In this riveting book, world-renowned author Joy Cowley brings together two very different worlds, giving us a rare glimpse of the remarkable human spirit that connects us all. When fourteen-year-old Jordan and her young brothers learn they'll have to ride a rickety plane home for the holidays, they're worried. But when it crashes on a wild and deserted peninsula in New Zealand, they are completely terrified - and alone. Or are they? Whose voice is Jordan hearing, telling her what to do next? Two hundred years ago a hunter the same age as Jordan is also in a dangerous situation. He is a slave to Maori warriors hunting for the moa, and he has the gift of sight. But what is the strange silvery bird that he sees crashing into the sea? And who is the girl with golden hair who is in trouble? He needs to escape the warriors, but he is driven to help the girl. If only she will listen.

Reviews

Gr 4-8-In 1805, Hunter, a Maori teen who has been enslaved by the leaders of a rival tribe, has a gift "of seeing things that were hidden." He is forced to lead his captors' warriors to one of the last surviving moa. Along with his vision of the bird's location, he sees a "canoe- with wings" and white children in distress, images that tie into the story's alternating plot of three siblings trying to survive a small plane crash on a remote New Zealand beach in 2005. The eldest, nearly 14-year-old Jordan, has recently become interested in examining her family's mixed ethnic background and reclaiming her Maori heritage. She receives messages across time and space from Hunter, who knows her by her Maori name, Marama. He provides her with the information that allows the siblings to find shelter and food, cope with life-threatening injuries, and make a much-needed fire. In the end, Hunter escapes his captors and the youngsters are rescued; readers also discover that Hunter is the children's ancestor, hence the reason for communication over a 200-year barrier. Alternately exciting and mysterious, the novel has highly appealing elements that are likely to grab fans of adventure/survival stories such as Gary Paulsen's Hatchet (Macmillan, 1986), and time-slip fantasies like Philippa Pearce's Tom's Midnight Garden (Yearling, 1990).-Ellen Fader, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.