Elf the Eagle

This delightful book —- now re-issued in a handsome new edition —- tells the story of Elf, a baby eagle who worries about many things, including the distance from his nest, high up in a tree, to the ground, way, way down below. He also worries about his sister, Edwina, who is older and more adventurous than he is, and who spreads her wings and flies out of their nest, which frightens Elf a great deal. Eventually, when his baby down grows into strong, brown feathers, Elf’s parents stop bringing him food and tempt him with tasty morsels that they keep just out of reach. Elf gets very hungry and one day he accidentally tumbles out of the nest. As he starts to fall, his parents yell at him to flap his wings. He does, and he is flying! At the story’s end, Elf can’t wait for dawn to break so he can fly all the way to the sun.

Elf the Eagle was a finalist for the Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Award (BC Book Prizes) in 2008 and for the Shining Willow Award (Saskatchewan Young Readers) in 2009.

Author Biography

Ron Smith is the author and editor of numerous books, including the award-winning Elf the Eagle and The Defiant Mind: Living Inside a Stroke. An excerpt from this book was translated into eighteen languages by Reader’s Digest and published in over twenty-two countries. In 2002 he received an honorary doctorate from U.B.C. and in 2005 he was the inaugural Fulbright Chair in Creative Writing at Arizona State University. A sequel to Elf the Eagle, Elf’s Family Tree, has now been published. He lives with his wife, the writer Patricia Jean Smith, in Nanoose Bay on Vancouver Island where he daily searches the sky for eagles in full flight. Ruth Campbell is an illustrator living in Vancouver with her husband Robin, three dogs, and two cats. She has illustrated five books, including Elf’s Family Tree by Ron Smith.