Olo of the Mound Builders

About the Book

Life suddenly changes for thirteen year old Olo when he is captured by Nadac, a hostile warrior.  On a forced march across an open field, Olo looks up to see a rabbit falling from the clutches of an eagle.  When he catches it, the superstitious warriors think he is a “chosen one” and take him before the chief’s council.  There he is apprenticed to the elderly shaman, Temasah.  Olo finds happiness in his new home except for Nadac’s taunts.  Conflict and tensions escalate until Olo saves Nadac from drowning in the flood-swollen river.  Proclaimed a hero, he must prepare for induction into the tribe, by going on a vision quest to face his fears, discover his spirit voice, and find his personal totem.  Deep inside a cave, Olo falls from a crumbling rock ledge into frigid water.  Wet, injured and alone in the dark, Olo is near panic when he asks, “Will I perish here in the bowels of Mother Earth?” 

About the Author

Jo Ann Harter Murray was born in Indiana.  Her first work appeared in her school newspaper when she was the seventh-grade reporter.  After the newly painted walls were defaced with Kilroy Was Here! graffiti, her article Kilroy Wasn’t Here!, received a letter of commendation from the superintendent of schools.  She’s been writing ever since.

         Jo Ann has been published in 1996 Treasury--Time Of Our Lives, Jacksonville History Now and Then, The Times-Union, and St. Joseph’s Reflections.  Every year for the past decade, her poems and short stories have appeared in The Experience, a Florida Community College at Jacksonville publication.

            She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrator’s, The Florida Writer’s Association, and currently is the president of North Florida Writers.

            As an Army wife she lived many places in the United States, Japan, and Germany.  For the past thirty years she has lived in Fruit Cove.  She is currently at work on her second book, a young-adult sequel to Olo Of The Mound Builders.