Southwest Children's  Literature

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Walker of Time

Booktalk:

Imagine entering a cave located in a desert of the Southwest. A feeling passes over you that this is not your first time here. Great thunder sounds. It rolls over you after entering the cave along with a feeling like being on a roller coaster. A flash of light and next thing someone rouses you with water, someone unfamiliar. This stranger, young like you, is talkative and friendly, instantly likable yet different. He becomes your fellow traveler.

This is what happens to Walker, a fifteen-year-old Hopi boy who seeks out the cave at the wish of his dying Uncle. His uncle, Walker's only family member, is now gone, leaving him with a deep grief and a backpack that has always been with them.

At the cave, Walker meets Tag, a twelve-year-old boy who came to the cave to bury his Boy Scout compass as a joke for his archeologist father. Join them on their adventure as together they discover firsthand the mysteries regarding what happened to the Sinagua, the ancient peoples who lived in these desert cliff dwellings.

Experience grief, fear, anger and love along with Walker and Tag as they build friendships and meet many fascinating characters on their journey. Walker develops an understanding as to why his Uncle was so determined to teach him both the ways of the Hopi along with those of the Whiteman.

In the story, each boy is faced with difficult choices, particularly about personal responsibility and the way of peace. The boys discover that time does not change the fact that, as human beings, we each are born and eventually die. What we become in our lifespans is based largely upon how we handle ourselves, especially how we handle our strong emotions and our reactions in various situations.

Readers who are interested in the mysteries of ancient peoples will enjoy this work of historical fiction and the science fiction element of time traveling in this book. Walker of Time by Helen Hughes Vick won an ALA Best Books for Young Adults Award in 1994. Read it. You will not be disappointed!

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