Susan RivaDr. Susan Riva is an author, university educator, and social scientist who lives in the French-speaking Swiss Alps. She teaches medical anthropology and conflict resolution at Creighton University, where she invites students to explore how stories, cultures, relationships, and the natural world shape human well-being and wholeness. Dr. Riva's writing brings together her love of storytelling, Alpine traditions, intergenerational learning, and the transformative power of nature. Her scholarly books include Homing In: An Adopted Child's Story Mandala of Connecting, Reunion, and Belonging, Crafting Peace Through Autoethnography, and Autoethnography as a Tool for Integral Human Development and Wayfinding. Inspired by life in the mountains, as well as by her five children and grandchildren, Dr. Riva created Valaisia the Mountain Girl to share the wisdom of Alpine life with younger readers. Through Valaisia's adventures, she celebrates courage, kindness, preparedness, care for the Earth, and the strength found in an intergenerational rope team. Drawing on her own experience as an adopted child who later found her birth family, Dr. Riva gives the compass in Valaisia's story a deeper symbolic meaning. It represents the homing instinct that guides us toward belonging-a form of wayfinding shaped by nature's wisdom, loving relationships, and the knowledge carried within the heart. When she is not writing or teaching, Dr. Riva enjoys skiing, hiking and running on mountain trails, observing the changing seasons, learning about medicinal plants and local traditions, and collecting stories that connect people to place. She believes every child carries an inner compass-and that stories can help them find their way. Read More Read Less