Raising Kings

The second book in the epic of the white wolves It was a time of happiness, but it was also a time of fear as the white wolf cubs are born into the Wilds. Animals of all sorts begin streaming into the Wilds; fleeing the violence of the black wolves. Tor and his army have been gone for months checking to see if the rumors of the refugees were true. Were there still black wolves out there? Somewhere in the distance were the Blackstone Mountains. Is that what the wind was telling him, warning him about? Yes, it was speaking to him about things that no animal, wolf, or otherwise could stop. Tor and his army are captured by Warrior and Snuffer, who lived through the avalanche brought on by the oryx during the Blackstone War. Tor is to be executed for stealing the land called the Wilds and killing Deuce and Staver. Khoa sets out to find Tor. While he is gone, his son, Tristian, and Tor's son, Challenger, are taken hostage along with other animals. Saved from drowning in their cages by a young raccoon, the two pups set out to make it back to the Wilds. Everyone, from Pieces and his 'wild bunch,' to the black wolves are in on the search for the stolen cubs. Tristian and Challenger meet friends and foes along their trek across the Black Lake Road. Just as it seems they will make it back to the Wilds, Knox, the beaver, betrays them. As all seems lost, the cubs find an unlikely ally. In an ironic twist, Warrior learns that the white wolves hold his two sons as captives. An arrangement for a trade is made, but the dark wolves bring no white wolf cubs to the exchange; claiming they were taken by a lone black wolf in their camp. By the slip of a slingshot and a single stone, the war begins anew.

Joni grew up in the lake region of Minnesota with Thoreson Grandma and Grandpa. They were Norwegian immigrants who first settled in a small Iowa town, which was then called Waterloo Ridge, but now is now known as just Waterloo, Iowa. They then moved north where the weather was more to their liking, settling in Minnesota before Joni was born. She attributes her love for writing and the outdoors to Grandma Anna, who was a writer that never wrote. After sudden tragedy, it was Joni's fortune to move to South Dakota to live with relatives before finally moving to Nebraska some years later where she still lives. True to her Midwestern roots, Joni stayed in the central states and attended colleges in both Nebraska and South Dakota. While at the University of South Dakota, she studied under Frederick Manfred as a graduate student. Mr. Manfred was the writer in residence for the university at the time. He penned such novels as the Golden Bowl, Lord Grizzly, and more than thirty other books. He invited students to his home in Luverne, Minnesota, and Joni and her classmates often traveled from Vermillion to visit with him.