Category: middle grade

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Secrets of Navajo Code Talkers

Secrets of Navajo Code Talkers
by Rachael L. Thomas (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: In wartime, unbreakable codes help armies win battles. And what better code than an advanced language. The Navajo language was key to the success of the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II.

Read how Navajo Marines risked their lives to translate secret messages during World War II. Learn what makes the Navajo language ideal for encoding messages and the special vocabulary the code talkers used in battle. Finally, try your hand at translating messages yourself.

Snippet:

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

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Rez Dogs

Rez Dogs
by Joseph Bruchac (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Malian loves spending time with her grandparents at their home on a Wabanaki reservation. She’s there for a visit when, suddenly, all travel shuts down. There’s a new virus making people sick, and Malian will have to stay with her grandparents for the duration.

Everyone is worried about the pandemic, but Malian knows how to keep her family and community safe: She protects her grandparents, and they protect her. She doesn’t go outside to play with friends, she helps her grandparents use video chat, and she listens to and learns from their stories. And when Malsum, one of the dogs living on the rez, shows up at their door, Malian’s family knows that he’ll protect them too.

Snippet:
Grampa Roy smiled.
“Yup, our rez dogs
are not like them
you see in the cities.
You’ll never see
our good friend here
being walked around
on some fancy leash.


A 2021 Cybils Poetry nominee

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.