Sing Down the Moon

"Sing Down the Moon" is a poignant historical novel told through the eyes of Bright Morning, a young Navajo girl. It vividly recounts the traumatic events of the 1860s, including her brief enslavement by Spaniards and the infamous "Long Walk" when the U.S. Army forcibly removed the Navajo people from their ancestral lands in Canyon de Chelly to Fort Sumner. The book explores themes of resilience, cultural identity, and the devastating impact of displacement, while also celebrating the enduring human spirit and the strength of family and community bonds. It's an essential read for children aged 8-12 to understand a critical, often overlooked, period of American history from a Native American perspective.

The Spanish slavers came first, later the soldiers forced the Navajos of the Canyon to join their Indian brothers on the devastation long march to Fort Sumner; through the eyes of Bright Morning, a young Navajo girl, we see what can happen to human beings when they are uprooted from the life they know