Preparing Picture Book Talk lessons with content unfamiliar to me requires hours of research. For example, I found Turquoise Boy: A Navajo Legend, "written and adapted by Terri Cohlene," puzzling. Simply reading the text and marveling at Charles Reasoner's illustrations was not enough to appreciate the tale. Turquoise Boy does include several pages of backmatter at the end of the book, including photographs, artwork, and a timeline of important dates. Still, I felt it necessary to write an answer key that is five pages of explanation with multiple links for additional background information.
Turquoise Boy is the story of how a divine youth earned the gift of horses for the Navajo People. It will draw curious readers, as it did me, into the complex history of this Native American community. This legend was imbued with enough content to create a Picture Book Talk and Study English lesson.
Endless Boundaries in Common Core has an easy-to-understand Myths and Legends Poster to begin a conversation about this genre. ELA Reading has lessons for Navajo vocabulary including foods, animals, counting, and colors. ESL and SPED Behavior Specialists has Reading Tip Sheets/Letters for Parents in Dine Navajo (Colorin Colorado/AFT).
"I see the Earth. I am looking at Her and smile Because She makes me happy. The Earth, looking back at me is smiling too. May I walk happily And lightly Upon Her. Navajo Chant" (on the first page of this book)
