Please find my review at http://www.myshelf.com/reviews.htm ( )

I have been an avid reader of the Gear's "People" series for years. This book is just as good, but from a child's perspective! Wonderful!

I hope to see Twig become part of the folklore of her people, much in the way that Wolf Dreamer did in the people books. ( )

I wish I could be more positive about this book. It has, after all, quite a few features that appeal to me. There's the setting for one thing -- which is approximately 13,000 years ago in the N.E. of North America -- and the characters which are interesting -- our heroine, Twig, is the daughter of a Shaman. And I certainly like that the Gear's worked to portray the time and people with some accuracy, however I can't recommend it generally.

Part of the problem is that the story is too slow to develop for kids. Heck, it was too slow for me and I really think that at least 50 pages could have excised with no harm done.

My last complaint is more personal. I thought it was exceedingly annoying, given how hard the authors worked to be scientifically accurate, that added a whole bunch of mysticism. If they had done it from the perspective of this is what the people of that time might have believed, it would have been one thing. But they actually made the magic 'real' and our characters went in and out of multiple planes of existence.

In any case, Adults, I'm going to advise you to pass this book by. It's an interesting story but I think most well read adults are going to find the plot predictable. I also think that they are likely to find some of the less than smooth changes in point-of-view and verb tense annoying.

For children who have an interest in ancient history, I say give this imaginative book a try IF you are the patient sort. The story starts out slow, but if you stick to it, I think you'll be rewarded by an exciting ending. ( )