The Real White Bird

In the Arms of Stone Angels centers on the plight of a troubled teen girl and one very special American Indian boy. He’s in the foster care system in Oklahoma. Without a family of his own, he is in search of roots where he can truly belong. And for him, those roots would lie in the tribe he thought he belonged to. For many tribes, like the Cherokee that I researched recently, belonging to a clan is determined through the mother’s lineage. If a boy’s father is Cherokee, but his mother is not, then the ties to that clan are severed from the official tribe roster. That was hard for me to understand, so I made it hard for my characters, Isaac “White Bird” Henry and Brenna Nash, to understand too. For different reasons, both these characters feel like outsiders and that feeling strengthens the bond they have for each other.

A friend of mine, Susan Johnson, who works in the Sapulpa, Oklahoma library and oversees the American Indian cultural section, helped me research my book. The day I called to talk about the boy in my story, she listened to my thoughts on this character (who at that point did not have a name). And when I described him, she immediately said, “I know this boy.”

My story has several underlying themes, but a few dominant ones involve the dark side of bigotry, being an outsider, and wanting to belong. Often authors write about things to exorcise their own demons and perhaps I am no exception. I had told Susan that since I was part Hispanic, I had struggled with my ethnicity as a kid until I was forced to decide where I stood. And that day came in elementary school, 8th grade. At that time, I had sandy blond hair with green eyes. Except for my last name, no one knew I was Hispanic. And with the prejudice I had seen firsthand, my heritage was a hard thing to claim until the day I was forced to take sides.

One day a friend of mine (who had blond hair and blue eyes with skin as pink as a baby’s butt) was badgering a dark-skinned Hispanic girl who was really shy and small. The Hispanic girl didn’t speak English well, but I had always liked her. My time of sitting on the fence about being Hispanic had come to an end. I couldn’t stand seeing the bigotry and the mean spirited attitude of my white friend, so I got in the middle of it all and stopped her in the school yard. I told her that I was Hispanic and if she had an attitude about that, she could take it up with me instead. And with my fist balled up, I was ready to deck her and she knew it. She looked at me with wide eyes and stammered, completely taken off guard. But I remember that day being important to me. It was the day I acknowledged that being Hispanic was who I was. And that I was proud of it—and proud of the stand I took against a bully, too.

So when I thought about the boy character in my book, I wanted him to be of mixed race where he straddles the line between cultures and doesn’t fit in anywhere. And after Susan Johnson said, “I know this boy,” she told me about her friend, Whitebird. Because of his age and to respect his privacy, I won’t share his last name, but I immediately loved his first name. It was symbolic of the underlying innocence I wanted my character to have. And the spiritual aspects of the color white and the symbolic connection to a dove had meaning for me, too.

Susan told me that the real Whitebird was smart and as adaptable as a chameleon, looking for a place to fit in and belong. He was someone she admired and just plain liked. And although he was struggling to find an identity of his own as a young man, his American Indian roots were very important to him. Even as I was writing the book – In the Arms of Stone Angels – Whitebird had been moved from one foster home to another, making it harder for Susan to see him, but they stayed in touch online.

After I wrote the book and let Susan read it (before it was sold to Harlequin Teen for an April 2011 release date), she heard Whitebird’s voice in her head as she read the pages and she said certain scenes really became vivid for her because she pictured him in her mind. Of course my book is a work of fiction. I completely made up this story. (Even the Oklahoma town of Shawano isn’t real, but in another post, I will share more about why I chose to do this and what the word, Shawano, means in the Euchee language.) But I want to clarify that the real Whitebird is an outgoing guy and he’s never spent time in a mental hospital. I only borrowed his name, with his gracious permission. And through Susan Johnson, I got a glimpse into him that only a friend could share.

Today, after ten years in the foster care system, the real Whitebird is out now and living on his own. He has his own place, supports himself and is completely flying solo. And because of his outgoing nature, he’s got friends who support him like a family. Although I might have wished that he had grown up with a more traditional family and had things easier, Whitebird is the person he is because of everything that he has gone through, good and bad. He’s someone I have a lot of respect for. And I hope that the admiration and good wishes I have for his spirit shows in my book.

The Countdown Begins...

I can’t believe January 2011 is nearly gone. I’m busy writing my second young adult book for Harlequin Teen – On a Dark Wing. And I completely am in love with this book, so I can hardly wait for you to read it. But in the mean time, the countdown for the release of In the Arms of Stone Angels (Mar 22, 2011) has begun. Since that’s right around the corner, I hope you’ll pre-buy now.

If you’re a reviewer and know about NetGalley.com, In the Arms of Stone Angels is available now. Signing up for NetGalley is FREE. And if you want to know more about how to get your advance review copy, go their FAQ page.

Here’s a summary of In the Arms of Stone Angels:

"In the arms of stone angels I am not afraid"
–Brenna Nash

Two years ago I did a terrible thing. I accused my best friend of being a killer after seeing him kneeling over a girl’s body. That moment and that outcast boy still haunt me. Now my mom is forcing me back to Oklahoma and I can’t get White Bird out of my mind. But when I find out he’s not in juvie—that he’s in a mental hospital, locked in his tormented brain at the worst moment of his life—I can’t turn my back on him again.

No one wants me to see him. My mom doesn’t trust me. The town sheriff still thinks I was involved in the murder. And the other kids who knew the dead girl are after me. I’m as trapped as White Bird. And when I touch him, I get sucked into his living hell, a vision quest of horrifying demons and illusions of that night. Everything about him scares me now, but I have to do something. This time I can’t be a coward. This time I have to be his friend.

Even if I get lost, too...

I have more on the book, including excerpts and early reviews and a book trailer, on my YA website. This book was a labor of love to write. And I hope you enjoy it.

Counting down to release day, I will post articles on the many inspirations behind this book. For instance:

• Did you know that the Euchee name of the main boy character, White Bird, comes from a real boy? Find out the real story.

• Stone Angels is set in a town called Shawano, Oklahoma. I’ll share why I chose to make this town up and what the word “Shawano” means in the Euchee language.

• White Bird longs to be part of the Euchee Tribe. And I’ll share more about this Native American community and why they inspired me to write about them.

• One face inspired the book. When I found the face of Brenna Nash online, I had to create a whole book about her. And after the novel was written, her picture was taken down and I lost her. Can you help me locate the real girl who inspired the character of Brenna Nash? Could she be someone you know?

• Brenna suspects that her “gift” to see the dead comes from her estranged father—a man her mother doesn’t talk much about and Brenna has never met. The seed is planted in Stone Angels for Brenna to learn more about him. Want to know more?

Inspirations Behind Brenna & White Bird

When I begin any book, I love to find character images that will inspire me. On days when I'm writing my new character, I have a print of their faces, or bodies, or clothes, etc. on my computer. Or I listen to music that reminds me of them. But when I saw Libby on modelmayhem.com, she completely inspired me to create Brenna Nash, my 16-year old main character in my YA book - In the Arms of Stone Angels (Harlequin Teen, Apr 2011). Her clothes in the photo really gave me a sense of Brenna too. And I love the vulnerable little girl behind those big sunglasses.

After I went back to modelmayhem to locate Libby, she had pulled her portfolio. This photo is all I have of her. I really miss her and wonder where she is, but my best wishes go out to her.

So here's the image that inspired Brenna. I hope when you read Stone Angels, you'll see Libby too. Let me know what you think?

And as for Isaac "White Bird" Henry, I always pictured him as the adorable actor Teddy Geiger who starred in "The Rocker." Teddy has incredible eyes and an expressive face. Don't you think? Can't you picture Brenna seeing him for the first time in the woods when the two of them are alone on the day they first meet when she's twelve? He's real dream material.