Danny Blackgoat, Navajo Prisoner

June 15, 2013
The 1863 forced displacement of thousands of Navajo known as the Long Walk serves as milieu for this tale of a teenage survivor. Ripped abruptly by U.S. troops from his peaceful life in Canyon de Chelly, Danny endures verbal abuse, severe physical hardship, brutal beatings and even murder attempts on the trail with his Navajo neighbors. This continues after as well, at a Texas labor camp for Confederate Army prisoners. He never loses his spirit though and, with help from sympathetic whites, manages to escape at last--by sharing a coffin for a night and a day with a corpse. The nearly all-English dialogue makes it seem as if Danny understands more of what's going on than he should, since he doesn't speak that language. Nevertheless, Tingle, a Choctaw storyteller, spins a good yarn and, along with other respectful references to Navajo culture, ingeniously leverages its particular aversion to mention of or contact with the dead to magnify the terror of Danny's climactic challenge. Not an angry indictment, despite plenty of explicit brutality and prejudice, but a positive tribute to the fortitude of Danny and his Navajo community. (afterword) (Historical fiction. 10-13)

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November 1, 2013

Gr 6-10-The true story of the 1864 Navajo imprisonment and forced migration is told through the eyes of fictional 16-year-old Danny Blackgoat. Union soldiers capture him and his family along with numerous other Navajo families, destroying their homes and livestock before marching them through the desert at gunpoint. Oklahoma Choctaw storyteller Tingle never flinches from recounting the soldiers' cruelty, from withholding water and food to shooting an elderly man in the back. Danny is separated from his family and taken to a camp of Confederate prisoners, where he immediately makes one friend and one enemy from among the white prisoners. The villainous antagonist makes several attempts on the boy's life while the saintly friend nurtures him, teaches him English, and helps him escape. Throughout his episodic trials and tribulations, Danny's character reads more like a folk hero or legend than an individual, three-dimensional teen. The story is aimed at hi/lo readers, and the short, staccato sentences and unornamented prose make this a fast read-but perhaps too fast, as many threads are left dangling. While the history recounted here is important, this brief novel may raise more questions than it answers.-Sarah Stone, San Francisco Public Library

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