Alice Yazzie's Year

Book Review:

"Time is the thing," Alice Yazzie thinks to herself one December night as she considers weaving a rug; and indeed, she is right. For time is the thing which will bring not only spring and the sheep shearing and wool gathering necessary for her rug, but time will carry with it other changes in Alice's life as well.

Alice Yazzie's Year, originally written by Ramona Maher in 1977 and reissued with Shonto Begay's new illustrations in 2003, depicts events in a year of the life of an eleven-year-old Navajo girl. Alice and her grandfather create a loving family who share in the good and bad experiences of their lives. From a trip to Disneyland to the death of a close friend, Alice lives, learns and grows with the changes time and growing up bring. The book concludes with notes on Navajo culture, written by Carl N. Gorman, a Navajo Community College administrator in Arizona.

A picture book by definition, the striking emotional and poetic approaches of the text make Alice Yazzie's Year a powerful read for all ages. Shonto Begay's captivating impressionistic illustrations, rendered in Southwestern colors and images, enhance the story's setting and, frequently, its tone. Begay's use of impressionism is particularly notable as the technique lends itself well to individual interpretation on the part of the reader.

Not only will Alice Yazzie's Year introduce young readers to Navajo language and culture, but it will also encourage them to reflect on their own lives and to define a year not as a series of days or months but as a collection of events and experiences, which truly shape who we are.

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