The River Quintet

Chapter	Note	Title
1	1	Native Americans
1	2	The Stockade
1	3	The Setting
1	4	The Clan
1	5	The Runner
1	6	Turkey-Feathered Clothes
1	7	Sassafras
1	8	Copper
1	9	Lake Ontario
1	10	Niagara Falls
1	11	Game with Leather Stick
1	12	Howe Caverns
1	13	The Black Robes
1	14	Wampum
1	15	The League of the Iroquois
2	16	The Longhouse
2	17	Activities in Winter
2	18	Telling Stories
2	19	Language
3	20	The Family
3	21	Hunting
3	22	Food in Winter
3	23	Clothing
3	24	Pottery
3	25	Weaving
3	26	Names
3	27	Tools
3	28	Clearing Land
3	29	Planting
3	30	The Cradleboard
3	31	Migration of Birds
3	32	Legends
4	33	Chores for Children
4	34	Maple Syrup
4	35	Bow and Arrow
4	36	Snow-Snake
4	37	Left-Handedness
4	38	The Wolf
4	39	Dreams
5	40	Skunk Cabbage
5	41	The Sky Hunter
5	42	Flint
5	43	People of the Flint
5	44	Bear Grease
5	45	Pretty Stones
6	46	Mount Marcy
6	47	Lake Tear of the Clouds
6	48	Mountain Top Vegetation
6	49	View from a Mountain
6	50	The Eagle
6	51	Headwaters of the Hudson
6	52	Smoke Signals
6	53	Little Continental Divide
6	54	The Hurons
6	55	Adirondack Mt. Trail 121
7	56	Journey Food
7	57	Wood
7	58	Building a Canoe
7	59	Festivals
7	60	The Sweat Lodge
7	61	Beaver Tail Soup
7	62	Cedar Tea
7	63	The Smoking Pipe
7	64	Dance
7	65	Rhythms
8	66	Moccasins
8	67	The Loon
9	68	Canoe Handling
9	69	Rapids
9	70	Woodland Birds
10	71	Hudson River Gorge
10	72	Linking a Canoe
10	73	Moose
10	74	Repairing a Canoe
10	75	Evergreen Trees
11	76	Blue Ledges
11	77	The Osprey
11	78	The Speckled Trout
11	79	The Snapping Turtle
11	80	The Cougar
11	81	The Butterfly
11	82	Beauty
11	83	Things Bittersweet
12	84	Mohicans / Mahicans
12	85	Rockwell Falls
12	86	The Fate of Captives
12	87	Potholes
12	88	Bone Fracture
13	89	Waterfalls
13	90	Maternal Instincts
14	91	The Mohawk River
14	92	Cohoes Falls
14	93	Rainbow
14	94	Clouds
15	95	Catskill Mountains
15	96	Castle Island
15	97	The White-Tailed Fawn
15	98	The Estuary
16	99	The Marsh
16	100	Trail Food
16	101	Cattails
16	102	The Comb
16	103	The Ramapoughs
16	104	Childbirth
16	105	Twins
16	106	The Snake
16	107	The Moon
16	108	The Great Bear
16	109	The Twin Stars
17	110	Middens
17	111	Regrowth of Land
17	112	Striped Bass
17	113	Portable Water
17	114	Lacrosse
17	115	The Wappingers
17	116	Witch Hazel
17	117	The Poultice
17	118	Black Flies
17	119	Bug Repellent
18	120	The Shad Tree
18	121	The Hudson Highlands
18	122	Pollepel Island
18	123	Breakneck Mountain
18	124	Storm King Mountain
18	125	Hair Styles
18	126	Constitution Island
18	127	West Point
18	128	War Canoes
18	129	The Thunderstorm
18	130	Rough Water Canoeing
18	131	Hypothermia
18	132	The Popcorn Surprise
19	133	Shad
19	134	Popolopen Creek
19	135	The Muskrat
19	136	Hand Signals
19	137	Courtesies
19	138	The Sturgeon
19	139	The Munsees
19	140	Dugout Canoes
19	141	The Tulip Tree
19	142	Personal Hygiene
20	143	Sing Sing
20	144	Granite
20	145	The Tappan Zee
20	146	Tall Ships
20	147	Dutch-English Distionary
20	148	Firearms
20	149	Historical Milestones
21	150	The Palisades
21	151	Fog
21	152	Foxfire
21	153	The Funeral Procession
22	154	The Williow Tree
22	155	The Shorakkopochs
22	156	The Caves of Inwood
22	157	The Healing Arts
22	158	Appendicitis
22	159	The Wolf Pup
22	160	Honey
23	161	The Moccasin Flower
23	162	Island of the Hills
23	163	The Manhattoes
23	164	Body Decorations
23	165	Orthopedics
23	166	Cat’s Cradle
23	167	The Conch
23	168	Domesticated Wolves
23	169	Clams
23	170	Oysters
23	171	Lobsters
23	172	Iron Tools
23	173	The Chestnut Tree
23	174	The Trading Site
23	175	Trading
23	176	Making Wampum
23	177	Words
23	178	Long Distance Commerce
23	179	Albinism
23	180	The Owl
24	181	New York Harbor
24	182	The Harbor Islands
24	183	The Narrows
24	184	Coney Island
24	185	The Canarsees
24	186	The Horizon
24	187	Sperm Whales
24	188	The East River
24	189	The Brooklyn Bridge
24	190	Roosevelt Island
24	191	Hell’s Gate
24	192	Highbridge
24	193	Kingsbridge
24	194	Spuyten Duvil and The Harlem River Ship Canal
24	195	The Island of Manhattan
25	196	Outcasts
25	197	The Gift
25	198	Names for the Hudson River

You can also download a PDF of the map here!

Kenneth Little Hawk is a renowned storyteller and musician featuring the culture of Native Americans. He has performed extensively in schools, museums and at historical restoration sites both in the United States and internationally.

Welcome, welcome, all of you
Every nation, every culture, every color, every hue.
Open your heart so you may hear
More with your spirit, less with your ear.

All my life I have been guided by the wisdom of my ancestors, the Mi’kmaq of Maine and New Brunswick, Canada, and the Mohawks of the Iroquois Nation. Over the years I’ve shared the lessons of my elders around the world.

During those travels I was honored to meet author, Ray Phillips. Our common ground was respect for the wisdom of First Nations’ people as well as appreciation for the knowledge that everyone has a story to tell. Dr. Phillips and I share this ancient culture in different ways. My way is through oral storytelling, music, and dance; his is with pen and paper.

Long ago, when Nature was treated with sacred reverence, indigenous stories were passed on by word of mouth, from heart to heart, from generation to generation, with as many levels as there are in the universe. Through these oral traditions came stories and songs for all ages to entertain, teach, and remind us how we can live in a good way. First Nations’ stories teach that most of life’s challenges can be overcome. They also teach us that we need to share our good-heartedness with all people because we are ALL related.

Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of reading Dr. Phillip’s stories as they developed. His latest work is The River Quintet. This is a series of five interrelated, stand-alone novels set in a time and place when my ancestors first met Europeans arriving in the northeastern part of what they called the New World. Book One is Tail Feather: The Adventures of a Mohawk Paddler on The River‐That‐Flows‐Two‐Ways.

All the stories are gripping, adventurous, and educational, while sensitive to the indigenous viewpoint, with an understanding of the human spirit and cultural practices of the time, and our relationship to Mother Earth.

I invite all people, their children, and their grandchildren to read Dr. Phillips’ historically detailed, The River Quintet. The stories show how Mother Earth’s people share more common traits and needs than differences, and how to live with respect. A favorite story is in Tail Feather, which tells how the narcissistic bear lost his beautiful tail; at the same time, it offers insight into the rich history and culture of young Native boys.

May you enjoy reading these stories as much as I did!

Author and retired middle and high school teacher of Social Studies with thirty-three years of experience in the Albany City School District. He spent many years as a volunteer crewmember and teacher chaperone on the full-scale replica of the Half Moon, Henry Hudson’s 17th century ship of discovery. He also is the author and/or curriculum resource developer of publications that include:

For the New Netherland Museum / Replica Ship Half Moon

• Voyage of Discovery: New Netherland—An Exploration of Past and Present, An Interdisciplinary Curriculum for the 4th Grade

• Voyage of Discovery: New Netherland —An Exploration of a Dutch Colonial Settlement, A Team Teaching Interdisciplinary Curriculum for the 7th Grade

• Indians of the Hudson Valley—An Exploration of Indian Life: Before, During and After European Contact (1550-1750), A Curriculum Resource for the Elementary and Middle Grades

For the Albany Institute of History and Art

• Hudson River Panorama: 400 Years of History, Art, and Culture—Teacher Resource
• Capital Region 50 Objects – Educator Resource

---

Tail Feather is an interesting, historically accurate and absorbing tale of a young Mohawk Indian as he begins his coming of age maturation through native customs and rites of passage. Dr. Phillips’ storyline includes representations of nearly all aspects of Native American culture during the early 17th century. Tail Feather experiences life changing situations and decisions that form a foundation for his future and a strong framework for his character.

As an educational tool, Tail Feather would be very appropriate for middle school learners. This first book of the River Quintet introduces a subject matter that will proceed with the development of the reader. Many middle school students are enrolled in schools that utilize team teaching, wings, or looping. Students travel throughout their day in groups that receive instruction from the same team of teachers. This provides for an interdisciplinary approach to learning. Educational themes can be carried over to numerous subject matter classes. Native American cultures introduced in seventh grade cover a scope and sequence framework of unifying themes that include cultural identity and interaction, geography, environment, social structures, expansion, and social systems. Tail Feather’s early life journeys explore the physical environment and natural resources that influenced the development of settlement in North America. He explores various societies of Native American culture and how geography and climate influence migration and cultural development, technology, innovation, and global connections and exchange.

As students move to science class, they will learn about the Living Environment and Physical Setting. The descriptions of Tail Feather’s environment, flora, fauna, geology, weather and natural resources can all be reintroduced and reinforced in science classes.

English Language Arts classroom teachers can introduce parts of the ELA curriculum framework into a class discussion of The River Quintet novels. This framework recommends that students, as they read for understanding, look for the key Ideas and details of the writing, Readers are encouraged to identify themes, analyze story elements. and draw conclusions by identifying textual evidence and support for their findings. The wide geographical extent and temporal range of the five novels (79 years) offers the students and indeed, all readers, an opportunity to see these individual details in a larger historical perspective. The last aspect of the ELA framework is to integrate the work of literature (in this case, The River Quintet) into one’s general knowledge of the time and understand the issues presented from many different viewpoints.

The Notes About the Story and Teacher’s Guide sections can be used to parallel the story’s value throughout the interdisciplinary mode. As students begin to become more responsible for their own learning, they may choose to investigate topics of personal interest and self-direct their own learning experiences. The Notes and Guide provide a jumping off point to further such goals.

Tail Feather experiences conflict during his maturation and decision-making processes, just as most middle school students do. His story’s progress keeps the reader interested in what happens next, eager to see what’s around the next corner, beyond the forest, over the mountain, or down the river. Tail Feather, “…could not go back to childhood. He must go on, and the lure of unknown places lying just beyond the next bend in the river drew him onward.”

The first of a set of five historical novels, Tail Feather provides the groundwork needed to introduce the reader to the discoveries, settlement, development, and expansion yet to come. While Tail Feather paddles through life and beyond, he acts as the touchstone that ushers in the interconnectedness of Indian village life, foreign lands, onboard ship voyages, and the colonial period; parts of our history that start with a young Mohawk.

Great book, prescient and thorough. The author throws the door open on Upstate New York landscape in the 17th century, detailing natural sights that are still there today.

Tail Feather was a great read. Presents a cinematic tour of the Hudson and a moving coming-of-age story. A fun adventure, while illuminating of the time period, landscape, and culture. Highly recommended!

A young Mohawk’s journey of self-discovery is truly an eye-opener, as he encounters unfamiliar practices and customs of other tribes living along the river, as well as the ship of Adriaen Block. Reading this story was gratifying for me, as it highlighted many of the Hudson River sites that I know so well. The List of Notes separating the two parts of the book shows at a glance the monumental research undertaken by the author. Tail Feather combines a heart-warming story of adolescence with vast flora and fauna and cultural content. People of all ages should enjoy this book.

Chapter	Note	Title
1	1	Henderson Lake
1	2	Hudson River
1	3	The Iroquois
1	4	Mount Marcy
1	5	Water-With-No-End
1	6	Cattails
1	7	Coyote
1	8	Domesticated Wolf
1	9	Roles of Gender
1	10	Village
2	11	The Three Sisters
2	12	Chief
2	13	Tobacco Leaves
2	14	Story of Creation
3	15	Tools
3	16	Twins
3	17	Names
4	18	Loon
4	19	Porcupine
4	20	Peepers
4	21	Woodland Scents
4	22	Black Bear
4	23	Elk
5	24	Rainbow
6	25	Midden
6	26	Wolf
7	X	No Note
8	27	Missionaries
8	28	Religions
8	29	Baptism
9	X	No Note
10	30	Maize
11	X	No Note
12	31	Basketmaking
12	32	Clay Pot
13	33	Water Strider
13	34	Mirror
13	35	Spider Web
13	36	Hunting
13	37	Beaver / Dam Building
13	38	Jewelweed
13	39	Bear Cubs
13	40	Big Chill
13	41	Rattlesnake
13	42	Lost in the Woods
13	43	Blackberries
14	44	Council House
14	45	Dislocated Shoulder
14	46	Marriage
15	47	String Beads / Wampum
16	48	Lenapes
17	49	Crooked Tongues
17	50	Saint Lawrence River
17	51	Hiawatha
17	52	Onondagas
17	53	Mohawk River
17	54	Oneidas
17	55	The Iroquois Great League of Peace and Power
17	56	Mi’kmaq
17	57	Timeline
17	58	Canoe
17	59	Quebec
18	60	Sky Hunt
18	61	Wolf Pup
19	62	Sparkling Stones
19	63	Healing Arts
19	64	Concept of Death
19	65	Milky Way
19	66	Cornhusk Doll
19	67	Funereal Rites
19	68	Turtle Shell Moon Clock
20	69	Stories from the Journey to Water‐With‐No‐End

This beautiful story should engage the interest of the middle school student and as well as any reader attracted to Native American history.

Book 2 would complement any middle school Social Studies program. Teachers of science and history and all nature lovers should welcome the information provided in the Notes About the Story.

The author artfully brings Iroquois lore, family and village activities to life through the eyes of twin girls coming of age. The reader can feel the Creation Myth as it was supposed to be felt, understand its importance, and almost experience the planting of the Three Sisters. The reader quickly becomes involved in the build up to the establishment of the Iroquois Confederacy, the first representative government in North America. History tells us what happened, but it is literature that tells us how it felt.

The book is a work of art! I loved the missionary’s letter to the bishop! I wish this book had been available when I was teaching!

Chapter	Note	Title
1	1	Landlubber’s Dictionary
1	2	Hoorn
1	3	Dutch East India Company
1	4	Telescope
1	5	Weathercock
1	6	Wilden
1	7	New Netherland
1	8	Golden Age of Maritime Holland
1	9	Ship’s Officers
1	10	Fluyt
1	11	Unicorn
1	12	Shipmaster Adriaen Block
1	13	Sea Shanties
1	14	The Zuider Zee
1	15	World Events of 1616
2	16	Life for the Common Person
3	17	Trade Winds
3	18	The Rogue Wave
3	19	The Crew
3	20	Shipboard Cuisine
3	21	Shallop
3	22	Barents Sea
3	23	The Northern Lights
3	24	Religious Tensions
3	25	Windmills
4	26	Tar
4	27	Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange
4	28	The Sandglass
4	29	Monsters of the Sea
4	30	Knots
4	31	Dutch Guilds
4	32	Onrust
4	33	Tulips
5	34	Discipline at Sea
5	35	Chiprock Reach
5	36	Dead Man’s Breath
5	37	Cross‐staff
5	38	Position of the Earth
5	39	Amsterdam
5	40	Fur Trade
5	41	Scurvy
5	42	Compass
6	43	Storm at Sea
7	44	Ship’s Log
8	45	Dutch Luck
8	46	Cape Cod
8	47	Lower New York Bay
8	48	The Narrows
8	49	Upper New York Bay
8	50	New Amsterdam
8	51	Washington Heights
8	52	Harlem River
8	53	Palisades
9	54	Chiprock Reach, Again
9	55	Saw Mill River
9	56	Tappan Zee
9	57	Sing Sing
9	58	Croton Point
9	59	Hudson Highlands
9	60	Leadsman
9	61	Claverack
10	62	Fort Nassau
12	63	Mahicans
14	64	Mohawks
15	65	Sint Nicholas/Sinterklaas
15	66	Cabin Fever
15	67	Magnifying Glass
15	68	Firearms
18	69	Cohoes Falls
19	70	Castor canadensis
19	71	Glens Falls
19	72	Rockwell Falls
19	73	Blue Ledges
19	74	Harmen van den Bogaert
20	75	Chief
20	76	United Provinces of the Netherlands
20	77	Dutch Artists
21	78	Calamity Brook
21	79	Venus
23	80	Toxicodendron radicans
23	81	Mephitis mephitis
23	82	Impatiens scapiflora
24	83	Spring Floods
25	84	Aalsmeer
26	85	The Dream Quest

This book was amazing. I loved every minute of it especially since I sail almost every summer. I think Johannes is a great character due to his strive to be successful. He was hesitant to do some things, but he eventually got over his fears. I loved when he finally did this and swam with Tail Feather. The usage of proper ship terms was really amazing. I like how the story brought to attention the ways of the Native Americans. It actually taught me about their culture. I would totally recommend this book to other people, and I think that other teens would love this book.

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

During Sky Flower’s lifetime the European stage is dominated by major religious and political warfare both on sea and on land. Naval battles between European nations and between European merchant ships and pirates along the Barbary coast continue throughout the century. In the Mediterranean Sea confrontations between Venetian, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, French and English ships and those of the Ottoman Empire occur constantly. Settlements along the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea are also vulnerable to attacks, and even the island of Lundy in the Bristol Channel becomes a stronghold of Muslim pirates. Villages in Cornwall and Devon are particularly hard hit.

Pirates or “corsairs” of all ethnicities capture not only valuable cargos but people from coastal towns to be sold as slaves or ransomed. Captured Christians often convert to Islam to save their own lives. Captured Muslims, too, often become Christians for the same reason. Some English who helped the privateer Francis Drake defeat The Spanish Armada in 1588 become pirates themselves.

Sky Flower’s voyages to and from England are undertaken against this perilous backdrop. The risk of capture and death at the hands of pirates as well as the theft of cargo always cause grave concerns for those aboard any ship. While the Mohawk girl might be unaware of these dangers, the captain, the crew, and the investors in the mercantile shipping trade certainly would not be. In the home of an English noble family, Sky Flower will learn about another aspect of oceanic travel: the European involvement in the African slave trade.

On the continent, the first half of the 17th century is dominated by conflicts between the Catholic forces of the Austria and Spain and the Protestant forces led by the Dutch in their War of Independence and by the Swedes under King Gustavus Adolphus. Catholics consider the Calvinists (Huguenots), Lutherans, and other independent sects to be heretics, worthy of punishment by the ongoing Inquisition. Protestant groups, on the other hand, condemn Roman Catholics and members of the Church of England as “Papists” who defy the true tenets of Christianity. Hypocrisy, cruelty, revenge, and superstition are the hallmarks of religious fervor at this time. Sky Flower is first exposed to some of these problems during her conversations with Bertrand, a prisoner on the ship heading to England, and later with Harold, a Puritan gardener in England.

In the second half of the century peace prevails in the Dutch Republic, giving rise to the Golden Age of Science and the Arts. In England, however, chaos continues. The monarchy is overthrown, then replaced by Parliamentarians under Cromwell and is finally restored. Sky Flower will learn of these political events long after she returns to her homeland.

---

GLOBAL TIMELINE 1613-1692, sample pages

Year (Sky Flower’s Age and Location)

1613 (Birth of Sky Flower, Mohawk village of Tahawus, Adirondack Mountains)

Captain Adriaen Block sails up the Noordrivier (Hudson River) in the ship, Tijger (Tiger).

1614 (age 1, Tahawus)

1. Construction of a small ship, the Onrust, during the winter on Manhattan Island (after burning of the Tijger.) Block uses the ship to explore Long Island Sound up to Rhode Island, including the Connecticut River. Rood (red) Eyelandt was changed to Rhode Island by the British.
2. Galileo publishes evidence that sunspots (or dark areas) are planets that orbit around the sun. This “Heliotropic Theory of the Universe” is, to the church, “foolish and absurd” because it goes against Holy Scripture.

1615 (age 2, Tahawus)

First publication of a book for women, The English Huswife. Later it appears as Book Two in a two-volume edition, Countrey Contentments or the English Huswife containing The Inward and Outward Vertues which ought to be in a compleate Woman.” Written by a man, Gervase Markham, it contains instructions that cover everything from preparing feasts to medical remedies.

1617 (age 4, Tahawus)

The fourth edition of England’s first dictionary, A Table Alphabeticall, is published and in “plaine English” and is “gathered for benefit and helpe of Ladies, Gentlemen and other unskilful persons.” The listing with brief definitions begins with the word “‘abandon’ (cast away or yeelde up)” and ends 3,263 words later with “zodiack (a circle in heaven… in which the Sunne is mooved).” The only existing copy of this dictionary is in the main library at Oxford University. The dictionary was the work of a maverick priest, Robert Cawdrey of Oakham, a town in central England. Defrocked from the clergy, Cawdrey became a schoolmaster. Little is known about the life of this tenacious scholar.

1620 (age 7, Tahawus)

1. Separatists from England establish a colony in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
2. England and Holland begin a truce over the spice trades; it lasts three years.
3. William Shakespeare dies.

1623 (age 10, Tahawus)

1. Pocahontas, daughter of a Powhatan chief, is kidnapped by English colonists in Jamestown, Virginia.
2. The First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays is published posthumously. The publication likely saved most of the eighteen histories, comedies, and tragedies from extinction. Now digitalized, the originals are currently accessible at Oxford University.

1624 (age 11, Tahawus)

1. Pocahontas converts to Christianity and marries the English planter, John Rolph, in Jamestown.
2. Dutch traders settle first on an island in New York Harbor, keeping cattle and constructing a fort and a sawmill. They call it Noten Eylandt, adapting the Lenape name of Paggunuch or Paggank, which refers to the island’s abundant nut trees (chestnut, oak and hickory). The English called the island “Nutten” until 1874 when the name was officially changed to Governors Island.

1626 (age 13, Tahawus)

1. Pieter Minuit purchases Manhattan Island from the local Canarsees for a pittance. They call it Nieuw (New) Amsterdam.
2. English fishermen plying the northeastern coast above Boston begin a settlement called Naumkeag, named after a local indigenous tribe. That name was later changed to Salem, the Hebrew word for “peace.”

1627 (age 14, Fort Orange, New Netherland — now Albany.)

1. In Japan, the shogun prohibits Christianity, beginning a 200‐year policy of isolationism. Later the door shuts completely when citizens are forbidden to leave the island.
2. William Harvey demonstrates convincing evidence that the blood circulates and that the heart acts as the pump. He has no way to understand why the blood circulates or, without the microscope to visualize capillaries, how the out‐going blood from the heart connects to the returning blood.
3. A few emigrants from the Massachusetts Bay Colony begin a settlement in Salem.

1628 (age 15, New Amsterdam, New Netherland, now New York City.)

1. England grants a royal charter to the Massachusetts Bay Colony; Puritans from the Colony settle in Salem.
2. The Siege of La Rochelle: French Protestants (Huguenots) are attacked by the royal forces of Catholic King Louis XIII under Cardinal Richelieu and are made to surrender.
3. Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II of Austria-Hungary demands that Protestants in his country convert to Catholicism.

1629 (age 16, Littleton, England)

1. The “Thirty Years War” begins, pitting the Swedish Protestants, followers of Martin Luther, against the Roman Catholic Church.
2. The reign of King Charles I begins in England. His insistence on “divine right” clashes sharply with Parliament’s authority of government and eventually leads to his demise.

1630 (age 17, Littleton, England)

1. In the spring, one thousand Puritans from Boston, England sail to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, arriving first in Salem, but soon relocating to Charlestown. Reverend John Winthrop is appointed Governor. Within six years, the number will increase to 17,000.
2. The Dutch West Indies Company establishes a sugar‐growing plantation in New Holland (the area today known as Brazil). After fourteen years and many battles on sea, the Dutch are forced out by the Portuguese and Spanish.
3. Anthony Janszoon van Salee, son the Muslim Dutch pirate at Lundy Island, settles peacefully as a colonist in New Amsterdam.

1631 (age 18, Shepperton, England)

1. Mount Vesuvius in Campania in southern Italy begins a new cycle of volcanic activity that results in several subsequent eruptions. The burial of Pompei and Herculaneum by molten rock occurred in the original eruption of 79 A.D.
2. The Massachusetts Bay Colony establishes settlements in Boston and Cambridge.

1633 (age 20, Littleton, England)

1. The Dutch Republic, (shortened form of the “Dutch Republic of the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands”), experiences the world’s first catastrophic market collapse centered on a three-year speculation craze about tulip bulbs. Outrageous prices were based upon the beauty of the resulting flower.
2. The Inquisition in Rome convicts Galileo of heresy because of his published scientific findings about the universe.
3. The town of Williamsburg, Virginia is founded.

1634 (age 21, Littleton, England)

The first settlers arrive in present‐day Maryland. From England, George Calvert (Lord of Baltimore) champions a colony tolerant of all religions. Here, harassed Catholics in Protestant England eventually find a haven.

Dr. Phillips’s fourth installment in his River Quintet series reveals that the stories we tell, our personal stories, harbor within them the unmistakable impact — the tints and tinges — of a global milieu. Sky Flower roots its readers in the homecoming and introspections of a life lived across, between, and through two worlds: a singular life of an Indigenous Mohawk woman consumed by her cultural indoctrination to serve white colonial efforts and the greater historical contexts of seventeenth-century America and Europe. In this way, Sky Flower is a timely and edifying tale, revelatory of the social reckoning long overdue in our own twenty-first century.

Grounded in the aged voice of Sky Flower, who “found life to be truthful, dull,” this stunning fictional memoir turns such sentiment on its head to reveal a rich and complicated existence. The details mesh and pass through each other, connect and rebound, just like the narrator’s namesake — a sky flower, or rainbow, whose refraction and dispersion of the sun’s light captures the attention of all who encounter it, presenting the wonder, strength and beauty of the ephemeral in the face of atmospheric (environmental, cultural, social) disturbance.

Sky Flower braids a bittersweet tale of affinity with “the gentle earth” just as it releases its narrator from the bonds of belonging to any one world. It is an important vehicle through which to witness the weaving of historical influence and embrace the differences that bind us together.

Chapter	Note	Title of Note
2	1	Littleton
3	2	Magpie
3	3	Puppet Show
3	4	Toys & Games of 17th Century England
3	5	Insanity: Changing Attitudes
3	6	Hard-of-Hearing With Aging
4	7	The River Ash
4	8	Horse: Attraction
4	9	New Amsterdam
5	10	Pocahontas
5	11	Smallpox: Immunity
5	12	Gwendolyn: Origin of Name
6	13	Sir Francis Drake
7	14	Deafness: Children
7	15	Chinese Vase
7	16	The Royal College of Physicans
7	17	Deafness: Early Attitudes
8	18	Deafness: Traditional Treatment
8	19	Deaf: Education
9	20	Prism
9	21	The River Thames
10	22	Orangery
10	23	Horse: Domestication
11	24	Blacksmith
11	25	Vibrations
12	26	Iron Horse
16	27	Foal
16	28	Horse
24	29	Staines
24	30	Windsor Castle
25	31	Puritans: Plymouth and the Massachusetts Bay Colony
26	32	Pudding Lane
26	33	Countrey Contentments or The English Huswife
27	34	Quayside: London
28	35	Animals: Ship Transport
30	36	Gervase Markham (B. 1568 – D. 1637)
31	37	Fisher’s Island
33	38	Connecticut River
33	39	Leadsman or Plumb Lead Line
32	40	Bodkin Rock
34	41	Fainting
35	42	Hartford: The Beginning
35	43	Nutmeg
37	44	Food
39	45	Horses: North America
41	46	Colonial House
42	47	Diaspora
42	48	Reverend Thomas Hooker
43	49	Oxen Versus Horses
44	50	First People
45	51	Migraine
48	52	Colonial Women
49	53	Historical Data
50	54	Dutch Fort and Trading Post: House of Good Hope
50	55	Neighbors: The Dutch and the English
52	56	Meeting House
52	57	Connecticut Constitution
54	58	Dutch Sloop
66	59	Spring Peepers
66	60	Bathing
69	61	Hartford: The City
70	62	Flood
71	63	Quinsy
74	64	Almandine
78	65	Witch
83	66	John Donne
84	67	Cavern Versus Cave
85	68	Sonnet
97	69	Horse: Leg Injury
90	70	Asperger’s Syndrome
91	71	Delftware Pottery
97	72	Grass

The most lyrical and the most soul-searching novel of The River Quintet series, Book 5 is the story of a deaf girl’s empowering journey to self-determination. Through the clever integration of characters introduced in the earlier books, the author brings together elements of good storytelling: intrigue, conflict, joy, disappointment, heartache, and hope. Mary Walsingham is a tenacious girl who overcomes grief at two milestones in her life. On a larger scale, the novel can be considered an eye-opener of social customs and beliefs in Stuart England and the Puritan colony of early Hartford, CT.

A treat for all readers is the impressive reference section called NOTES ABOUT THE STORY. The author, Dr. Ray E. Phillips, includes mini-essays on the treatment of deafness by the medical profession and the development of visual communications for the deaf person. Extensive as well are his notes about horses, historical events, and other matters of health in the 17th century. The LIST OF NOTES in table form is a welcoming and convenient tool for finding a particular topic. Hats off to the author of this phenomenal novel!

Imagine a perfect bow. Once untied, it is difficult to retie the ribbon into its original beauty.” Ray Phillips’s fifth installment of his River Quintet series presents a powerful bildungsroman ignited at the point of rupture when Sky Flower departs for the New World, leaving behind a bewildered Mary. Mary Walsingham: Coming of Age in Two Silent Worlds breathes life into its eponymous protagonist, whose deafness emerges as a powerful foil for finding connections and solving afflictions—for herself and for those to whom her travels link her. Book 5 launches Mary into her own odyssey as she navigates through the turbulent colonialism of 17th century England toward the strict principles of the Puritans in the New World, their reliance on Dutch traders and an uneasy peace with the Indigenous Podunks. This flowing, captivating tale maps the confluence of destiny and circumstance to reveal that belief in oneself is synonymous with the strength to embrace an imperfect world and find the beauty and release in a useful life.

“Dr. Sheeran’s Companion Guide to The River Quintet: A Teaching Tool for the Middle School Curriculum offers a multidisciplinary approach to incorporating the historical coming-of-age novels of Ray E. Phillips into the classroom. Her well organized, in-depth and succinct presentation contains summary information, sample assessment questions, projects and class activities, references for further investigation, and much more. This highly accessible teacher’s guide reveals the intense value of helping students to comprehend historical frameworks through diverse individual and collective perspectives.”

“Thorough and inspiring!”