CCBC Booklists

CCBC Review:

Nizhoni Begay is a Diné (Navajo) seventh grader who can see monsters masquerading as regular people. This includes Mr. Charles, the white head of a big oil company who’s is only pretending to be interested in hiring her dad in order to capture her younger brother, Mac, for his ability to control water. Nzhoni knows she has to figure out how to stop Mr. Charles. Mr. Charles, for his part, is intent on stopping her. With the help of Mr. Yazzi, a toy horned toad come to life, Nizhoni sets off with Mac and their friend Davery, who is Black/Navajo, to gain the knowledge and gather the gifts that will help defeat Mr. Charles. Their quest takes them first to the home of Diné Holy Person Spider Woman, who gives them a map to the home of the Sun, where they can get weapons forged to fight the monsters. Along the way, they must stop at each of the Four Sacred Mountains to gather gifts and pass through a series of obstacles that transform according to each of their weaknesses/traumas. For Nizhoni, whose mother also had the ability to see and fight monsters and was being trained by Mr. Yazzi when she was disappeared years before, this means reckoning with her loss. Nizhoni is the first-person narrator at the center of an immensely likeable cast of heroes in this captivating fantasy. ©2021 Cooperative Children’s Book Center

CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 8-12
Age Range: Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10) Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Format: Novel
Subjects: African Americans Families Fantasy First/Native Nations Grief and Loss Journeys and Quests Multiracial Characters/Families Navajo People Supernatural
Diversity subjects: Black/African Indigenous
On CCBC Booklist: Fantasy for 8 to 12 Year Olds: Giants, Journeys, and Other Imaginings 

Publishers: Disney, Hyperion, Rick Riordan Presents
Publish Year: 2020
Pages: 298
ISBN: 9781368024662
CCBC Location: Fiction, Roanhorse

Add To My List