![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The narrative opens in 1929, with an eight-year-old Betoli being forced into a missionary’s truck and given the name Chester. Buschmann, Carroll Elementary School, Houston, TXīruchac has penned a moving portrait of Chester Nez, a Navajo code talker who survived the residential school system and World War II. VERDICT A can’t-miss picture book biography.- Amanda C. Amini-Holmes’s illustrations are visceral in their depiction of pain however, these moments are offset by more joyful scenes of Nez with family and his fellow code talkers and of him living “the Right Way.” (“But what he felt best about…able to live the Right Way as a Navajo, holding on to his language and traditions despite being told in school to give up his culture.”) Back matter includes an author’s note and a portion of the Navajo code. Told in chronological segments (e.g., “December 1941: Month of Crusted Snow”), the work explores how closely the trauma of the residential school system and of fighting in war resemble each other. Marine Corps and was placed in platoon number 382, the group who created the only unbreakable code during the Second World War. Even though he was told to only speak English in order to “live in the white man’s world,” he decided to never forget his language and his people. Bruchac has penned a moving portrait of Chester Nez, a Navajo code talker who survived the residential school system and World War II. ![]()
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