When Hally, a funny and precocious six-year-old girl, and her photographer dad go out on assignment to photograph the paintings of gifted wildlife artist Jake Bandanna, they think they see him momentarily turn into a turtle. Was it real or a trick of light? Is he just an eccentric or a medicine man? Astonished and skeptical, but honestly intrigued, the family gets drawn into an unexpected quest. Jake Bandanna is helping a wildlife agency with a project for endangered desert tortoises. This soon reveals a conflict between freedom for some and captivity for others and spurs a gauntlet of accelerating tensions that exposes them all to the mysteries of the imagination and the natural world. (More…▼)
This family unfolds their story on two levels, one that children can follow and another with deeper evocations of meaning for adults. Their cascade of events and a surprise betrayal compel them into actions that combine the innate wisdom and insights of a child, the clarity gained from paying attention, the insistence of dreams, and a strange, mysterious knowledge that guides their journey in trying to set things right.
As this quest increasingly engages the family’s day-to-day life, it brings out the natural powers in all of them, and Hally must find her toughness as she gets deeper into this adventure layered with turtle mythology, the unseen forces of nature, and the secrets of creative energy. Her growing intensity confronts her parents with challenges and discoveries of their own as they, too, learn and grow in support of their spirited child. Then with pressures peaking, Hally asserts herself out in the wild lands of the desert, wielding her innocent strengths in the world as she sees it, scrambling to save a life. It is a story of transformation and hope.
