Fiction

I always thought that the biggest trial in my life was my name, Naomi Guadalupe Zamora Outlaw, but little did I know that it was the least of my problems, or that someday I would live up to it.

Kevin is trying to remember what he's supposed to do if there's an intruder in the house: stay calm, don't look scared, call 911. At the same time, he's doing his best to figure out how the heck some guy with a bow and arrow got into the room. The archer's explanation - "I lost my balance, fell off the tiger, and landed here" - just adds to Kevin's bewilderment.

The fate of Karana, heroine of Island of the Blue Dolphins, is revealed in this moving story of her niece, Zia. Finding her aunt is the strongest force in Zia's life, and in the hope of doing so, Zia moves to the Santa Barbara Mission, where she plans to go the Island where someone has seen her aunt - still alive after 18 years.

The Captive is the first volume of the Seven Serpents Trilogy. Julian Escobar, a young Jesuit seminarian who travels to the New World, is the only human survivor when a hurricane sinks a ship laden with gold. He struggles ashore, where he meets a Mayan girl. She teaches him about Kukulcan, the Feathered Serpent, a fair-skinned Mayan god, who sailed away centuries before.