The day before Crystal Brave’s thirteenth birthday celebration, her parents leave for the Taum Sauk Mountain to study petroglyphs, planning to return the next day. All plans are disrupted by the long-predicted New Madrid earthquake. The devastation in Southeast Missouri cuts off all communication, leaving Crystal desperate to find out if her parents are safe. True to Brave family tradition, Crystal takes the courageous step of going to find them herself. With the special relationship between her and a horse and a dog, the generous mentorship of those she meets along her journey, and strength from the love for her family, Crystal faces some of her worst fears, earning passage into her teen years and learning the meaning of her family name.
Genre: JUVENILE FICTION / Action & Adventure / GeneralThis book is the first of the Crystal Brave series, and has been adopted by the Horse Tales Literacy Project. A new book will be out this year. It won 3rd Place in the Missouri Writer's Guild Show-Me Book Award competition, and has done quite well in eBook as well.
Crystal dodged the huge banana tree leaves, rain, and wind, trying desperately to keep up with the treasure map as it blew away. But each time it came within reach, a fierce gust of rainy wind pulled it away. Her feet became heavy as she ran through the sticky mud. The earth began to tremble and rocks began to fall from above. The map disappeared in the chaos, lost forever.
She awoke in her dark room. It’s just a dream, she thought. The rocks, shells, and containers of bugs began to rattle on her shelves. I’m still dreaming. It’s just a dream. The windows rattled. The rocks began to fall off the shelves, along with books and picture frames of Mexico and Guatemala. I’m dreaming of an earthquake. She covered her head with her blanket as her bed shook. I will wake up in a few minutes and it will just be some kind of strange nightmare.
Nan screamed into her dream, “Crystal! We’re having an earthquake! Come to the doorway and hold on!”
Crystal peaked out from under her blanket. “It’s just a dream!”
“No, Crystal! We’re really having an earthquake! Get to the doorway! Hurry!” Nan pulled Crystal’s quilt off of her bed and put it over their heads as pieces of ceiling tiles fell on them. They rushed to the doorway, tripping over books and jars.
It stopped. The rattling and jolting turned to quiet stillness. One last picture frame toppled off of her shelf and busted to pieces on the floor.
“What’s going on, Nan?” Crystal looked around her room. It was wrecked.
“We had an earthquake.” Nan had fear in her eyes, and her hands were trembling. Crystal snuggled closer to her under the quilt.
Crystal recalled a National Geographic special on earthquakes. “Scientists have been predicting an earthquake on the New Madrid fault line. Maybe it finally happened!”
