Annie and the Old One

by Miska Miles, Peter Parnall (Illustrator)

Annie is a young Navajo girl who refuses to believe that her grandmother, the Old One, will die. Sadly, Annie learns that she cannot change the course of life.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Native American, Death, Family, Fiction, Cultural

44 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Patricia Miles Martin aka Miska Miles

Award winning American author. Born in Kansas in 1899. Worked as a teacher before becoming a writer. Apparently she became a writer by accident when she inadvertently found herself in a creative writing class at a local college when her own class was full up. Her first book was actually written whilst attending the course! Her career became very successful. One of her books (Annie and the Old One) was made into a film and received a Newbery Honour award.

She used her experiences of living on a farm and a Navajo reservation and her many travels, to colour her children's fictional stories, most of which were about animals, nature and different cultures. Quite a few of her novels were horse stories. She also wrote non-fiction, including a number of biographies.

She wrote under her own name, as Patricia A. Miles, and also under two other pseudonyms: Miska Miles and Jerry Lane. Her pony books were written under her own name and that of the Miska Miles pseudonym. I don't think she wrote any horse-related stories under her other pen names.

Sources: The De Grummond Collection.

Reviews

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a touching story about grief and losing a loved one. A Navajo girl named Annie learns that she cannot stop time to prevent her beloved grandmother's passing. I appreciated how the author connected the loom & weaving with time/life. The desert setting & descriptions were lovely.

{Olathe Public Schools Core Literature List, Grade 3}

[Phil J · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very enjoyable book about a Navajo girl and her fears that her grandma will die. I appreciate that there was strong plot and character work, which is often lacking from books about Indigenous people written during this period.

It is interesting that the main character lives a very traditional lifestyle in a hogan but takes a yellow bus to school. There may or may not have been Navajos living this way in the '70s, but few if any live that way now.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quiet and reflective book about a young girl coming to terms with her grandmother's approaching death. The illustrations are also quiet but very lovely. Annie rebels against nature and tries to prevent time from passing. This does not work as well as she hoped it would, and her grandmother intervenes. Very warm and loving and pretty realistic.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for the Newbery club in Children's Books group, Sept. 2021/

Imo, this deserves the honor. It's a short picture-book, illustrated by one of my favorite artists, Peter Parnall*. Though Miles is not, apparently, Native, I could not find any controversy about her or about the book. She did live with the Navaho and so when she says that the coyote is God's dog, for example, I believe her. Poignant, wise, effective.

*I especially like his work with Byrd Baylor, for example The Way to Start a Day and Everybody Needs a Rock.

[N. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raise your hand if children books makes you cry?

[Teryca Brooks-Long · Rating 3 out of 5]

Annie and the Old One
Author: Miska Miles, Illustrator: Peter Parnall
Rating: 3/5
Genre: Traditional Literature
Award: Newbery Honor Award
Audience: 4-8 years
This is a story of a young girl who is in denial about knowing her grandmother will die one day.
A. Annie is described as a young girl, full of energy with short straight hair. Her grandmother is shown as very wrinkly and moves a bit slower than Annie. Her father is described as very hard working with a slicked back ponytail and wearing a bandana.
B. I am not familiar with any other versions of the story.
C. No, I would not use it for storytelling to a child/group because it is long, and they may lose attention fast. Also, I am not sure that young children will grasp onto the concept/moral of the story.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young Navajo girl, Annie, loves her grandmother, the Old One.

The Old One states that when the rug on the loom is finished she will die. Annie tries everything she can to keep her mom from weaving, so the rug will never be finished.

I found this book surprisingly tender and quite lovely. I can see how it might be problematic, because it wasn't written by a Native American, but I don't think any ill will was intended. The story was beautifully told and brought tears to my eyes as I thought about my own grandmother, how much she taught me, and how I still miss her.

One of the Newbery Honor books. I'm trying to get back in gear on my Newbery Quest. If I read seven Newbery books each month I could be done this year, but I doubt that is going to happen. LOL! They are just not that easy to read. Honestly, if I wasn't over 3/4 done, I would give up. Luckily this book was short and definitely one of the better ones.

[Karl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Miles is not Navajo. In my opinion she has no business telling this story and quite frankly this book should not have won a Newberry medal. It has the look and feel of most of the 1970s pseudo indigenous children’s books and it’s just plainly inauthentic. Navajo stories need to be told by Navajo people. Simple.

[Treathyl Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly touching story. Author touched on a sensitive topic which was explained very delicately. Also a good intro to Native American culture and traditions. Book review at HUBPages.com http://cmoneyspinner1tf.hubpages.com/...

[Shawn Deal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful book about a child processing grief of the death of her grandmother. Loved this one.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not realize the subject matter of this book when I checked it out from the library. I'm just going through older Newbery books and this was on the list. I would definitely preview it before reading to youngsters (It is about the death of a grandparent). Everything is handled very gently and the illustrations are beautiful.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 5th graders (especially the girls) really enjoyed this read aloud. It is a great example of how we can use books to learn about and gain the perspective of different kinds of people that we do not encounter much in our lives.

[Sammy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this because it was another picture book that had won the Newbery award, like Last Stop on Market Street. It was an okay book, but one in which may not be the most accurate.

[Whittney Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Annie and the Old One,” tells the story about the main character Annie, who is a Navajo Indian, and the relationships with her grandmother and family and learning to deal with life experiences. Annie’s grandmother, the Old One, says she will die after Annie’s mother finishes weaving a rug on the loom. The story tells of the ways Annie tries to prevent her mother from finishing the rug, and Annie’s grandmother explaining how death is a part of life and Annie will have to learn to accept this. The book depicts aspects of life on an Indian reservation and how other people live. The major themes in the book are death, loss of innocence, and family. I really liked this book and being so close to both my grandmothers, I understood the desperate need Annie felt to prevent her grandmother from dying one day. I would recommend this book to give students a window into other cultures, because there is Indian spiritual beliefs in the book, and to let students gain insight and understanding about how death can and does affect everyone. This book would also make a great mirror for students who have experienced a loss of loved one and then a window to see how other cultures deal with death, life, and growing up.

[Devon Ashby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Everybody Needs a Rock so much that I went down a whole list of books with illustrations by Peter Parnall to see which ones we had at my bookstore. Annie and the Old One is a much wordier book than Everybody Needs a Rock, and Parnall's illustrations unfortunately fail to mesh as perfectly with the text. Byrd Baylor's sparse, poetic writing and Parnall's minimalist, experimental approach to Everybody Needs a Rock made the book really special for me. Annie and the Old One is more conventional, but Parnall does find a few opportunities to be impactful, mainly with great, imposing, circular shapes.

I'm disappointed as well that this story about a Navajo family coping with the impending death of a grandmother doesn't appear to have been created with any direct involvement by real indigenous people (I can't be positive, but I see no indication that Miska Miles or Peter Parnall are Native). There are several other collaborations between Parnall and Baylor that I hope I can locate since they seem like a better complement to each other than this project, which was fine, but not great.

[Summer D Clemenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Annie and The Old One by Miska Miles is a Newborn Honor Book Award winning book, written in 1971. It is a beautiful children’s story about a Navajo family. Annie loves her grandmother, “The Old One.” Everyone in her family works hard to tend their farm and take care of each other. Annie is an only Native American child and she spends a lot of time with her grandmother, hearing the stories of their folklore. Grandmother has said when the rug Annie’s mother is weaving is finished, she will return to Mother Earth.

When Annie asked her mother about this, her mother explained that “The Old Ones” know about this. Annie does not want her grandmother to die and she tries hard to stop the rug from being finished but her grandmother knows her tricks. Her grandmother tells her that Annie cannot stop time or her grandmother’s death.

This beautiful cultural story is very touching. The illustrations by Peter Parnell are simple and beautiful. It is a long historical fiction story with 44 pages and probably not for young children. This picture book is probably suited best for a child of 3rd grade or beyond.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

1972 Newbery Honor book. Woah, another deep story found in the pages of a picture book, the one about a Navajo girl, Annie, who needs to face and learn to accept the passing of her grandmother. Grandmother- the Old One - is not yet gone, but she announces she will die when the wool rug her mother is weaving is completed and removed from the loom. Annie tries to think of ways to take her mother's time to prevent her from completing the rug, everything from being naughty to undoing the weaving her mother had done that day. Eventually, the Old One explains that one can not hold back time. Annie begins to understand, and at the end of the story, begins to help with the weaving of the rug. The illustrations are simple but capture the landscape, architecture, and especially the vegetation of Navajo country.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a touching story about the relationship between a Navajo girl and her grandmother. This book deserves its Newbery honor, and would be a resource to discuss death with children. This would be a great book to use for character traits too. I wasn't very impressed with the illustrations though, they are mostly back and white with a little bit of yellow and brown.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

"My children, when the new rug is taken from the loom, I will go to Mother Earth."

Annie tries everything to distract her mother from weaving so that her mother won't finish the rug she is working on. Finally, she begins to undo the work her mother has done for the day until her grandmother sees what she is doing. "My granddaughter ... you have tried to hold back time. This can not be done."

[Yuki · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sun rose but it also set.
The cactus did not bloom forever. Petals dried and fell to earth.
She knew she was a part of the earth and the things on it. She would always be a part of the earth, just as her grandmother had always been, just as her grandmother would always be, always and forever.
And Annie was breathless with the wonder of it.

[Thomas Helean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, it was also a Caldecott winner. I enjoyed the representation of the Navajo community within the book and while it was very sad to see Annie lose her grandmother, it could also serve as a lesson for ones who may struggle with loss. I also really was blown away by the illustrations.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This picture book tells of Annie, a young Navajo girl, who discovers that as soon as her mother finishes weaving the rug on the loom, her grandmother, or the Old One, will die. Annie makes many attempts to thwart her mother's progress in order to delay her grandmother's death. Annie discovers important life lessons in the process. A charming story.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author use his mellow fine words painted a beautiful story about how a little girl's comprehension about the death where the story happened in the the Hogan set in the desert. An beautiful story with love and time lapse and the nature.

[Christie Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading this book as a child and being changed forever. I just bought a new copy to read to my own children as they experience the difficulties of seeing loved ones grow older. Very touching story.

[Gotogrrl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great children's book about accepting the place that death holds within our lives. Not psychological or hitting u over the head, but full of grounded Native American beliefs in how we are connected to everything in this life and the next.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very short Newbery Honor book. It is the story of Annie and her grandmother. Her grandmother realizes that she is at the end of her life and Annie tries to do things to prevent this from happening.

[Emily Gingrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it is a good way to introduce the ideas of death and how to deal with the hardships that come when a loved one dies.

[Seema Rao · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tale of a native American girl and her mother. Something about this books is just odd and unappealing.

[Kristen McBee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good story for older kids (it’s longer) about people dying of old age.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would kids appreciate this beautiful book as much as I do?