A girl in exile, a trickster horse, and the women rising up!

Exiled to the desert, young Ari Ara is caught between the warriors trying to grab power . . . and the women rising up to stop them! Ari Ara has to find her place – and her voice – in this strange culture . . . but time is running out. One by one, the women’s voices are being silenced, cut from the Desert Song. Can Ari Ara and her friends restore the balance before violence breaks out? Readers of all ages will love this adventurous tale of strong women and mighty girls!

This is Book 3 in the Ari Ara Series. It can be read on its own or in order with the other volumes. Find the Whole Series here.

An amazing story about how young people must navigate the space between fitting in and standing out from the crowd.”

Get Desert Song here.

Reader Comments

“Desert Song has it all: characters you care about, tough, gritty challenges to be faced, the domino effect of truth and courage … more please!” Leah Boyd

“Reading “Desert Song” left me with such a marvelous feeling of Hope, Joy,
and Miraculousness that I simply cradled it for minutes afterward as I
abided in that wonderful feeling. Thank you so much Rivera Sun, for giving
this splendid book to the world. ” – Jaimie Ritchie

Desert Song, the newest adventure of Ari Ara, is a hopeful tale of passage, finding voice, and restoring civility and justice in the midst of divisiveness. Ari Ara is the spirit needed in present times. This is the third and best of the series.”  – Elizabeth Cooper

“Because Rivera Sun is committed to nonviolence, her characters, plots, and language exhibit so much originality! Her books have changed the way I view media: fun and creative alternatives exist to repetitive violent scripts — and not just for fictional characters! I feel more optimistic about how we can engage our shared world.” – Caitlin Waddick

“My all-time favorite visionary fiction, Rivera Sun’s novels are centered, in one form or another, on how we might step courageously toward the more beautiful world that our hearts know is possible. With plenty of challenges and page-turning adventures along the way, there’s also a great deal of practical wisdom and inspiration to be gleaned. These books are soul-nourishment for the real-world situations we are currently facing.” – Rosa Zubizarreta

“Rivera Sun’s books provide an entertaining and adventuresome window to nonviolence.” – Manny Hotchkiss and Mary Ryan-Hotchkiss

“The world that Rivera Sun creates is magical and inspiring. It’s not as though the cultures or the characters are “perfect”; rather, they have challenges that they face bravely.” – CV Harquail

“These books are filled with heart.” – Don Shefer

“The Ari Ara series is a wonderful adventure with a young and strong female lead.” – Jayanne Sindt

“I just love these books! Empty your schedule when you sit down to read because you won’t want to stop until the end. And, then you’ll want more!” – Jeralita Costa

“What a wonderful story for my granddaughter with a plot containing intriguing problems which are overcome creatively. Actually, Grandma (that’s me) also found the challenges the characters overcome made for good reading!” – JoAnn Fuller

Excerpts from Desert Song

The Ancestor Wind “The Ancestor Wind played across the mountains. It leapt the peaks and tickled the bellies of the valleys. It was the breath of the world, from a newborn’s first gasp to an elder’s last sigh.”

Flash Flood in a Slot Canyon “She glanced warily at the gathering clouds. If the rains fell too hard, too low, or too early, they could be trapped in the slot, swallowed by the flash of water pouring into the narrow space.”

The Shifting Winds “Once and always, until now, men and women stood as equals in Harraken culture.  But, the winds had shifted since she had left six years ago. She did not like the direction they blew.” 

A Lesson in The Way Between “With strikes and boycotts, protests and sit-ins, the Way Between organized people to neither fight nor flee from the conflict. It offered dozens of ways to remove support from a problem and build a solution, instead.”  

Trickster Horse “The horses’ manes rippled with hints of fire and wind. Under the familiar grassy aroma, the scent of heat and dust clung to their hides. Their black eyes reflected the blue of the sky. ” 

The Song of the Future “If you were allowed to sing a future song,” Ari Ara said quietly, “what story would it tell?” 

Throw-the-Bones “Up a long, winding ravine, tucked into a pocket meadow, lived a seer named Throw-the-Bones.”  

The Forgiveness Song “The desert word for forgiveness had no sense of forgetting to it, no returning to what was before, no action-less remorse. The Harrak-Tala word was inseparable from change, from doing differently, from repairing harm.” 

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