Flame Chasers

Every year, Ember yearns to fly with the golden flamebirds who pause in their flight at Bright Beacon before heading on to their home. Those known as 'flame chasers' wait in the harbour, ready to follow the birds in the hope of finding one of their wish-giving tail feathers. But when her Pa goes missing, having left on the hunt without her, Ember is determined to be part of the following year's chase and gain a feather to wish him back to her. However, when she finds a lost flamebird in desperate need of returning to the flamebirds' home quickly to survive, Ember's quest takes on a new urgency…

What a wonderful book! Flame Chasers is - a completely captivating story with wonderful characters and such a satisfying conclusion which offers the possibility of more adventures to come in this world!

Having thoroughly enjoyed the story, my 'teacher brain' went into overdrive. Flame Chasers would make a brilliant class story for a Year 5 or 6 class, offering plenty of dramatic bits to pause reading, sure to cause cries of protest and requests for 'just another chapter!' But this is also a book which would make an excellent class text, supporting and developing English work. Careful language choices and rich descriptions build a vivid sense of this world and its settings, offering great models for encouraging children to develop their own ideas and create their own locations, perhaps building maps to help them navigate.

Ember is such a wonderful character, loving and loyal, full of empathy for others and with a strong moral code which supports the choices she makes. Stanley, who she meets whilst setting out on her quest, is led by his desire for his heart's desire which clouds his judgement early on in the story, but he, too, has a good heart and tries to put things right.

I also love the fact that the adults are not just neatly disposed of in this story. Stanley's mum, Aggie, plays a key role in their adventure without overshadowing them or leading the action and is shown to be just as fallible as they are.

The story also lends itself to discussions about hunting wildlife and the ethics (or lack of them) of those involved. Some only chase the birds in the hope of finding a fallen feather whilst others have more sinister intentions, ready to exploit and harm these gorgeous creatures in their pursuit of wishes. This could easily be linked to work on explorers and naturalists who collected specimens and the methods which they employed versus the conservation work carried out today.

The subject of 'what would you wish for' would also be an interesting topic to discuss! Flame Chasers is an utterly absorbing read.

256 pages / Reviewed by Sue Wilsher, teacher

Suggested Reading Age 9+