty, she made colourful parrots of which she sold thousands in a few years.
In 1988, they decided to adopt and became adoptive parents of twin girls the year after. They lived in New Zealand for eighteen years and moved to Australia in September 1992.
Two years later Gigi was diagnosed with cancer. After operations and radiation, she withdrew, thinking that she would probably soon be dead, like her friend who died of cancer, but her two little girls gave her the courage to keep going. After a few years, still among the living, her brain started to work again, so she thought, 'Get a grip on yourself and do something good with your life'.
She remembered the time she wrote short stories and got inspired again, seeing her husband Albert writing the story of their adoption. Her English became increasingly better so she pressed on to develop her creative writing.
Albert taught her how to use a computer and she wrote many short stories. She entered them in competitions and often got very good reports back, which gave her confidence to go on writing. One day the idea for the TALON series came to her and she spent the next several years bringing the story and the characters to life.
She now loves writing and spends most of her time at the computer, developing new story lines. She also loves travelling, 4x4 touring, swimming, gardening, handcrafting, reading, fossicking and enjoys good adventure DVD's or going to the movies.
Talon, family book series 