Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac
Historical Fiction; 231 pages
After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue.
Sam’s review:
Anyone, teens or adults, interested in the Navajo culture, battles of WWII (Pacific), and the use of the Navajo language for the codes in the war will find this book riveting. Bruchac uses a Navajo grandfather as his narrator very effectively. The grandfather, Ned Begay, begins the story with his experiences growing up in an Indian boarding school where speaking the Navajo language was strictly forbidden. When he joins the Marines at age 16 (fudging with the truth about his age), he is trained as a code talker. In a significant irony, the Navajo language has been made the basis of the secret code for sending messages on the battlefield. Ned relates the details about the battles on Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa in a nonsensational, quiet voice that makes them all the more heart-wrenching. His humor and his reliance on traditional Navajo customs allowed me to see how he could endure so much brutality and still maintain his sanity. This book would be a good jump-off point for studying more about the Navajo culture, codes, and/or World War II.