Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code Talker's Story

A Junior Library Guild Selection April 2018
2018 Cybils Award Finalist, Elementary Non-Fiction
BRLA 2018 Southwest Book Award
2019 Southwest Books of the Year: Kid Pick
2020 Grand Canyon Award, Nonfiction Nominee
2020-2021 Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award Master List

STARRED REVIEW! "A perfect, well-rounded historical story that will engage readers of all ages. A perfect, well-rounded historical story that will engage readers of all ages."―Kirkus Reviews starred review

Chester Nez was a boy told to give up his Navajo roots. He became a man who used his native language to help America win World War II.

As a young Navajo boy, Chester Nez had to leave the reservation and attend boarding school, where he was taught that his native language and culture were useless. But Chester refused to give up his heritage. Years later, during World War II, Chester―and other Navajo men like him―was recruited by the US Marines to use the Navajo language to create an unbreakable military code. Suddenly the language he had been told to forget was needed to fight a war.

Joseph Bruchac is a writer and storyteller who often draws on his Native American (Abenaki) ancestry. Joseph is the author of over 130 books for young readers and adults, including Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two. He holds a bachelor's degree from Cornell University, a master's degree from Syracuse, and a PhD from the Union Institute. He lives in New York.

Liz Amini-Holmes holds a bachelor's of fine arts degree in illustration from the Academy of Art University and the University of San Francisco. She has illustrated other books for children including Fatty Legs, Miracle, and A Stranger at Home. She lives in California.