The Long Walk: The Story of Navajo Captivity (Great Journeys) [Library Binding]

Raymond Bial (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-9-While dealing primarily with the forced 300-mile march from Arizona and western New Mexico to Bosque Redondo in southeastern New Mexico, this book also serves as a general introduction to Navajo history and culture. One chapter covers the group's evolution from a nomadic life as hunters/gatherers to that of farmers, herders, and weavers. Other chapters discuss their strong spiritual attachment to the land and their intense resistance to Spanish and Anglo settlers. The roles played by prominent American military leaders in the series of broken treaties and encroachments onto Navajo land that eventually led to the Long Walk are covered, as are those of the determined native leaders who eluded capture and survived harsh conditions rather than be led away into captivity and exile. The government's reversal of this policy of imprisonment, the return of the Navajo to their ancestral lands, and their efforts to rebuild their herds and keep their children out of boarding schools are covered in the final chapters. The text is sometimes repetitious. For example, Kit Carson's role in the war against the Navajo and Apache is described in the fifth chapter and in a separate feature about the man. The book is illustrated with informative black-and-white photographs and reproductions. For collections that already have Joseph Bruchac's Navajo Long Walk (National Geographic, 2002), this is an additional resource.
Ginny Gustin, Sonoma County Library System, Santa Rosa, CA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Library Binding: 96 pages
• Publisher: Benchmark Books (NY) (October 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761413227
• ISBN-13: 978-0761413226
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,350,779 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Raymond Bial (pronounced Beal) is the author and photo-illustrator of more than one hundred critically-acclaimed books for children and adults, including Amish Home, Frontier Home, The Underground Railroad, Where Lincoln Walked, One-Room School, Ghost Towns of the American West, Tenement: Immigrant Life on the Lower East Side, Nauvoo: Mormon City on the Mississippi River, The Super Soybean, and many others. A skilled photographer, he works with ease in both color and in black and white. Working with both film cameras and digital equipment, he is best known for his versatility in portraiture, landscapes, and still lifes, and his sensitivity toward the people, places, and objects portrayed in his images.
The subjects of Raymond's books range from farm life to American social and cultural history. Appealing to young and old alike, his books are ideal choices for parents, grandparents, teachers, and librarians to share with children. His most recent photo-essays are Ellis Island: Coming to the Land of Liberty, and Nauvoo: Mormon City on the Mississippi River, published by Houghton-Mifflin, and The Super Soybean, published by Albert Whitman. He has also written three popular collections of mystery fiction for children: The Fresh Grave and Other Ghostly Stories, The Ghost of Honeymoon Creek, and most recently Shadow Island: A Tale of Lake Superior, published by Bluehorse Books. His books have received numerous awards from the American Library Association, National Council of Teachers of English, Children's Book Council, and many other organizations. He lives with his wife, Linda, and children, Sarah and Luke, in Urbana, Illinois. His daughter Anna, who illustrated two of Raymond's books, is a fashion designer in New York City.