Fan's book became a New York Times Bestseller, and she was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show as one of the world's smartest kids.
She then began writing Sword Quest, a prequel to Swordbird, and published it two years later.
After awaking from a vivid dream about birds at war while simultaneously wrestling with her feelings about terrorism and the September 11th Attacks, Fan wrote Swordbird as a way to convey a message of peace to the world.
[1] At the age of eleven, Fan began writing a manuscript for her story, which she finished a year later.
[2] In 2008, HarperCollins released Sword Quest, a prequel set 100 years before the time of Swordbird.