Motherless

An island appears and disappears. A mysterious animal stands at the edge of the forest, watching. A door becomes a portal to the deepest secrets of the ocean. Through the darkness, a wolf strikes for life. Born in a downpour that breaks a record drought, she is named Rainy. A young Native American girl, orphaned at 5, she lives with her grandfather on the white sandy shores of the Florida coast. As she approaches adolescence, Rainy struggles with her love for the Earth and the horrors inflicted on our natural world, facing questions of loss and identity, and the very essence of the human spirit. They are questions that hours spent in classrooms, and even her grandfather’s ancient wisdom, cannot answer. Exasperated, a storm rages inside of her, ultimately releasing her own spirit to the storm raging outside, and lifts her into a dream that is more than a dream. Beyond this dream, in a place where the ordinary and extraordinary merge, Rainy Peek realizes her destiny and what it truly means to be MOTHERLESS
“… an astounding and never-wavering story."
MariJo Moore, co-editor of Unraveling the Spreading Cloth of Time: Indigenous thoughts Concerning the Universe
“…The book gives voice to past truth and hopefully prompts thought change for a future that nourishes the spirit of all the Children of the Earth…”
- Barbara Schoenbeck, Ph.D. Professor of Education, Concordia University, St. Paul MN
“… a story that I didn't want to end..."
- Trace A. DeMeyer, author of One Small Sacrifice and Two Worlds
“This is a cultural gem…”
- Debra Ann Morrow, retired Iowa classroom teacher/school librarian
“… By showing intolerance and racism as rooted in ignorance, he manages to teach with compassion, without preaching….”
- Jason Schoenbeck, Teacher, Alexander Graham Bell School, Chicago, Illinois
“… here we have a book that could well be used to shatter those symbolic chains fettering not only the individual, but also nations!”
- Sam Gilliland, renowned Scottish poet, recipient of the MacDiarmid Tassie (Goblet) 2009 – Resides in Stranraer, Scotland
Awards:
2016 International Book Award Winner– Multicultural Fiction
2015 Florida Book Award Medal – Young Adult Literature
2016 Paris Book Festival – Honorable Mention – Spiritual
2016 Award of Literary Excellence – Friends of Florida Mid-County Regional Library
2016 Next Generation Indie Award – Finalist Best Overall Cover Design Fiction
Selected by Dept. of Education for Talking Book Library for the Blind2015 Florida Book Award
Bronze Medal