School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-8-Sarah Nita, 13, tells the story of the Navajo's forced 400-mile Long Walk from their ancestral homeland through winter snow to Fort Sumner. The confusion, fear, and suffering of The People are drawn with clarity and immediacy. A factual afterword gives a larger picture of the times with captioned period photographs of the Navajo. The story is rich with details of Native life gracefully woven into the telling of events. Characterizations are complete, even for minor participants. The publication information is at the rear of the book, as it is for all titles in this series, which has given rise to a general criticism that the stories are easily mistaken for actual period diaries. The CIP classification is 813.54; granted, that is American fiction, but placing this book in the nonfiction section of the library only adds to the confusion. The author's comments allow readers to believe that Sarah Nita was a real girl ("born in 1851"). All the same, it is a compelling story, and its power will attract readers.-Cris Riedel, Ellis B. Hyde Elementary School, Dansville, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Separated from her family, Sarah Nita suffers cold, hunger, and fear on the Long Walk, when soldiers force the Navajo to walk hundreds of miles to imprisonment at Fort Sumner. Despite the enforced optimism of the series, the supplemental information and photos reassure readers of the book's general accuracy. Sarah Nita's invented fables add interest. From HORN BOOK Spring 2000, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 5^-8. When Shimasani's granddaughter returns home from the white man's school, Shimasani asks her to record the story of the Long Walk. In October 1864, Shimasani (Sarah Nita) and her sister are away from their village when soldiers capture their parents and other villagers and take them away. Sarah Nita and her sister are eventually rounded up with other Navajo and forced to walk to Fort Sumner. Reunited with their family at the fort, the girls help care for their ailing father and fight for their own survival against starvation, disease, and filth. Four years later, the Navajo agree to stop raiding white settlements and promise to send their children to the white man's schools. In return, the government allows the Navajo to return to their homelands, now greatly reduced in size. Turner's use of phrases instead of dates to divide diary entries makes it easy to follow and keep track of major events, and her historical note, which is accompanied by black-and-white photos showing the Navajo at Fort Sumner, gives additional background. This new addition to the Dear America series is an accessible, forthright view of a sad chapter in American history. A map is appended. --Karen Hutt