Enchantress from the Stars author. It won the 1990 Phoenix Award from the Children's Literature Association as the best English-language children's book that did not win a major award when it was originally published twenty years earlier. The award is named for the mythical bird phoenix, which is reborn from its ashes, to suggest the book's rise from obscurity. A new American hardcover edition was issued by Walker and Company in 2001 with a foreword by Lois Lowry and afterword by the author. Next year it was a finalist for the Book Sense Book of the Year Award in the Rediscovery category. Engdahl wrote
Hamsa (bird) Hindi: "hans", Tamil: "அன்னப்பறவை"; , "hong"; , , and commonly spelt "hintha" or "hinthar"; , or "hongsa"; Shan: , or "hong"; Thai: หงส์, ; Malay: "angsa" (اڠسا‎). The hintha (hamsa) is widely depicted in Burmese art, considered to be "swan" in its mythology, and has been adopted as the symbol of the Mon people. Hamsa (bird) The hamsa (Sanskrit: हंस, "" or "hansa") is an aquatic bird of passage, such as a goose or a swan. Its icon is used in Indian and Southeast Asian culture as a spiritual symbol and a decorative element. It is vahana of Lord Brahma