After reading my daughter the Little House on the Prairie books, which unfortunately gave a one-sided view of Native Americans, I looked everywhere for books written from a Native American girl's point of view. Despite posting to various Teacher & Native American web sites, I found nothing. Then I discovered this book at the Cortez Cultural Center in Colorado. Now I want to order another copy for my niece for her birthday.

This is the story of a Navajo girl who dreams of becoming an Olympic runner until an accident occurs. After the accident, she becomes despondent and gives up hope. Then the love and inspiration of a great teacher inspires her to adjust her goals in life. If she can't be a runner, she can be a ballet dancer. It is hard for her to leave her sheltered life on the reservation. But she does leave to attend ballet school. She works hard at this and becomes a famous ballerina.

I read this to my 5 year old daughter & she loved it!

"The Old Hogan" is a charming little story told from the point of view of the hogan, as she watches a more modern home being built for her family. She listens to the children as they joyfully chant about moving into a REAL HOUSE. What is a "real" house? She reflects on the life that has gone on inside of her. Will there still be a place for her when the family moves out? Although this book was first published in 1993, it has a much older feel to it. The illustrations are soft, simplistic images. The text is slow and sentimental, but not overly long. I love this book for its simplicity and the cultural significance of its use in teaching reading in Navajo schools. Visually, it may not be a book that a child would pick out on their own, but the cultural information is valuable and it is a nice book for a quiet moment of shared reading.

This has got to be one of the STUPIDEST "I wanna write an indian book" books to have come along this century. El Abuelo isn't even a Navajo phrase. El Abuelo is SPANISH for the grandfather. "Y" is Spanish for and - also not a Navajo word. Please woman - don't try to be Indian - you just embarass yourself in the Native American community.