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Call Me The Canyon |
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by
Ann Howard Creel Madolen yearns to see life in the world outside the red walls of her canyon. As an adopted daughter of a kind Mormon family and then as a guide for a handsome young Easterner, she finds love. But will his love be what she is seeking? In the background, the lure of gold and the dangerous beauty of the West's great canyons and mountains always call...along with the voices of Madolen's ancestors--the Old Ones--and the song of Madolen's own canyon.
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What
Reviewers
are Saying About this Book Madolen's life has been narrow, hard and lonely since her mother died. Seeing no one but her father in a remote part of Utah at the end of the 19th century, the surprising offer of a Mormon family (the Olsens) to adopt her means not just other women for friends, but a chance to learn to read and see something of the world. Her father's determination that if she goes, she will no longer be kin is painful, but the pull to be part of society is too strong. The Olsen mother and daughter give Madolen a taste for female companionship as well as some book-learning, but when tragedy strikes, Madolen is truly on her own. Struggling to survive in the canyons of Utah requires all her skills and knowledge from both parts of her life. A young wealthy Easterner arrives to arouse her interest and love with his outsider's appreciation for the flora, fauna and natural beauty around them. A bittersweet romance grounded in an unusual place and time, with the added bonus of an introduction to early Mormon daily life and beliefs. (Fiction. YA) -Kirkus Review, November 1, 2006 ...It is an amazing love story, and Madolen is a character to admire and cherish. It’s excellent historical fiction. --Sherri Forgash Ginsberg, Librarian, Pasadena CA, KLIATT, November 2006 ...The allure of gold, the backdrop of the wilderness, and trials of personal faith combine in this captivating and emotional story. –The Midwest Book Review, Small Press Bookwatch: November 2006 |
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About the Author Ann Howard Creel is the author of four previous
books for young adults— multi-award winning book
Under A Stand Still Moon; Water at the Blue Earth, A Ceiling of Stars, and
Nowhere, Now Here. She is also the author of the adult novel The Magic of
Ordinary Days, recently produced as a major (and best-selling) Hallmark
Hall of Fame presentation. |
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Excerpt from Call Me the Canyon Just after my fifteenth birthday, I packed up and rode out of the green depths of Glen Canyon, into the burnt red rocks that cracked into the Colorado River gorge and past a thousand slabs of time. On that day, just as the rivers and streams sometimes changed their courses, so did I. I did not think I would miss my father’s cabin in the side canyon he’d claimed as his own before I was born. I did not think I would miss the cattails and cottonwoods or the creek and their sounds that had always soothed me to sleep. When I had met Sister Louisa Olsen at Dandy Crossing, she had stepped down from her wagon and shown me a book. I’d seen a book only once before when the railroad engineer, Stanton, had come through when I was seven. All those tiny figures in straight lines across the page were, to me, a curled and looped art form that only the wise could decipher. Sister Louisa Olsen had promised me an education if I left with her. Then she gave me a nice blue dress, nearly new, and I didn’t hesitate to promise I’d go, even though my father knew nothing about it. |
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