Walks In Beauty [Hardcover]

Rising Moon Editors (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1997

Fifteen-year-old Anita Whiterock, a Navajo teenager living on a New Mexico reservation, struggles with conflicting forces as she tries to reconcile traditional Navajo ways with her desires for progress.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-10. This tale of teenage angst is placed in Navajo Country, but is never really comfortable there, despite the inclusion of detailed descriptions of ceremonies and frequent phrases in the Navajo language. Anita, 15, experiences the first yearnings of romance and an expanding sense of responsibility and community. She shares her mother's continuing grief and anger over the departure of her father four years before. She strives to understand herself and her classmates, as well as her grandparents and their generation. Historical atrocities suffered by the Navajo are listed briefly, explaining one young man's anger, but are not really dealt with sufficiently. Nor are the historical successes mentioned. The controversy between those wishing to develop the land and others who believe in a simpler, more traditional lifestyle is mentioned often but never discussed in depth. Readers in search of an innocent romance may enjoy this story, but shouldn't wait for any real conflict. The most crushing blow for Anita is a fight with her boyfriend, after which she must survive (for five pages) having a beautiful new dress but no date for the prom. Fiction readers wishing to experience life in Navajoland would do better to stretch a bit more and try Tony Hillerman's many mysteries.?Darcy Schild, Schwegler Elementary School, Lawrence, KS
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 6^-9. A New Mexico reservation is the setting for this coming-of-age story about 15-year-old Navajo Anita Whiterock. Preparing for her ninth-grade graduation and making plans for high school and beyond, she struggles with a familiar list of female adolescent problems, including worries about popularity, boyfriends, prom dates, and troubled family relationships. But culture clash is the underlying problem Anita must face. Working at her school's new TV station, she is drawn to the powerful, fascinating "Anglo" technology but repulsed by much of the lifestyle she sees on trips to town. What lies ahead for her and her friends? Is it possible to follow the Navajo way in the late twentieth century? Although the story suffers from a slow pace and predictable plot--complete with a climactic moment during Anita's graduation speech--it still offers middle-school and junior-high girls an appealing heroine with whom they can identify and an intriguing glimpse into contemporary Navajo life unavailable elsewhere. Jean Franklin

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 182 pages
• Publisher: Cooper Square Publishing Llc (March 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873586670
• ISBN-13: 978-0873586672
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,963,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Anita's World, March 4, 2002

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Walks In Beauty (Hardcover)

In Anita's World

Anita is a young Navajo woman who getting ready to graduate. She is dealing with a lot that is happening in her life.
Her sister doesn't want to have her Kinaalda ceremony. She thinks it is going to be boring. She has to make this ceremony as fun as possible for her sister. Her new boyfriend doesn't approve of her best friend, so her and her boyfriend. They get in a fight because he doesn't want to give Anita's friend and her date a ride to the prom. The prom gets crashed Jim Manygoat's brother, which is Anita's friend's date.
To get a better picture of this story you should read this book!
I really enjoyed this story it really gives you a lot of information about how the Navajo clans were treated, how hard they had it, and how badly they were treated. I thought that it was really great how Anita wanted to fix all the problems that were going on in her life and with her family and how she let things go after all the years they were bugging her.

5.0 out of 5 stars Content of the book, April 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Walks In Beauty (Hardcover)

Set in the hauntingly beautiful Arizona Navajo Reservation, WALKS IN BEAUTY tells the story of 15-year old Anita Lonetree. Anita feels isolated because her father deserted her mother and moved to Albequerque. She also doubts her father's love. She clings to her one friend, Michelle, also an outsider because her father, an attorney, moves mostly in the white world. During a sandstorm, Anita connects with Timothy the runner. As Tim's girlfriend, she now has status, but Tim doesn't like Michelle. As Anita confronts her problems, she experiences Navajo customs...a First Laugh Party and her sister's puberty Kinaalda celebration.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars WASTE OF TIME!!, March 12, 2003

By 

"rani16_2002" (TEXAS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walks In Beauty (Hardcover)

The book Walk in Beauty takes place in a little town in Navajo Nation. Anita is the main character she tries to be like her mom. She is 15 years old she is going to graduate from junior high, she is trying so hard on how to be a grown up person. She has a little sister named Lola. Lola is very annoying to Anita; she bothers her all the time. Lola job at home is to take care of the animals in the barn. Anita job at home is to do the chores like as in clean the dishes and stuff like that. Michelle is Anitas best friend they get along very well. Anita has a grandpa named Benny he will always say he would go to any activities from school but he has never been there before. So Anita would never believe him. He would not accept her work or her friends. I did not like this book because it is so boring and so confusing. I would not recommend this book to anyone, I would give this book 1out of 5 stars. If you would like to find out more about this book then you better check it out at your local library.