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Olivia

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Code Talker

by Joseph Bruchac

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Olivia said: " Code Talker is a 910 Lexile level, historical fiction book by Joseph Bruchac about a 16-year-old named Ned Begay, and his journey of being a part of the crucial Navajo Marines of World War 2. This fictional book is very realistic, talking about how t Code Talker is a 910 Lexile level, historical fiction book by Joseph Bruchac about a 16-year-old named Ned Begay, and his journey of being a part of the crucial Navajo Marines of World War 2. This fictional book is very realistic, talking about how the Navajo people helped guide the American soldiers through the war and in the end, helped us achieve our victory.

The theme I took from this book is the horror of war. WW2 was obviously a very bloody and very scary war. I learned a lot about the effects war has on people and how terrible war and its intentions really is. Navajo culture is very much based on anti-violence and peace between people. I’m sure this book would have been much different if told from a white or Japanese man's perspective. Navajo people have a very different way of life than us and the Japanese and I think a lot of Navajo people struggled during and after the war. “We must never forget, as the Japanese forgot, that all life is holy” (PAGE 148). The Japanese had around 3,000,000 of its people die, the U.S. around 400,000. I learned that the Japanese were not very fair to their people during the war. They often brought the citizens into warfare and used false propaganda that caused many unnecessary and unfair deaths of their people. From what I read, it didn’t seem like the Japanese valued life like our people do. They had many suicide missions such as the Kamikaze, which just amazes me how much they cared for their country. “Eventually, Sam and Bill told me, a few Japanese prisoners were taken at Guadalcanal. Most were common laborers, not soldiers. They were lower class, uneducated Japanese who’d been taken from their homes in Japan and forced by their army to work building the airfield. “They were pathetic,” Bill McCabe said. “Small men who looked lost and sad. Not monsters at all.” “When we saw them,” Sam added, “we realized that our enemies were just human beings.” (PAGE 96-97) Another theme in the book is how war can actually bring people together. “One of the strange things about war is the way it brings people together” (PAGE 105). Ned actually got along pretty well with the white men and didn’t experience much racism like I thought he would except for when he was in the boarding school and sadly had his braid cut and the Navajo children were not allowed to speak their language. Having Ned be Navajo definitely changes how the story is told.

I definitely enjoyed this book. It was very different from anything I’ve ever read. It was kinda hard to read because it wasn’t as entertaining as other books, but I learned a lot. It also caused me to go to my own research on the Navajo Code Talkers, and Navajo people, as I think would other readers. I also learned a bit more about how WW2 was fought and like I said, how terrible war really is. I love history and learning about history so I enjoyed that aspect. I think this book would be good for anyone who enjoys history. If someone just wants to learn about the Code Talkers, they should just look at an article. I think next time, I would like a shorter book on stuff like this since it sort of went by slowly. This book was very educational and I think there was a good balance between story and facts. This book has definitely starts conversations and it changed my perspective on some things and I’m very glad I read it! ...more "

Oct 22, 2019 10:03AM · see review