Kii Yazhi is a Navajo boy who is sent to boarding school. There, the whites change his name to something more manageable for them: Ned Begay. His whole Navajo identity is stripped away, as with all the other Navajos at the school, and they are forced to speak English. The consequences of not doing so range from soap in the mouth to being chained in a cold basement.During high school Pearl Harbor is attacked, and Ned wants more than anything to join up and fight the Japanese. He eventually becomes a Marine-- one with a very special job. They use the Navajo language, which is very difficult to pronounce if you haven't been learning it your whole life, as their code. That code is one of the big reasons the Central Powers won the war.
This novel outlines in a clear, interesting way many of the battles and events are told. It is written as a grandfather telling about this part of his life to his grandchildren, so the actual descriptions of the battles were not too intense. This code remained a secret for years, and those who were central to using it and helping with the war effort were required by the government to keep it all a secret for more than two decades.
This novel by Joseph Bruchac is historical fiction, and highly recommended for middle school-ers. Through this book I became interested in this era of history and read a few others set at this time. For an interview with the author, click here.
