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	Bruchac, Joseph. CODE TALKER : A NOVEL ABOUT THE NAVAJO MARINES OF WORLD WAR TWO New York : Dial Books, 2005 IL 5-8, RL 5.7 ISBN 0803729219 (3 booktalks)
Click on the book to read Amazon reviews	Booktalk #1 This fictional story reads like nonfiction. Navajo Ned Begay joins the Marines in WWII to become a code talker. As he tells his story to his grandchildren, he reveals the harsh life he endured at a boarding school off the reservation where he was forbidden to use his native language. He learns to read and write English all the while secretly speaking Navajo. Later on this makes him and many other Navajos, secret heroes for without their help many of the Pacific battles would have not been won. (Jean B. Bellavance for Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Awards, 2006-2007) Booktalk #2 Wolachii is a Navajo Indian teenager who kind of lies about his age and joins the Marines when he’s 16. He sees some of the bloodiest battles in World War II, including Iwo Jima, but he wasn’t your average Marine. He was recruited to translate important messages into the Navajo language on the battlefield and then send them over the radio to the command center. Now, the Japanese had broken every other code the Marines had used, but they never figured out Navajo. Wolachii’s job was so top secret that the other Marines thought he was some kind of scout, and he wasn’t allowed to talk about what happened to him for nearly 30 years. Although Wolachii is not a real person, the amazing stories he tells did happen to the real Navajo Code Talkers. (Georgia Peach Book Awards, 2006-2007) Booktalk #3 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. (Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award 2008)
	SUBJECTS: Navajo language -- Fiction. Cryptography -- Fiction. Navajo Indians -- Fiction. Indians of North America -- Southwest, New -- Fiction. United States. Marine Corps -- Indian troops -- Fiction. World War, 1939-1945 -- Fiction. Historical fiction.

Bruchac, Joseph.
CODE TALKER : A NOVEL ABOUT THE NAVAJO MARINES OF WORLD WAR TWO
New York : Dial Books, 2005
IL 5-8, RL 5.7
ISBN 0803729219

(3 booktalks)

Click on the book to read Amazon reviews

Booktalk #1

This fictional story reads like nonfiction. Navajo Ned Begay joins the Marines in WWII to become a code talker. As he tells his story to his grandchildren, he reveals the harsh life he endured at a boarding school off the reservation where he was forbidden to use his native language. He learns to read and write English all the while secretly speaking Navajo. Later on this makes him and many other Navajos, secret heroes for without their help many of the Pacific battles would have not been won. (Jean B. Bellavance for Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Awards, 2006-2007)

Booktalk #2

Wolachii is a Navajo Indian teenager who kind of lies about his age and joins the Marines when he’s 16. He sees some of the bloodiest battles in World War II, including Iwo Jima, but he wasn’t your average Marine. He was recruited to translate important messages into the Navajo language on the battlefield and then send them over the radio to the command center. Now, the Japanese had broken every other code the Marines had used, but they never figured out Navajo. Wolachii’s job was so top secret that the other Marines thought he was some kind of scout, and he wasn’t allowed to talk about what happened to him for nearly 30 years. Although Wolachii is not a real person, the amazing stories he tells did happen to the real Navajo Code Talkers. (Georgia Peach Book Awards, 2006-2007)

Booktalk #3

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. (Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award 2008)

SUBJECTS:     Navajo language -- Fiction.
                        Cryptography -- Fiction.
                        Navajo Indians -- Fiction.
                        Indians of North America -- Southwest, New -- Fiction.
                        United States. Marine Corps -- Indian troops -- Fiction.
                        World War, 1939-1945 -- Fiction.
                        Historical fiction.