River-Song's father, Chief Sits-and-Thinks, is growing old and sick, but he trusts in her to lead their people. Her best friend has become her rival as they compete to marry the big chief's son. But as River-Song proves herself to him, she begins to see he isn't the man she thought. Then she must use her gift of words when a wandering band of braves seek a new home with them. They speak her mother's language so she can understand them. River-Song feels pulled to their leader but confused about her place in the tribe. Can this young girl hold her tribe together as the new braves join them, and again when hostile warriors attack their valley?
Come visit the River People in the Pacific Northwest before fur traders or missionaries arrived. River-Song lives in a valley of meandering streams that give them salmon and trout to eat. Oak trees abound in the valley, and a forest of cedar and fir surround them, making a canopy and giving them planks for their long houses, canoes, and totem poles.
Genre: FICTION / HistoricalHighly ranked in Native North & South Americans in US Kindle. A steady seller! Has sold in quantity to classrooms and schools. This is a classic coming of age story for children and adults.
An excerpt from this novel placed in the 78th Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition, as a short story titled "Salmon and Summer Games: A Way of Life."
The Klamath Falls Herald and News says, "A nicely told tale that discusses American Indians from a different perspective."
Sits-and-Thinks, the village chief, held the salmon bones as he danced, singing low and soft. He wore a deerskin shirt and pants, adorned with shells they had bartered from coastal tribes, and painted with symbols for their clan. His hair, now gray, did not glimmer in the sunshine, but his eyes were alert and shiny with thankfulness.
As she moved with the people, his daughter River-Song listened to his voice, and the soft crunch that his moccasins made on the worn river pebbles under his feet. The people danced on the riverbank behind him, voices lifted together in prayer. Chief Sits-and-Thinks held the bones above his head and the singing stopped.
“Chief Salmon, return again.”
No one spoke as he let Chief Salmon’s bones slip into the river to return to his home. They paused, surrounded by the morning beauty, to give honor to the fish that gave them life.
Only by showing the first salmon this respect every fall would they bring the salmon back. The circle begins again, she thought. The harmony of their traditions held them together and bound them to the land.
When the ceremony ended, braves went to fish, but River-Song stood beside her father, lifting her face into the weak sunshine. She would miss the sun through the winter. She loved listening to stories in the long houses during winter, but she felt so free and happy in the summer.
Next year, when they traveled to the summer games at the main village, she would prove herself to Walks-with-Pumas, the big chief’s son. She would marry him next year. This summer hadn’t gone as she planned, and she hadn’t married. Many girls married after seeing fourteen summers, and this summer had been her fifteenth.
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Italian
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Already translated.
Translated by Yelena Fioretti
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Portuguese
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Already translated.
Translated by Jaqueline Gonçalves
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Marta Blanco Salgueiro
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