Under a Stand Still Moon

Ann Howard Creel
Brown Barn Books (2005)
ISBN 0974648183
Reviewed by Susan Pettrone for Reader Views (1/07)

From the beginning of this book, the reader is drawn into the world of “Echo,” a young Native American girl living in the southwestern United States around 900 A.D. We see her grow from a young girl who spends her happiest days playing and exploring the world around her with her friends and helping her mother with her younger sister. Her closest friends “jumping Fish” (her brother) and “Falcon” are her constant companions as they grow up day by day from children with not a care in the world, to young adults facing the world around them. Her relationship with Falcon changes as they grow older as well.

From friendship grows love and they vow to be married one day when the time is right and Falcon has proven himself to be a man and worthy of marriage. To the three of them, life cannot be better, their threesome will stay close with the marriage and they will not have to part. Falcon prepares for his first hunt and with his return, plans to ask for Echo in marriage, a plan that seems perfect to all three of them.

All seems happy and carefree for Echo until the day she happens to be in a place where a child falls from a high mesa and she catches it nimbly in her outstretched arms. From that day forward, her life changes in ways that she never dreamed possible….and all because she saved the life of this one child. For the child she saved is a child who belongs to the priest’s and their group who live high on the mesa. And with the news of her heroic action a priest asks for her hand in marriage.

Echo is crushed but knows that to ask for her hand is a compliment to her family and she cannot even think of refusing. So she is swept up into a marriage to a man she has no love for and who is not interested in her for a typical wife, but for someone who will be kind to him and help him as he grows older. She agrees to the marriage with the stipulation that he will teach her all his secrets of the priesthood and train her as he would a man. Her husband sees the wisdom in such a request and grants it thus beginning her studies as a student of the mysterious ways of their people.

As the book continues, we see the tribe growing more and more aware that in order to survive, they must move on. For they have used up most of the natural resources of the area and as they years go by, it is harder and harder for them to prepare for the winters that lie ahead. Sadly they realize the futility of staying and one by one they move on leaving those who are too sick or old to stay and die where they lived. Echo stays behind caring for and burying those who die, as she feels she must do for her tribe. Her husband grows more ill as the days go by until he too passes on and Echo is left to bury her husband by herself. It is Echo’s footsteps that are then the last to leave the mesa and all the memories it held for her people.

After reading this, I found myself thoughtful, wondering if in fact this could have happened to the people of Chimney rock. I wondered if perhaps they, like the people in this book, slowly realized that though they had a wonderful city built on the mesa, that it no longer met their needs, and beautiful or not, they must move on to survive. I would highly recommend this book for young readers of all ages. It is filled with thoughtful moments, historical references to the lifestyle of Echo and her people and realistic characters as well. It is a book rich with meaning and thought provoking situations. This book is one that would make an excellent addition to any home or classroom library and one that is well worth the price. It is a wonderful way to look at the life of Native Americans and to see all aspects of their life in an easy to read and understandable manner. In short, “Under a Stand Still Moon” is fantastic book in every way and a book that deserves to be read for it’s insight and interesting storyline alike!

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