Code Talkers

I read this book with my fifth grade reading group and it just made for the most amazing discussion. My group was comprised of 10 - 11 year old boys, a difficult age group to encourage reading, and without exception, they all loved this book.

It is amazing how much even I, as an adult, learned from reading this novel. For example, I had no idea how many men we lost in the Pacific to malaria and that the search for a cure to the "mosquito problem" was what brought about DDT. I was amazed at how much information the Code Talkers had to store completely in their memory - the code books never left the base where the Navajo learned the Code to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. Even the Code Talkers themselves were assigned protectors among the other Marines to keep them from being captured by the Japanese.

I loved the way that this book was written in the first person. The reader gets to experience everything with Ned Bengay from his departure from his family,to his treatment at the government school, to his time as a Marine. This is an amazing first person narrative of a few of the most colorful members of the Greatest generation. It's a great read and I recommend it highly.

If you have boys in this age group that enjoy Call of Duty or other online WW2 games, this is a great tie in and way to get them reading. I printed the navajo dictionary out from a site online for the boys in my group and they really enjoyed that. It was an awesome experience, being able to share this work with young men and see the real impact that it made on them.