Code Talker

Coded messages and secret transmissions fascinated me as a child – who thought up all those different ways to hide your true message…and could I crack them?  I was mesmerized to find out different languages were used as codes sometimes from different dialects, to complete languages not well known.  In World War I, the United States military first used people from the Choctaw nation to code and transmit messages in their native tongue.  After their success, people from many other nations were utilized in these roles, including the most famous – the Navajo nation during World War II.

Joseph Bruchac delivers and poignant and relatable tale in Code Talker of one Navajo Code Talker and their journey from child on the reservation to warrior in the Marine Corps.  At times, this story was a painful reminder of all that had been taken away from the indigenous peoples of North America – the families lived on reservations, the children were shipped off to boarding schools where they were taught to forget their language and customs, and the Navajo nation were thought of as second-class citizens in the world around them.  This is a book about the difficulties of assimilation, but also about how our differences can be the key to unlocking opportunity and solutions not available otherwise.

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I give Code Talker 4 out of 5 stars. This book reminded me a great deal of The Red Badge of Courage in both the writing style and material.  Covering such difficult topics can lead to a very dark and sad book, but the writer keeps the book upbeat.  I enjoyed the inclusion of both the boot camp experience and service overseas.  This was a very thought-provoking book that left me wanting to know more about some of the challenges experienced by the Code Talkers during their service to our country.

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With any book written about soldiers in war, this book may be best directed towards more mature audiences over 13.  This book includes discussions of battle wounds and death that may be triggering for some Wounded Warriors.  However, I would recommend this book to readers looking to learn more about the Navajo nation, unsung heroes of World War II, or the mistreatment of minority populations by our government.

I chose Code Talker in honor of Native American Day on September 22^nd.  In the decades after World War II, many books have been written about the Code Talkers and their lives have been depicted in several movies.  I specifically chose a book about the Navajo Nation because, as a college student, I was introduced to many of their customs and their origin story through a Perspectives course at Georgia State University.  I left that course feeling an understanding and a connection to the Navajo we interviewed as part of our coursework.  If you are looking for other books about the Navajo tribe, I would encourage you to read Paul G. Zolbrod’s book Dinē bahane’ – a retelling of the Navajo creation story.

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What I’m Reading

• Current print book: Book Lovers, Emily Henry
• Current audio book: The First Family, Joseph J. Ellis
• Book I’m most looking forward to: The Rules of Magic, Alice Hoffman