This excellent YA fantasy read will be enjoyed by anyone
interested in the Southwest states and their legends. While
moving along at a smart pace, we get enough detail to carry
the story without overloading it and there are plenty of
great characters.
In COYOTE'S DAUGHTER Maggie moves to Albuquerque from San
Diego. Her family has come here to suit her parents' jobs,
but she doesn't know anyone and feels lonely. When she does
meet local kids, they're nice but she doesn't have much in
common with them. She's actually happier walking to explore
the new surroundings with her collie-cross Jack. Maggie is
an experienced hiker so she brings a pack of anything she
might need, including water and a dish for the dog. She
meets a local boy who looks to be Native, by the Rio
Grande, but he's too shy to talk.
Slightly strange things start to happen, though Maggie is
assured that hearing coyotes howling at night is quite
normal in this place. When the boy does talk to her, he
says his name is Ash and gives her a turquoise necklace.
She accompanies him to his village, which looks like the
Pueblo dwellings in the local museum. But her father can't
see the village on the maps. Then the village people come
to life in Maggie's dreams, telling her that Ash needs her
help. Maggie packs her bag for a few days and heads off
with loyal Jack, not realising that she is stepping into
another world full of danger.
I liked a great many things about this adventure, from
Maggie's determination and her attempts to follow her
parents' sensible rules, to the explanation of why the
antagonist, a male witch named Shrivelled Corn Man, behaves
as he does. Jack is equally as much a character as anyone
and has an unexpected experience of his own. The other
characters such as Bear Girl, Coyote and Spider Old Woman
teach us a lot about the people and the legends of this
place. Ash is a true friend but due to the evil acts of the
witch he may be the last of his tribe. In fighting to save
himself he is fighting to save the village, and Maggie
knows nothing of the rules of this battle.
COYOTE'S DAUGHTER by Corrie Weaver is a brilliant read for
young people and adults interested in paranormal books or
in the desert location and tales. I highly recommend it.
Trapped in a world where the legends of Tewa mythology walk
free, a young girl must solve an ancient mystery in order to
return to her own world. It is the beginning of summer, and
twelve-year-old Maggie is angry about her family's move from
San Diego to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Lonely and resentful
at her new circumstances, Maggie and her dog Jack explore
their new neighborhood and soon find the shady trail leading
up to the Rio Grande.
While playing by the river, Jack startles a strange young
boy, Ash. Maggie is slowly drawn away from the real world of
her family and into Ash's land, one populated by myths and
legends. Threatening all is Shriveled Corn Man, a powerful
sorcerer in search of vengeance for wrongs long past. Guided
by the trickster Coyote and the cryptic Spider Old Woman,
Maggie and Jack must travel across Ash's world in order to
free their new friend and his people.
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