Synopses & Reviews
Near the end of the Stone Age, about 12,000 years ago, a young woman named Anooka lives with her family by a salmon-filled river. Although life with the Salmon Clan is comfortable, Anooka is restless. She discovers she has a talent for shaping the strange riverbank mud into small animal figures. Because her actions resemble carving, a practice prohibited to women, Anooka is forbidden to make her animals. Soon she begins to question the only traditions she has ever known. When a mysterious woman appears across the river, Anooka is faced with the most monumental decision of her life. Should she follow Raven Woman or stay with her clan? Although Anooka and her people led lives very different from our own, Marjorie Cowley shows us that there are enormous parallels between their world and ours. What connects us to Anooka's world across thousands of years are the qualities that make us human.
Review
"A quiet but powerful novel that will provoke thoughtful introspection." School Library Journal
Review
'\"A quiet but powerful novel that will provoke thoughtful introspection.\" School Library Journal'
Review
"The Incan empire's four-century ascendance has inspired plenty of nonfiction and over-the-top fantasy but perplexingly little historical fiction for kids. This recommended title can help fill that void."
—Kirkus
"This quiet, deeply moving story reminds readers of the true nature of beauty."
—Booklist Online
"Micay's intimate narration weaves in Quechua vocabulary and abundant references to Incan folklore, enhancing the novel's vivid sense of time and place."
—Publishers Weekly
"A gripping story of a girl who transforms from a cowed outcast into a confident leader, this will find an audience among tweens and teens beginning to question what fate has in store for them."
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Synopsis
At the height of the Incan empire, a girl called the Ugly One because of a disfiguring scar on her face, seeks to have the scar removed and instead finds a life path as a shaman.
Synopsis
I had always been ugly, as far back as I could remember. Micay has a deep scar that runs like a river from her right eye to her lip. The boys in her Incan village bully her because of it, and most of the adults ignore her. So she keeps to herself and tries to hide the scar with her long hair, drawing comfort from her family and her faith in the Sun God, Inti. Then a stranger traveling from his jungle homeland to the Sacred Sun City at Machu Picchu gives her a baby macaw, and the path of her life changes. Perhaps she isnt destined to be the Ugly One forever. Vivid storytelling and rich details capture the life and landscape of the Incan Empire as seen through the eyes of a young girl who is an outsider among her own people.
About the Author
Marjorie Cowley has taught prehistoric archaeology to students of all ages, but now devotes her time to writing for young people. For Clarion, she has written Dar and the Spear-Thrower, about a boy living during the Ice Age. Ms. Cowley lives in Los Angeles, California.