Product Info

Race to the Moonrise was awarded the gold medal in children's fiction by the Colorado Independent Booksellers' Association.

This book is approved for use with Native American children by the Intertribal Cultural Committee of the Council for Indian Education.

Now available--the teacher's/parent's guide to go with Race to the Moonrise!
is an inviting story of Long Legs and Little Basket, two engaging children living in northern Mexico around 1200 A.D. who must journey afoot from their homeland all the way to what is now southwestern Colorado. Little Basket is a young girl with special powers; Long Legs is her rugged and protective older brother. To help the people of the Far North, with whom the gods are displeased, the two must hasten to visit many communities along the way to collect offerings to take to the Moonrise Ceremony. Not only do we get caught up in the race to the Moonrise and the children's remarkable adventures, we also learn about the early southwestern cultures along the way: the Mogollon of the Mimbres Valley in today's southwestern New Mexico, Arizona's Hohokam of the Gila and Salt River Basins, the Sinagua of Wupatki Pueblo and the Hopi. We also visit the Ancestral Pueblo people of Chaco Canyon, Aztec, Mesa Verde, and Chimney Rock. This book is a treasure for the young reader and an entertaining and informative yarn for adults.