Reviews

Charlie's Review The book Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac starts with a Navajo boy named Kii Yazhi leaving the reservation they live on for a boarding school, where he will later be renamed Ned Begay. Even though Ned has the privelige of going to the school to get a good education, him and the other Navajos are punished for talking in their native tongue. After Ned finishes school there, he moves on to the high school, and during his time there the attack on Pearl Harbor occurs. Marines come to the school to recruit people, and more specifically, Navajos. However, Neds parents make him wait a year until he can sign up. When Ned is finally allowed to join, he is shipped off to Fort Wingate where he goes through normal marines boot camp. When he finishes though, him and the other nNavajo marines are sent to a seperate camp in San Diego, where they learn of their true role in the marines. Code talking. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars because I thought that it was a really good story but some parts either weren't explained well enough or they just didn't seem very realistic. For example, the author talked to much about the scenery when he should have been giving details about the war that was going on. Overall, I think that the story had a very good outline, but some parts either didn't have enough detail or had too much detail.

Nick's Review Code Talkers by Joseph Bruchac is about a Navajo man who had been discriminated against since he was young because he is a Navajo. His parents send him to a boarding school for an education, and to learn to be American. The school tells the kids that being navajo will get you no where in life. They take everything navajo away from them, even his name, which was changed to Ned Begay. After suffering through school, Ned decides to attend high school. While he's there the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. After that a Marine comes to scout people, but more specifically Navajo's. Ned really wants to join, but his parents want him to wait a year. After a year, he asked his parents again, and they say he can go. He then goes to a boot camp and learns that all Navajo's have a special task to become code talkers. During World War 2, the Navajo's fought bravely, and helped greatly for the Americans to win the war. I thought this was a good book that kept you wondering. At parts it could be boring, but it always got exciting after that. The only thing i really didn't like was how they went over about 2 years in a few pages. The author should of spaced it out described more.

Sam's Review As a boy, Kii Yazhi, soon to be renamed Ned Begay was sent to a boarding school where he was forced to learn the "American way" and forget his Navajo heritage. Little did his teachers realize that Ned's language would be the key to winning WWII in the Pacific. Ned was determined to learn. He worked his way through grade school, then middle, then high school, but his whole life changes when Japan bombs Pearl Harbor and Ned decides to become a marine. After Ned gets through boot camp he learns he won't be a normal marine, he would be a code talker. It was a code talker's job to send and recieve important messages by a Navajo based code. It all sounds easy right? Well, the code talkers had to do it while bullets flew over their heads in the middle of the fight. Ned will go on to be in multiple battles including Okinawa and Iwo Jima. Will ned survive in the Pacific campaign of WWII or will being a code talker be too much pressure for him? Find out in Joseph Bruchac's __Code Talker__ All in all, __Code Talker__ was a good book. Although it seemed boring and repetitive at some parts, this book was informative yet exciting. Even the parts about Ned not in action were interesting to learn about marine lifestyle. Overall, I give __Code Talker__ four out of five stars.

Kevan's Review In __Code Talker__, a Native American boy named Kii Yahzi goes to boarding school to learn english. While at school, his mouth gets washed out if he speaks his language. Even then, the boy, named Ned Begay by the whites, works hard and finishes school at the top of his class. He then goes on to high school and, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, realizes he wants to become a Marine. A year early, Ned enrolls and is sent to boot camp. After breezing through training with other Native Americans, he is sent to a special training center to learn to "code talk" with the Navajo language. Ned goes to fight in battles such as Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Read __Code Talker__, by Jeseph Bruchac to learn more about Ned Begay's Marine life and life as a Navajo. I thought the book had a good plot but not very well written, because it wasn't very detailed. I liked learning about how the Navajos were treated and learning about the battles of World War II, but I didn't learn as much as I wanted. Since the war lasted a long time, there was alot to cover, and the author didn't go very in depth. Also, the book wasn't very realistic. Overall, the book wasn't very powerful or in depth, but it was a good book to learn about the ways of Najajos, code talkers, and World War II. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.