Song Hunter

A new Ice Age is coming.The climate is getting colder: wood is scarce, there are fewer animals to hunt, and Mica and her tribe, the stonemen, will struggle to survive the winter. Mica is bursting with new ideas to help address the challenges that face them, but the stonemen refuse to listen, stubbornly attached to their old ways and  traditions, no matter what. Even Mica's childhood friend Bear doesn't seem to understand. Then, one night, Mica hears strange voices calling out of the darkness, their mysterious and haunting calls filling her with fascination and longing.

Sally Prue vividly imagines the world of the Neanderthals in this poetic and intriguing story, packed with fascinating details of what life might have been like forty thousand years ago. Mica is a wonderfully engaging heroine, whom young readers will find it easy to empathise with, as she chafes against the restrictive and repetitive traditions of her tribe, and longs to explore, to grow, to be creative and to become something more. This beautifully-written and unusual coming-of age story is both engaging and inspiring.