The Dreaded Cliff

Flora and her packrat life are perfectly ordinary, perfectly predictable. She avoids strangers, especially opera-singing porcupines and rabbits that make prickly pear cactus pads talk. She’s never flown through the air, nor drooped herself before a kangaroo rat king. And she would never talk with a blood-thirsty owl, because everyone knows owls can’t talk. Besides, they eat packrats. Flora’s perfect life is all about snuggling in her treasure-packed nest and ‘snibbling’ snacks with her packrat pal. There’s only one thing—looming nearby is the dreaded cliff. Ever since she was a wee pup, other packrats have warned “beware!” and Flora’s stomach twists into knots. All this is about to change when old Grandma Mimi tells Flora about their ancestral home, stuffed in a dark crack in the cliff. Countless packrats have raised their young and left their marks and memories there. They stay away now, ever since a killer wiped out a litter of pups and took over. Flora tucks the story of the home deep in her heart...then tumbles into a faraway canyon. Can she survive dangers that seem to lurk around every tree stump? And how will she ever get home?