Shadow

October 1, 1998
Gr 5-7-An interesting coming-of-age tale set among the Sinagua people of pre-Columbian Arizona. Shadow is a resourceful and determined 13-year-old girl who chafes at the gender-role typing of her culture. Convinced by dreams and a sort of psychic connection that her twin brother Sun, on expedition with their father, is in danger, she leaves their pueblo to find and rescue him. Along the way she uses both the "woman" skills learned from her mother and the "man" skills acquired against taboo from her brother. Vick grounds the story in archaeologically based information about daily life. Her writing style sometimes lapses into melodrama ("Terror echoed through Shadow's 13-year-old body, setting her heart racing"). Also troubling are Shadow's liberated ways. On the one hand, she is believably eager to hide her forbidden skills from tribal adults; on the other, she will not curb her desire to learn more. While such persons may have existed among the Sinagua and other ritually defined peoples, one wonders if they ever received as much approval as Shadow does from her father after she uses her knowledge to save his life. The climactic scene, in which a "demon" mountain lion that has dogged them and Shadow's good luck "stone of courage" reveal themselves as embodiments of the Sprits of Fear and of Courage, is also jarring and unnecessarily didactic. Even so, Shadow's panache and the insightful look at ancient Native American life make this a worthwhile, though flawed, purchase.-Coop Renner, Coldwell Elementary-Intermediate School, El Paso, TX