First Nation Literature Units Senior 1 - Victoria School District 61

First Nation Fiction Unit
Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War II
By Joseph Bruchac
About the Author
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www.wtps.org
Joseph Bruchac lives with his wife, Carol, in the Adirondack mountain foothills town of
Greenfield Center, New York, in the same house where his maternal grandparents raised him.
Much of his writing draws on that land and his Abenaki ancestry. Although his American Indian
heritage is only one part of an ethnic background that includes Slovak and English blood, those
Native roots are the ones by which he has been most nourished. He, his younger sister Margaret,
and his two grown sons, James and Jesse, continue to work extensively in projects involving the
preservation of Abenaki culture, language and traditional Native skills, including performing
traditional and contemporary Abenaki music with the Dawnland Singers.
About the Novel
www.goodreads.com
Throughout World War II, in the conflict fought against Japan, Navajo code talkers were
a crucial part of the U.S. effort, sending messages back and forth in an unbreakable code that
used their native language. They braved some of the heaviest fighting of the war, and with their
code, they saved countless American lives. Yet their story remained classified for more than
twenty years.
But now Joseph Bruchac brings their stories to life for young adults through the riveting
fictional tale of Ned Begay, a sixteen-year-old Navajo boy who becomes a code talker. His
grueling journey is eye-opening and inspiring. This deeply affecting novel honors all of those
young men, like Ned, who dared to serve, and it honors the culture and language of the Navajo
Indians.
www.amazon.com