About this item
Highlights
- "[A] quiet, deeply moving story.
- 10-12 Years
- 7.5" x 5.1" Paperback
- 256 Pages
- Juvenile Fiction, Historical
Description
About the Book
At the height of the Incan empire, a girl called the Ugly One because of a disfiguring scar on her face, seeks to have the scar removed and instead finds a life path as a shaman.
Book Synopsis
"[A] quiet, deeply moving story." --The Bulletin
Twelve-year-old Micay walks around her fifteenth-century Incan village shielding the scarred side of her face that inspired the cruel name Millay, or "Ugly One." She escapes to her huaca rock, avoiding the villagers who shun her. Her world shifts dramatically when a stranger gives her a sorry-looking baby macaw. The bird becomes her dear companion on a journey that ultimately leads her to a new role as shaman in Machu Picchu's Sacred Sun City. Told in an engaging storyteller's voice, this is a stirring tale of a girl who finds her own strength.
Review Quotes
"The Incan empire's four-century ascendance has inspired plenty of nonfiction and over-the-top fantasy but perplexingly little historical fiction for kids. This recommended title can help fill that void."
--Kirkus
"This quiet, deeply moving story reminds readers of the true nature of beauty."
--Booklist Online
--Publishers Weekly "A gripping story of a girl who transforms from a cowed outcast into a confident leader, this will find an audience among tweens and teens beginning to question what fate has in store for them."
--Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books --
About the Author
Leanne Statland Ellis was inspired to write this novel by several visits to Peru and to Machu Picchu. She lives with her family--and teaches third through fifth grades--near Chicago, Illinois.