Startups
All four books are set in Indian Territory, soon to be Oklahoma, occupied by the Cherokee just after the Trail of Tears in March of 1839. Book 1: Wheezer And The Painted Frog brings to life the very real problems of a people struggling to survive in a new land after losing thousands to death and disease on The Long Walk. Sasa (Swan) a thirteen year old Cherokee girl finds herself alone after all in her family die. Just when she is ready to give in to despair, she finds and saves a lost dog who she names Wheezer. He is an extremely smart dog and he soon smells a human rat, but struggles to find a way to communicate what he senses. His original owner looks desperately for him, and when he finds Sasa and Wheezer they all become fast friends. They soon set about solving the mystery of why her five year old brother Usti Yansa (Little Buffalo) died. Wheezer leads them to the clues pointing to murder. Together, they also discover a vast network of systematic plundering of the allotments meant for the starving Cherokee and the government funds earmarked for them. Can they discover who is at the root of it and find them before thousands more die? Book 2: Wheezer and the Shy Coyote finds Sasa and Wheezer caught up in the intrigue involving the sale of Whiskey to the Indians out of Fort Smith. When a local Indian is murdered, Sasa and her friends must find out why. They eventually uncover a plot to enslave the Indian Territory Indians with whiskey. Book 3: Wheezer and the Golden Serpent documents a never-done-before peace council held in Tahlequah, the capitol of the Cherokee Nation. What would induce Chief John Ross to invite all the tribes even the plains tribes and his own tribal enemies to this huge council? Find out how Chief Ross actually saves Texas from invasion and stops an Indian Territory Civil War. Book 4: Wheezer and the Giveaway Child, finds Indian Territory missing many of its children. Where could they have gone and why are they missing? Sasa, Coyote and Wheezer work hard to solve the mystery.