ISBN: 9780590461535
Bibliography:
Begay, Shonto. 1995. Navajo: Visions and Voices Across the Mesa. New York: Scholastic Inc.
Plot:
Navajo: Visions and Voices Across the Mesa is a collection of poems and artwork by Shonto Begay that describe the Navajo way of life.
Analysis:
Begay’s poetic verse and artwork creates a window, which allows the reader a glimpse of the Navajo culture. His paintings of the southwest depict the people, the land, the animals, and the symbols of the Navajo culture. In the author’s note Begay describes the purpose of this beautiful work: “Here, for me and for you, too, visions and voices from across the mesa - past and present - are recaptured for all time.”
Other cultural markers embedded within this work include examples of beliefs, traditions, rituals, and chants of the people. Respect for the elderly is an important theme in the Navajo culture and is exemplified in the following quote from the poem, Grandmother: “The lines in her face were marks of honor." Another theme that is important to the Navajo people is respect for the land, which is modeled by the following quote from the poem, Early Spring: “For this generation, and many more to come/This land is beautiful and filled with mysteries./They reveal themselves and their stories/If you look very carefully, and listen…./” He also mentions in the authors note that his elders always taught him that the land was sacred and that we belong to it.
Review Excerpts:
Horn Book: “Twenty of Begay's beautiful, evocative paintings accompany his original poetry describing some of the emotions, stories, and experiences shared in his Navajo community. Some of the poems are lengthy and are more suitable for an older audience. An index of paintings is appended.”
Publisher's Weekly: “With these heartfelt paintings, poems and memoirs, the noted Navajo artist fulfills his stated goal of taking the reader ``into the corners of my world, the Navajo world.'' Similar in conception to George Littlechild's This Land Is My Land, this book places more emphasis on the traditional and spiritual, its contemporary setting notwithstanding. The sacred intertwines with the everyday.”
Connections:
*Works Illustrated by Shonto Begay:
Alice Yazzie's Year ISBN: 9781582462929
The Mud Pony ISBN: 9780590415262
The Boy Who Dreamed of an Acorn ISBN: 9780399225475
The Magic of Spiderwoman ISBN: 9780590460958
*Written and Illustrated by Shonto Begay:
Ma'ii and Cousin Horned Toad: A Traditional Navajo Story ISBN: 9780590453912
*Check out Shonto Begay's Website:
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