Running from Coyote: A White Family among the Navajo

by Danalee Buhler

According to Navajo myth if a coyote crosses your path you should turn back and not continue your journey or something terrible will happen. In Running From A White Family among the Navajo the author spends a childhood dodging coyote. Set in Shiprock, New Mexico, the home of award-winning author Tony Hillerman's protagonist Jim Chee, the author loves life with the Navajo. "Running From Coyote is a remarkable book, a brilliant example of how a writer can use memories of her own childhood to introduce the world to another culture. Not only does Ms. Buhler provide a clear view of the Navajo people, my own favorite Native American culture, she also tells a wonderful story of a white girl growing up between the Sacred Mountains. If I were still teaching my University of New Mexico classes, I would have it on my required reading list."-Tony HillermanExcerpt from my family left the reservation in the summer of 1962, my adopted brothers and I seemed very much alike in one with their brown skin, they looked like they did not belong in the white world, even though their every thought told them that they were my white skin gave the appearance of "fitting in" when I reentered the white world, yet my internal voice told me that I belonged to the world of the Navajo.

186 pages, Paperback

First published August 22, 2007

About the author

The author, her four sisters and two Navajo brothers lived on the Navajo Indian Reservation from 1958 to 1962.

The author and her husband live in So. California. She enjoys hiking in the desert, reading, and juggling."

Reviews

[Danalee Buhler]

Tony Hillerman says, "Running From Coyote is a remarkable book..."

Amazon readers give it 5 stars.

According to Navajo myth if a coyote crosses your path you should turn back and not continue your journey or something terrible will happen. The author spends a childhood dodging coyote in this memoir of growing up on the Navajo Indian reservation in the late 1950's. Her white family adopts two young Navajo boys.

[Rachel Kopel]

I just read a mention - not actual review - of this in the Union Trib yesterday. Excellent recommendation by Tony Hillerman. He knows his Indian books, so I will put this on the *someday* list. This will remind me to keep an eye out for it. Author lives here in San Diego.