In the meantime, check out my website athttp://www.sedoyle.com/kiva--the-stone-nation.html for more information.
Happy writing!
Sarah
The Forbidden Canyon is the first book in the series, Kiva and the Stone Nation and tells the story of a young girl who struggles with twin makátaes, or spirit bears, living inside her, one gentle and one angry. Kiva’s grandmother, Hota, has warned her to be careful, for whichever makátae she feeds will be the one to control her. But Kiva believes her grandmother is crazy and ignores not only her advice but her prediction that one day Kiva will inherit her grandmother’s ability as a YaYa Hiké, a powerful shape shifting shaman.
As Kiva’s twelfth birthday approaches, strange creatures begin to appear, both at home and at her middle school. Since no one else seems to see them, Kiva fears that she has inherited her grandmother’s crazy genes. When a coyote wanders into the end-of-the-school-year dance, Kiva is accused of causing the animal’s strange behavior. Trying to put the embarrassing event behind her, Kiva reluctantly goes with her parents to her grandparents’ ranch in southern Colorado for the weekend. When she receives a text from her best friend stating that she is being forced by the most popular girl in school to end their friendship, Kiva begs her parents to take her home so she can talk to her friend face-to-face. But her parents refuse and in defiance, Kiva disappears into the forbidden canyon behind her grandparents’ cabin.
Lost in the vast mystical forest of the canyon, Kiva stumbles across various creatures sent to lead her to Scout—a girl-shaped member of the Stone Nation called upon by the Everything Maker to guide Kiva through her initiation. As Scout teaches Kiva the twelve lessons to becoming a YaYa Hiké, the opposing makátaes continue to play tug of war inside her, thus forcing her to throw away the logic her father has taught her all her life and to accept that she is the legendary YaYa Hiké of Hota’s stories. In the end she must decide whether to use her new abilities to save the Elders—magnificent stones about to be destroyed by the greedy oil company—or to find her way home before she loses the only friend she has ever known.
