Healer of the Water Monster (Water Monster #1)

by Brian Young (Author)

Healer of the Water Monster (Water Monster #1)
Reading Level: 6th − 7th Grade
Series: Water Monster

Brian Young's powerful debut novel tells of a seemingly ordinary Navajo boy who must save the life of a Water Monster--and comes to realize he's a hero at heart.

When Nathan goes to visit his grandma, Nali, at her mobile summer home on the Navajo reservation, he knows he's in for a pretty uneventful summer, with no electricity or cell service. Still, he loves spending time with Nali and with his uncle Jet, though it's clear when Jet arrives that he brings his problems with him. One night, while lost in the nearby desert, Nathan finds someone extraordinary: a Holy Being from the Navajo Creation Story--a Water Monster--in need of help. Now Nathan must summon all his courage to save his new friend. With the help of other Navajo Holy Beings, Nathan is determined to save the Water Monster, and to support Uncle Jet in healing from his own pain.

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Kirkus

Starred Review
Hands readers a meaningful new take on family love. 

ALA/Booklist

As the title suggests, Nathan must help heal those he loves, and Young’s narrative weaves traditional folklore, language, and mythos with modern emotion to craft a poignant tale of family, friendship, and protecting what you love most.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review

This excellently wrought middle grade debut by Young (who is Diné/Navajo) centers 11-year-old Nathan Todacheenie, a Diné boy who, seeking to escape a vacation with his father and his father's girlfriend, ends up in a world of tradition and magic. At book's start, Nathan is being dropped off with his shinálí, called Nali for short; though there's no running water or electricity, her mobile home is on his beloved Dinetah/Diné homelands. Though Nathan doesn't look forward to a summer of chopping wood and zero phone reception, he does adore Nali, who has worked for years to keep her allotment of land and her traditions. When Nathan wanders into the desert in pursuit of the otherworldly horned toad who's filching corn seeds from Nathan's school experiment, he ends up on a quest to enter the Third World and save the Water Monster, a Holy Being that has been poisoned by radiation, as well as his uncle Jet, who has returned from military service in desperate need of a traditional ceremony that he doesn't want. Gentle, complex characters and flawed, loving human relationships lend depth to Young's worlds-spanning novel. Ages 8-12. Agent: Dan Mandel, Sanford J. Greenburger Assoc. (May)

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes



Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780062990402
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Heartdrum
Publication date
May 11, 2021
Series
Water Monster
BISAC categories
JUV013030 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Multigenerational
JUV037000 - Juvenile Fiction | Fantasy & Magic
JUV001000 - Juvenile Fiction | Action & Adventure
JUV011040 - Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | United States - Native American
JUV012080 - Juvenile Fiction | Legends, Myths, Fables | Native American
Library of Congress categories
Animals, Mythical
Navajo Indians
New Mexico
Navajo boys
Navajo families
Navajo Indian Reservations
American Indian Youth Literature Award
Winner 2022
ALSC Notable Children's Book
Selection 2022

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