THE GHOST WARRIORS

Two teenagers in the Paleolithic Era must rescue a fellow villager from a rival tribe in this historical middle-grade adventure.

Thirteen-year-old Tioga from the Allegewi tribe is exploring the dangerous Bear Cave. Joining him is his best friend, 12-year-old Kopi, who’s loyal but not quite as daring. Tioga’s father was a famous trapper named Wroclaw who died while wrestling a bear. Other children torment Tioga about this as well as mock him for his hand, which was disfigured by fire. While exploring, Tioga and Kopi suddenly hear screaming; they soon learn that 14-year-old Hanna, Tioga’s crush, has been kidnapped. She’s been taken by the Mononga Devil, a warlord with only one arm and, possibly, mystical powers. The Allegewi’s Chief Tundra says that warriors can’t be spared to rescue Hanna and sends the two boys on a mission to retrieve the Allegewi hunters so they can protect the village from an imminent attack. They are not to attempt to rescue Hanna, he says, whose fate is up to the “Great Spirit.” Yet Tioga is determined to do so anyway. After he and Kopi pick up the girl’s trail—finding strands of her dyed purple hair and jewelry—they discover that the Devil is a man with an intriguing history. Tippins’ debut blend of ancient history and action will fascinate his target audience and offer adults a refreshing literary excursion. His resourceful protagonists are easy to root for as they defy the odds for love and loyalty. When Elder Gron gives Tioga a bone talisman made from the arm of the Devil, the tale adopts a truly mythic quality. Stone Age facts abound, such as the use of the atlatl, a spear that hunters launched with the help of a curved wooden stick. Gory moments are appropriate to the story (“His [father’s] hair and half of his face had been torn away. Blood gushed from a wound in his neck”), and revelations regarding the Devil, Tioga’s mother, and the connections between the Allegewi and Mononga tribes are continuously surprising. An emotional finale gears fans up for a sequel.

A tale with riveting characters and an operatic plot.