The sticks were stuck into the ground next to the fire to cook. Grouse and ducks also roasted on sticks. They gave off a funny smell, for they were cooked with their feathers on. Haunches of deer were roasting. Corn and squash were cooking in maple syrup. There was so much food that I did not see how even the whole village could eat it all. But they did and I helped.
Because everyone was so full, the dancing began slowly. But soon the drums beat faster. There was much good-natured teasing of White Deer and Ke che gaw baw. Only White Deer’s mother and father were quiet. They knew that in another day their daughter would leave the village to go to Ke che gaw baw’s home. Most likely they would not see her again.
The chief raised his hands for silence. He looked like a king with his long silver earrings and beaded headdress. He spoke in the Ottawa language, so I could not understand him. Fawn said that he was giving a blessing to White Deer and Ke che gaw baw. “He is saying we have much to celebrate this year, for the tribe now owns the land we need.” Fawn smiled at me. “He thanks your father.”
After the talk there was more dancing, but Mama said it was time to take William home. I was sorry to leave and did not think it fair that I had to go just because William was sleepy. On the way back the moon lit the trail for us. We could hear an owl hooting.
About the Author
GLORIA WHELAN says, “Some years ago, like Libby and Fawn, my family moved to the woods of Northern Michigan. We canoe down the same streams the Indians canoed; the roads we travel each day were once Indian trails. It’s not surprising, then, that the stories of the Indians should find their way into my imagination and my books.”
Shadow of the Wolf is the third book in Gloria Whelan’s critically acclaimed pioneer series. She has written many popular books for children, including Next Spring an Oriole and Night of the Full Moon. She lives with her husband in Northern Michigan.
About the Illustrator
TONY MEERS lives in Toronto, Canada with his wife and four children. He loves illustrating children’s books because he remembers how much he enjoyed the pictures in his favorite childhood books. “I always looked for books with exciting illustrations that carried me away to other places and times. The pictures made the story more magical, and made me think of the world as a place with endless possibilities.”
Text copyright © 1997 by Gloria Whelan. Illustrations copyright (c) 1997 by Tony Meers.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Whelan, Gloria.
Shadow of the wolf / by Gloria Whelan ; illustrated by Tony Meers.
p. cm.
“A Stepping Stone book.”
SUMMARY: In 1841, thirteen-year-old Libby and her family begin a new life on the shores of Lake Michigan, where her father works as a surveyor for the Ottawa Indians and Libby is reunited with her Indian friend Fawn.
eISBN: 978-0-307-55959-3
[1. Ottawa Indians—Juvenile Fiction. 2. Ottawa Indians—Fiction. 3. Indians of North America—Michigan—Fiction. 4. Frontier and pioneer life—Michigan—Fiction.
5. Michigan—Fiction.] I. Meers, Tony, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.W5718Sh 1997 [Fic]—dc20 96-18652
RANDOM HOUSE and colophon are registered trademarks and A STEPPING STONE BOOK and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
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Gloria Whelan, Shadow of the Wolf
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