BOOK REVIEW
Sing down the moon was a book that i have just finished reading, and one that i really liked. You will see more in the following review, but I did this for school so there was some things I had to do differently then a normal review of mine. First was that I had to have a grabber, which seems to be something that I am not very good at at all. Secondly is the fact that I should not give away the ending, which I did not do. Now, in the review, I do skip around a some to the reader, but that is how it is in the book. Also, there isn't all that much story in the book, just a lot of details. The book is just over 120 pages, but it was a very interesting book that I liked a lot. Enjoy my review and make sure to give me some advice for my next one!

The tragic story of the Navaho people is brought to life in

the book Sing Down The Moon by Scott

O’Dell. He does an outstanding job

painting a picture in the readers mind of what is happening and also telling you what happened, why it happened, and how it happened. On a lovely spring day,

Bright Morning and her friend Running Bird are out in a very green, grassy mesa

taking care of their healthy and very white sheep, when they are, without

notice, approached by Spanish slavers.

The slavers, who they call Long Knives due to their weapons and way of

taking care of their “issues” with other tribes of people, threaten Bright

Morning with guns and demand that she and Running Horse go with them. They are tied up and brought across the state

of Colorado to a small village where they are sold as house girls, or slaves. Being two girls from the Navaho tribe, they

were not treated well by the Spanish people that lived there, and who become

their masters. The girls think the Spanish people eat weird foods, and neither

girl will eat it because it is against their customs. This part of the book is

by far the best, as it is the climax of the story. This section is their escape

plan and tells what Bright Morning and Running Horse do while they are in

captivity. Soon, on a night at the

church when all lights go off, they steal 3 horses and make a run for it. They

must travel all day and night in order to keep the Spanish people behind them,

as the Spanish have come to hunt them down. Bright Morning tells Running Bird,

“I would rather die, then to be recaptured and sent back to their village.” This

statement paints a picture for the reader of how horrible life was being slaves


of the Spanish people. Through the entire book, Bright Morning was a very

strong character who was devoted to doing what was right for herself and

others. This attribute makes her a very likable character to readers. Also,

throughout the course of the book, she learns how it is to be an adult, and to

have the responsibilities of an adult. She had to get past these places in her life to become the girl she is at the end of this book At the beginning of the book, she

happens to be a very fearful girl who was not that trustworthy to her tribe or family.

But as the story progresses, she takes on the responsibility of being an adult.

In the middle section of the book, after she has gotten home, she gets married

to one of the warriors in the tribe, Tall Boy. Tall Boy is the strongest and

most intelligent of the warriors in the tribe, and Bright Morning has always

had a liking for him. Running Horse, her friend who was captured with her,

thought up their plan to get away from the Spanish and had to make some very

tough decisions. After they get home, and before they are taken again by the

Spanish people, she becomes a very well respected member of their tribe. Once they return home, there is about a month before a large fleet of Spanish people come

in, telling them to pack up and leave within 72 hours. The tribal members

decide on taking no action into this issue. After those three days, one of

their scouts sees the Spanish warriors riding in on horses, and predicts they

have about 2 hours to take action before they arrive. In a quick scramble, they

take everything that they will need to live for a week before returning to

their homes, or as they think. They flee to a canyon overlooking their small

town so that they can see when the Spanish people go back to their home

country. The Spanish people do something completely different, as they know the

tribe is up on the canyon. They burn everything, houses, trees, and even the

corn fields, to insure the tribe does not come back. The Spanish people storm

up to the canyon and overtake the Navaho people, starting them on the long

march to a base camp. After many moons, and many songs of hope, (name of the

title Sing Down the Moon) they start running out of food and many die. They arrive at the camp after about 25 weeks,

with no food, no water, and no shelter. They build everything from nothing.

After living like this for a week or two, Tall Boy and Bright Morning flee

their camp and head back to their hometown, which they find overrun with weeds

and “buffalo sheep”, the sheep that had not been shaved in a year. They find a small cave in a hidden canyon where they decide they will live the rest of

their lives with their new born child. It is a very dusty canyon with many

grasses and plum bushes and a large cave hidden from all sides where they will

sleep and rest. This story is historical fiction, with real events and

fictional characters. The book is realistic, and it explained, in great detail,

what happened on the Navaho’s long journey as they were forced across the

Midwest by the Spanish into their new homeland. This was overall an interesting

and also educational book that many people should read if they have not

already. Scott O’Dell uses vivid language, while making the language simple enough

to be understood by many age groups. Out of the people I know, not many like

realistic books that also have a historical relevance to them, but this is a

good choice for them to read. The tone used by the author is one that really

gets the reader involved in the story. You

can feel what the characters are feeling, which is a great attribute and makes

the book more interesting. Sing Down The

Moon deserves a 4.5/5 from me. Great job Scott O’Dell!

Thank you for reading my review, which I put a lot of time into, and I hope that you will give me plenty of advice for my next one!