TALON, ON THE WING new 5* review

Posted on July 2, 2017 by Gigi Sedlmayer
A remarkable Tail of one Girls adventure. A review by Toma for book 2:
 
This exciting tale is the second part of a series of books about a ten-year-old sandy-blonde girl by the name of Matica who has a special condition that has stunted her growth, making her remain at the height level of a toddler. She is special in this book because of her remarkable relationship with a family of condors that live in the mountains nearby her home in Peru, South America. She and her parents Mira (mom), Crayn (dad), and younger brother Aikon are originally from Australia but moved to Peru due to Crayn’s occupation. In part one of this series, Matica was able to save an egg of two adult condors who was being eyed by a bunch of ruthless poachers. From this saved “egg” came a dear friend, Talon, whom which this series of books are about.
 
Now in this book, Matica had a dream that she was able to fly on Talon’s back across the Andes Mountains of Peru, where she was then abruptly dropped with Talon not making an attempt to help her at all. She woke up in time and proceeded to relay her nightmare to Aikon and her parents who took it lightly except that Mira thought she should be careful because you never know… This book is different from part one in that it introduces a bunch of new characters all eager to hear about Matica’s relationship with Talon as well as seeing her fly on his back. We have to consider the fact that this is something “extraordinary” and that no one has ever flown on the back of a bird in the skies or been recorded down in the history of the world. (I think.) There is a plot twist here where one of these new characters resents Matica because he had someone dear to him with her condition abandoned due to thoughts that this beloved person was of no use to society anymore.
 
I read this book with anticipation waiting for that lesson that part one had. I felt that the same moral was being played out here where Matica once again proved to her surrounding community that her disability and her friendship with Talon tells all those who have a friend or family member with her condition to embrace that person because they might come in handy someday. And all through the book, the Peru Indians were very thankful and adamant to listen to Matica’s tales of her friendship with these condors especially the title character, Talon. It gave them a reason to embrace these birds, Matica’s condors, knowing that they have a valid place in their environment and must be protected at all costs from poachers and all those who threaten to hunt them down for trading and consumption purposes.
 
I recommend this book to grandparents and parents who are looking for a book for that special, dear bookworm in their families. It will instill in him or her a sense of duty to look out for our friends in nature and teach him or her also the values of love, compassion, friendship and leadership. I also recommend this book to teachers who are searching for titles to add to their classroom libraries. Trust me, your students will enjoy this tale at story-time because the notion of a disabled girl befriending a bird (just like with a dog or a cat or a turtle) and showing it all of her tender love and care is something very kind and sweet that they can relate to. So what are you waiting for? Order this dear today! You will get your money’s worth!
 
TALON, ON THE WING -2-cover_front only

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.
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