Under A Stand Still Moon 
 ***Independent PublishersBook
Award Winner 2006 for Multicultural Fiction

***ForeWord Magazine YA Fiction Bronze Award

A Notable Social Studies Trade Book
for Young People 2006  
-the National Council for the Social Studies
and the Children's Book Council

Women Writing the West Young Adult Fiction Finalist   
 

List price: $8.95  
Pages: 192
Format: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-0974648187
Publisher: Brown Barn Books
 

   This is the story of Echo, born in a lucky month when the moon stood still.

    Her greatest joy is being free to explore the world around her village. But she must also learn the work she is destined to do as a wife and mother. Suddenly, what seems to be a miracle changes her destiny, and she is forced to leave her village and forget her true love, the man she meant to marry, to marry the High Priest, Sun Watcher, a man whose power frightens the people of her village. Echo needs two great gifts from her husband—Sun Watcher’s magic and his power—that govern the lives of all the People.

     Set in prehistoric Southwestern United States around 1100 A.D., in this story of life and death and desire, a girl becomes a young woman who must use her power and strength against the ecological disasters, marauding nomads, astronomical terrors that may destroy her world.

     "UNDER A STAND STILL MOON could easily be this generation's ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS. It was a real page-turner for me, at 192 pages; I was sorry it was over so soon. It is intriguing historical fiction, set in the Southwestern United States around 900AD..."
                                      –New England Children’s Booksellers Assoc, September 24, 2005

     “Under A Stand Still Moon is an incredible journey back into the time and place of the great Anasazi civilization. Ann Howard Creel deftly brings these ancient people to life. I became the girl Echo, lived her joys, sorrows and triumphs.”
                                                 –Sue Harrison, prize-winning author of Call Down the Stars   

    “A great book for kids and adults who want to know more about the daily lives of the people who lived in one of the great archaeological sites of the United States.”
                                             –Steven A. LeBlanc, Archaeologist, Harvard Peabody Museum

     "A valuable teaching tool for history, culture studies, family studies, as well as Native American studies. It would serve as an excellent collaborative text between the social sciences and language arts."
                                      –James Burch, Middle School Social Studies Teacher

About the Author

    Ann Howard Creel is the author of three previous books for young adults—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.
     Her interest in the ancient peoples of the Southwest was whetted by her two years of living and working at the Navajo Reservation in Chinle, Arizona.
     She lives in Denver..

     I looked up. On the edge of the bright fireball of the Sun, I could see a darkening, as if something were closing down upon the Sun, blocking out its light. I had never seen this before, yet I had heard of it. In years past, this had happened before, but the Priests had managed to save the Sun. Still, it was one of the most frightening of all the tales ever told around the fireside in the winter.

     "Stop planting," Father said to all of us. "This is very bad medicine. We must consult the Priests."

     We dropped our tools in the field and ran up the trails into the courtyards. Others were doing the same, abandoning their planting and running to the villages. Fear hung in the eyes that I gazed into, a fear of something dark and unknown.