Holiday time is family time. Our next give-away book is hot off the press, released just this week, and presents an honoring of family and home:
THE HOGAN THAT GREAT-GRANDFATHER BUILT (Salina Bookshelf, 2013) celebrates the home and beauty of the Navajo family. Illustrations by Peterson Yazzie glow with the warmth and vibrancy of the southwest. Reds, turquoise, vermillion, and gold saturate the images. With each turn of the page, readers meet individual family members as everyone waits to hear the rumble-bump sounds of an approaching pick-up truck – sounds saying that father is returning home from market. The simple text by Nancy Bo Flood introduces the importance of family, home, Hogan and place. The images by Peterson Yazzie invite the reader to step into the beauty that surrounds the Navajo Hogan. This is Peterson Yazzie’s first book and wow, his paintings are stunning.
Thanks to all those who entered. Books are on the way! For a chance to win a copy, email ReaderKidZ and put “The Hogan That Great Grandfather Built” in the subject line. Please include your name and mailing address in the body of the email.
This looks WONDERFUL! I’m registering to receive a copy, hopefully autographed. Big hugs to the author.
I would love to donate this book to my son’s school. He just did a project where he built a model Hogan sitting on the banks of the Colorado river. More Native American books are needed!!
Thank you for your wonderful comments. Peterson Yazzie’s paintings show us a unique perspective of the landscape and people on the Navajo Nation. His images are full of emotion as well as forms and color. Enjoy.
a comment to share from Elsa Marston: A few years ago on a hiking trip in Utah, I had a few hours in which to explore, by myself, an area near the San Rafael Swell. The sun was pleasantly warm, the breeze soft, the silence broken only by an occasional bird call. There was little to see but a gently rolling, dry terrain of sparse grass, the stoney ridge along the horizon, a clump of willows where the land dipped. Then, here in this lonely but peaceful “nowhere,” I noticed a curious arrangement of logs, some quite large. As I studied the logs and the spaces between them, they began to make sense to me. Someone had built a hogan here, maybe several generations ago. This was not “nowhere” then, it had been home; people had struggled and hoped here. For a moment I felt privileged, the guest of that long-departed family.
I look forward to meeting the family of The Hogan that Great Grandfather Built.
Elsa Marston
Can’t wait to check out your newest book! I love the cover art – I’m sure that the illustrations are lovely (and that they will make me miss the western landscapes).
Lorrie, we stopped by Inscription House yesterday and had a walk down memory lane. It felt good – remember that first Thanksgiving turkey! I think you will enjoy the illustrations in The Hogan That Great Grandfather Built. It will bring you right back to the Reservation in such a beautiful way.
All of our books about Navajo culture and/or the reservation remind me of I-House. Such fond memories!
Thank you, Lorrie, and happy New Year to everyone. Yes, I agree, I-House was one of those special experiences of friendship and community.
Thank you for the wonderful book. We received it today in the mail and have read it at least 3 times to our 3 year old already in the hour and a half we have had it. THANK YOU for the opportunity to get such a great book!!
Thank you for you comment, Amanda. It is a very special feeling as an author to hear that a child is enjoying one’s book. That’s what it is all about! Nancy Bo Flood