Secret Code Book Club for Boys My seven-year-old son is in first grade but his closest friends are in second and third grades. It just worked out that way because he missed the cutoff so he’s among the older kids in his class. He can read but he needs help with chapter books and when…
Tag: Navajo Code Talkers
The Navajo Code Talkers of WWII
In eerily similar circumstances, young Navajo Americans were forced to relocate to attend boarding school where great attempts were made by the school to purge them of their ethnic identity, particularly their language. Both children’s books that are featured talk about harsh punishments for speaking in their native tongue. This forced relocation is not unlike the Japanese Americans during WWII. Is this really America, the home of the free?! This is the ugly underbelly that doesn’t get much press coverage. Am I the only one who didn’t learn about the Navajo Code Breakers at school in U.S. History? I am glad for these books to teach a new generation, and our nation, that the differences that make us unique make our country more powerful. Imagine if that boarding school were successful in wiping out the Navajo language? It’s really not inconceivable if the timing of the war were different!