A polio epidemic is sweeping California. Thirteen-year-old Lena, a Nuwä (Kawaiisu) girl, must find the great healer Yahwera and get the medicine her best friend, Sara, and so many others need. But Yahwera refuses to help unless Lena saves the annoying and foolish trickster Coyote. To do this, both girls must travel back to the time when animals were people and learn what it truly means to save Coyote, before it’s too late for everyone.

When the main characters in this novel embark on a life-saving quest they enter the rich narrative world of the Nuwä/Kawaiisu people of South-Central California whose stories have been passed from parent to child for thousands of years. These stories are as real as the world around us and as alive as our imagination can make them. Enjoy the journey!

Also available at the Tehachapi Museum and at Russo’s Books russosbooks.com