Dan Barnwell is the seventh son in a family of twelve children. His father died when he was seven years old, leaving the family a small farm on the rocky side of Crooked Mountain just east of Jacksonville, Alabama.
Dan’s childhood was spent in abject poverty, but it was not an unhappy childhood. His mother taught the family to hope for a better day no matter what the present circumstances happened to be. Dan was able to keep the joy in his brothers’ and sisters’ lives by continually entertaining and encouraging them with original stories and poems. He never saw his family as poor folks. He saw them as future champions in life.
Through this book, the second Thunder Hollow book, he continues the saga of the owl community. He creates new friends and new lessons which readers both young and old may use during the course of a lifetime.
The message he sends through his tales has never changed. Believe in yourself. Do what is right.
Dan still lives on the rocky hillside just up the road from the old house that he called his home when he was a child.
