Focus Keyword (FK):

Title: With his Feather Tales Series Deepak Dalal’s fourth book, ‘The Golden Eagle’ is a
captivating bird feather page turner

Strap: The Golden Eagle has a compelling story line, descriptive narrative and factual bird trivia
with bird heroines, heroes, a villain and his sidekicks. Tune in to know more!

Welcome to life in the beautiful Rose Garden where you will get to read about ‘the story of all
stories’….where colourful flowers, purple Jacaranda trees, the water fountain and where many a
bird live on branches and sit on wires and go about doing their daily routine of life like Kabul,
the bulbul, Blackie, the magpie robin, Mysun, the sunbird, Bongo, the drongo, Longtail, the
wagtail (who by the way tells wonderful stories) and others but alas today not even one bird was
to be seen, not even one to give company to Shikar, the white headed squirrel who stayed there
since he was little. Shikar was one lucky squirrel and perhaps the only squirrel in the whole wide
world who could speak the bird language. Dovey and Lovey, the two skybird doves did not stay
in the garden but visited every morning to meet up with Shikar and Kabul.

One morning finding Shikar all alone they decided to give him company and spend the night
with him for protection. Shikar wanted a story and since the Rose Garden was famous for its
stories, he wanted to know the mystery behind the story of Kabul and the two doves connection
with him and who was the eagle that all spoke about with reverence, his early life with his
squirrel parents which till now was not told to him.

At night snug on their branches and nests, Dovey and Lovey told of a brave and courageous tale
long, long ago when they too were much younger and strong scout birds living beside a lake
called Flamingo Lake and one Kabul the bulbul skybird whose eyes were as sharp like
bougainvillea thorns visited them one morning asking if they were responsible enough to help in
a dangerous mission that only the doves could complete and utter secrecy was required, since
there were bird spies like Mike, the wire shrike all around wanting in their plans. If Kabul were
not to return from her mission within five days near the Muddy River then the doves were to fly
to the distant skyhole (a crater like big hole created in the ground due to rocks falling from the
sky) and ask for help. But, help from whom that Kabul did not mention but the doves would
know when they entered that zone. After waiting and waiting for Kabul to return from her
mission the doves instead of flying to the skyhole for help decide to fly for days to an
adventurous path to the Muddy River. After days of flying far, far away from human settlements
they reach Stork-pur and come across hundreds of birds like pelicans, ibises, kingfishers,
parakeets, flamingos all huddled together held prisoners. Stork-pur was a bird commune where
birds of prey like harriers were guards and all were ruled by an ugly and evil Master stork who
wanted to extract vital information from Dovey and Lovey and take over the bird world.
Did the master stork and chief succeed in their evil fiendish plans and till what extent were they
willing to go so that the doves revealed their true destination?

What role did Chorus, the sweet singing thrush with her hypnotic voice play in the rescue? Who
were the good helping birds and who pretended to help? Who lived in the skyhole and what
important role it played in the story? How and from where was Shikar rescued and come to live
with Kabul in the Rose Garden?

Go buy the ‘The Golden Eagle’ and discover about family and friendship and read a fine story
with an exciting emotional finish.

A fiction book of just 150 pages bird entertainment. The Golden Eagle has a compelling story
line, descriptive narrative and factual bird trivia with bird heroines, heroes, a villain and his
sidekicks. A multitude of bird characters each one playing its role to perfection. So engrossed
was I, in the tale that I completed ‘The Golden Eagle’ in one sitting. Though it is a bird story, for
me the book on a deeper level is a mirror of the human world where we see battles for land and
power and dominance taking place. The book though for 8+, can also be read out to younger
children.

Deepak Dalal’s earlier VikramaAditya series have been an adventurous informative roller
coaster. Having read and gifted them to umpteen nephews and nieces years ago, I feel this one
too is a winner. With his Feather Tales Series Deepak’s fourth book of ‘The Golden Eagle’ is a
captivating bird feather page turner. Pretty soon I am surely going to catch up reading the earlier
three books.

The illustrations by Krishna Bala Shenoi are remarkable. Each illustration is like a colourful
picture postcard. Each page is a different shade of colour and expresses the mood and
expressions of the birds, garden, jungle and the squirrels come alive as if it all were happening in
front of you. The illustrations superbly compliment the story without which ‘The Golden Eagle’
would fail to fully captivate the reader.

Title : Feather Tales-The Golden Eagle

Author : Deepak Dalal

Illustration : Krishna Bala Shenoi

Age : 8+

Publisher : Puffin, 2019