about the book
Half breed Kendall Drennan is the last of the Acoma Snake Clan, known for their long distance runs across the New Mexico desert floor. Though he respects his Anglo father, he can’t believe the man remarried so fast after his mom’s death, and especially to Juanita, a descendent of the same Spanish Conquistadors who murdered Kendall’s relatives more than 400 years ago.
It’s like a brutal slap across his face. To get away and sort out his feelings, the fourteen-year-old takes off for the Enchanted Mesa, the sacred site for the Acoma tribe. There, Kendall slips through time to 1598, to the sixteenth-century Acoma Pueblo where he takes part in a snake dance in a smoke-filled kiva. A tribal elder speaks Keresan, saying the old ways are lost and they must trust the gods to guide Kendall. As he spins and stamps his feet, the others in the kiva merge and the entire kiva dissolves and disappears.
His vision continues as he participates in his people’s daily activities, noting their strong spiritual connection to the land. He realizes that he comes from a long line of warriors and mystics who are responsible for carrying out the yearly (but now extinct) ceremonies that regain the favor of the gods and bring rain. His grandfather Armando would have been so proud.
As the vision turns once more, the Spanish with their long guns and armor arrive. The Conquistadors lay claim to the Southwest, and Kendall is forced to witness the atrocities they inflicted on the Acoma. He tries to save his people and battles futilely beside his ancient ancestors. Will he be one of the few survivors? Will he reawaken in his true time and live out his destiny as the last Snake Runner, as the spirits told him?
Be sure to check out the author’s notes. There she explains how the historical events are based on eyewitness accounts by one of the Spanish soldiers.
about the author
Kimberly Griffiths Little was born on Valentine’s Day in San Francisco. She was so shy most people thought she couldn’t talk! By the time Kimberly was six years old, she was reading a book a day and scribbling stories. At ten, she was dreaming of finding her own novels on a local library shelves.
In ninth grade she wrote her first book, a gothic novel, mostly during choir practice. Her friends devoured the pages as fast as she could churn them out! Kimberly was fairly certain she’d grow up to be a writer.
She studied piano teaching at Brigham Young University, because they didn’t have the writing program she wanted at that time. That led to jobs selling grandfather clocks, working for a CPA, waitressing at Big Boy, and teaching as many as 20 piano students at a time. Once her three sons came along, she also home-schooled them.
She traveled a lot, and especially adored Paris, Bulgaria, England, Scotland, and Egypt. She likes old, musty places that have secret stories to tell. Besides traveling, she was also writing, and her short stories started to appear in children’s and women’s periodicals.
She claims to be a slow learner; it took 15 years from the time her first article was published before she sold her first book. As far as how she works, she’s a big 3×5 index-card note-plotter! She shows this technique on the online site WriteOnCon. Here’s her biggest writing secret: she finds making lots of cookies helps with her writing and editing processes!
Currently she, her husband (a robotics engineer), and her three sons live in a solar-powered adobe house down a long dirt road near the banks of the Rio Grande in New Mexico. She swears she drinks so much of the ancient magical “Land of Enchantment” water that it spurts out of her pen. Oops. Better make that her ergonomic keyboard!
Sources:
Author website
Author interview : Literary Rambles
Author interview : Barbara Watson
Also by Kimberley Griffiths Little:
The Time of the Fireflies. Scholastic. 2014.
When the Butterflies Came. Scholastic. 2013.
Circle of Secrets. Scholastic. 2011.
The Healing Spell. Scholastic. 2010.
Enchanted Runner (Book 1). Harper Collins. 1999.
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