Author's note: while The Boy with the Golden Spear is a coming-of-age story, it contains adult themes, adult situations and adult language. It is not juvenile literature. Life can be tough for kids in their early teens. Ask Michael Swift. Nearly fourteen, the 4'10," 70 pound boy is anxiously awaiting his growth spurt. He's a regular target in that jungle known as middle school. To make matters worse, his mother has died and his dad has pulled away emotionally. When his dad remarries, Michael's confusion and sense of isolation grow. Problems are inevitable. The solution? Send him away for the summer. The building project for native people in southern Venezuela goes well. There, in the upper reaches of the Amazon River Basin, little Michael with his blond hair and blue eyes, is an oddity. He fears the dark, forbidding jungle which dominates the region, but he finds acceptance within the group. His growth process begins, but it isn't a process that can be completed in a few short months. Kidnapped by bandits, his group is forced deep into the jungle, deep into la selva. Michael would have been held for ransom with the others, but there's something different about Michael, maybe even something special. What are to him ugly birthmarks are to the indigenous people the marks of La Selva, herself. Separated from the other captives, the kidnappers give Michael to the jungle to do with as she will. Over the next four years, he undergoes a difficult but wondrous transformation into physical and spiritual maturity. There, in the womb of the world, our little outcast is lifted to the top of the pecking order as La Selva, through the agency of some improbable allies, transforms him into the legendary Jaguar Prince.