When coyote howls

the long version

One autumn night in Albuquerque's Rio Grande bosque, Coyote threw back his head and found that he could not howl. This story about Coyote's quest to find his lost voice speaks to the need to know our past and to keep it a vital part of our world. To recover his missing howl, Coyote must travel from the river valley west to the lava beds. He receives philosophical counsel and practical advice from the river, the desert, and his fellow creatures. Raven, Jackrabbit, and Roadrunner, Mesa, Cattails, and the Lavaland pictographs of an earlier day all speak to Coyote. Like all Coyote stories, this one uses earthy humor to teach important lessons. Coyote, the figure of wildness and fun, the trickster who has kept a place for himself in the modern West by adapting to life in the suburbs, has a story to tell all of us.