Special Thanks

A note of heartfelt thanks to all those people who have contributed their advice, assistance, and constructive criticism to the creation of The River Quintet:

The late Kenneth Little Hawk, Mi’kmaq-Mohawk storyteller

William “Chip” Reynolds, (formerly) Captain of the Half Moon Replica Ship

Janny Venema, author and (formerly) Dutch translator and Associate Director, New Netherland Research Center, Albany, NY

Walter Woodward, Connecticut State Historian

Stefan Nicolescu, Research Scientist and Collections Manager, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, New Haven, CT

Barrie Kavasch, author, Institute for American Indian Studies, Washington, CT

Teachers at the American School for the Deaf, West Hartford, CT

The late Frank Kozelek, Tarrytown, NY

Research staff at various libraries, including those at Kent Lakes, Corinth and Glens Falls, NY, Windsor, CT and Shepperton, England

Joan G. Sheeran and Wendy Phillips Kahn, editors

Sophie Seypura and Arturo Aguirre, illustrators

and Patrick Seypura, digital publisher and website manager.

—R.E.P.

This reissued and corrected version of Sky Flower was prepared and published following the death of Ray Phillips in July, 2021. The editors have made minor changes and proofreading corrections and now offer this edition in loving memory of the author. Throughout the writing of The River Quintet, Ray Phillips devoted himself during his last decades to bringing history alive with accuracy and compassion.

—Joan G. Sheeran and Wendy Phillips Kahn