Ron Mueller
Author
Ron grew up in what is now Flint River State Park in South¬east Iowa. The 170 year old house Ron lived in is built into a hillside. It faces a 125 foot high cliff towering over the little Flint River. The house and the land talked to him about; the passing of time, the struggle to conquer the land, the struggles people faced and the wonder of nature.
He climbed the cliffs, crawled into the caves, dove from the swimming rock, collected clams from the bottom of the pond, gigged and skinned frogs for their legs. He trapped muskrats for fur, hunted raccoon in the dead of night, and hunted rabbits in the dead of winter with only a stick. His young life was outdoors and nature tested him. He walked to a one room, stone school house uphill both ways. It was a great way to grow up.
His experiences inter-twined with snippets of fantasy lend themselves to the adventures Taelo leads the reader through.
Ron has told many similar stories as a means to impart life values and influence the thinking of his children and now grand¬children. He feels stories are a wonderful means for parents and their children to engage in meaningful discussions about behavior and fundamental values and principles.
Courtney Huynh