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Overview
After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue.
Synopsis
The United States is at war, and sixteen-year-old Ned Begay wants to join the cause especially when he hears that Navajos are being specifically recruited by the Marine Corps. So he claims he s old enough to enlist, breezes his way through boot camp, and suddenly finds himself involved in a top-secret task, one that s exclusively performed by Navajos. He has become a code talker. Now Ned must brave some of the heaviest fighting of the war, and with his native Navajo language as code, send crucial messages back and forth to aid in the conflict against Japan. His experiences in the Pacific from Guadalcanal to Iwo Jima and beyond will leave him forever changed.
Author Biography: Joseph Bruchac is the award-winning author of more than 100 books, many of which draw on aspects of his Native American heritage. He lives in Greenfield Center, New York.