Native Legends

In the world of Native Americans, oral communication takes the place of the written word in preserving their most valued texts. By a miracle of transmission, here is the earliest and most complete version of the story of the Cherokee people, from their origins in a land across the great waters to the coming of the white man. In olden times, it was recited at every Great Moon or Cherokee New Year festival so it could be learned by young people.

Washington Irving's classic, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", has been making spines tingle since 1820! Irving tapped into a timeless fear: the prospect of a late-night journey shrouded in fog turning suddenly fatal. Our imaginations conjure every conceivable danger, but in one of history's most famous encounters, one Ichabod Crane comes - dare we say it, face-to-face? - with the "specter known at all the country firesides", the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow.

"The Legend of Tsali" is an inspiring story of one man's sacrifice for the Cherokee people and homeland he loved. Tsali was working his homestead as history unfolded around him. Seven thousand troops were drafted in to place the local Cherokees in stockades, before a forced march to the West, which became known as the Trail of Tears. Discover how one man's resistance became a legend that is still told today!

When Callie and the other children stumble upon an ancient artifact, they find themselves facing a terrible danger from the long-ago past. Time overlaps in a mysterious way, while the children fight to help an ancient tribe in both the past and in the present.

At war with his stepmother, in trouble at school, and desperately unhappy, thirteen-year-old Ray finds himself shipped off to distant family in the high mountain hollows of Western Virginia. There Ray encounters a strange world of mystery, where nothing quite makes sense. The mystery deepens when he discovers a great stone snake carved on the wall of an old coal mine high in the hollow. A piece of that stone draws Ray into a conflict that echoes an ancient tragedy played out over sixteen hundred years before.

The name "Geronimo" evokes a number of different emotions. Those who believed in 19th century America's "Manifest Destiny" viewed Geronimo and all Native Americans as impediments to God's will for the nation. Descendants of people killed by "hostile" Natives certainly considered warriors like Geronimo to be murderers and thieves whose cultures and societies held no redeeming values.

When Miggle creates a make-believe treasure hunt, she never dreams it could turn into a very real and dangerous battle against an ancient evil—or that nearby strip-mining could be a threat not only to the landscape but also to the existence of the Fair Folk who dwell within the mountain. In the end, it's up to Miggle and her siblings and cousins to help these mysterious and beautiful people find their way to safety.

Dave finds a curious silver medallion in a cave by the Ohio River—and then finds he has changed places with Dewi, a sixteenth-century boy in medieval Wales. When he travels across the sea with explorers searching for the legendary cities of the New World, Dave hopes to find a way back to his own time and place. Meanwhile, Dewi is adjusting to life in the modern world. As the boys journey through time, caught up in a world where prophecies come true and past becomes the future, they find that they may be better suited to the other's time than for their own.

Insightful, telling, ironic, and moving, 14 Native-American legends reflect a nomadic non-property-owning culture, with a reverence for all things natural.

Indian lore of the Cuyamaca Mountains and surrounding region in San Diego County, California, abounds in myths and legends handed down from generation to generation by tribal song and squaw-tale. Yet so swiftly has the hand of civilization wiped out the old traditions and customs, that but few Indians remain who remember them, and fewer still are those willing to divulge them. Only when one comes into intimate contact with them is one accorded the privilege and honor of hearing the tales of their ancestors.

In 1859, in a small town jail, deep in the forests of Canada, an elderly woman sits behind bars. She came to Dunmore via the Underground Railroad to escape enslavement, but an American bounty hunter tracked her down. Now she's in jail for killing him. Lensinda Martin, a smart young reporter, wants to tell the woman's version of events, hoping that it will lead to her acquittal, but the woman will only tell her story on one condition: she gets one from Lensinda in return. As the women swap stories, it becomes apparent that their histories are interconnected.

As the adventures continue for the characters from The Wolves of Aam, they face more dangers in the jeweled caverns and darkness of the Shadowlands. The tale moves to a dramatic conclusion that unlocks the final mysteries of the magic stones. These books lay the foundation for the events told in later books in the series.