The Ghost on the Moki Steps
By Larry Larason and Mary Jean Hendrick

Young Phil Richart, half Navajo, has seen too many Indiana Jones movies. Needing money to help his parents out of a bind and send himself to college in California, he is lured into looting an Anasazi pueblo by George Ruffner, an illegal antiquities collector. George takes Phil to a Pueblo ruin in a remote canyon, but it is home to the bitter, lonely spirit of a young Anasazi woman who died 700 years ago. George flees the supernatural presence, leaving Phil alone in the canyon. The ghost attempts to scare Phil away, as well, but then she has a better idea.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS Larry Larason has degrees in Anthropology, Library Science, and Industrial Engineering. He lived on the Navajo Reservation for five years, and presently makes his home in Gallup, New Mexico. Road logs he has written are available on fourcornerssw.com; these present geological . historical .archaeological information for the traveler. He enjoys planning field trips for friends to see sites of interest in the Four Corners Region.

Mary Jean Hendrick has published articles in various magazines, and her first book, If Anything Ever Goes Wrong at the Zoo, a picture book illustrated by Jane Dyer, was a Book of the Month Club selection in 1998. She has taught school for twenty-five years, and now resides in Choctaw, Oklahoma.

The co-authors are brother and sister.

Review of Ghost on the Moki Steps
Moki steps are the hand and foot holds carved in the vertical rock faces used for climbing from one level to another, and are usually found near Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) ruins in the American Southwest. This is just one example of the learning available in this book. Larry Larason has spent many years living in northern Arizona and New Mexico and his knowledge of local geology, archaeology, ethnology and climate make this book very accurate. His sister and fellow author, Mary Jean Hendrick, has written many articles and one previous book.

This is a delightful book for mid school age children on through adults. The mood of the story is scary but not terrifying. It has adventure, adversity, moral dilemmas, and it develops to a satisfying conclusion. It involves two young people, a boy on the verge of going to college, currently living through a family financial crisis, and an Ancestral Puebloan girl. I can't tell you more because I don't want to give the plot away!

Suffice it to say, the values and needs of both young people evolve as the story unfolds, and both experience real growth and change. Although when I was given the book I was told it was for "youth," I found it very appealing as an older person. The descriptions bring one directly to the high canyon country of Utah, and the protagonists engage the emotions immediately. I recommend this book as a satisfying read and a great gift.

Mary Raje
San Fidel, NM