The Hogan that Great-Grandfather Built

K-Gr 3—A young Navajo girl tells the story of the beauty and significance of her home, a hogan that "long, long ago, [her] Great-Grandfather Jack built with his hands out of earth, water, and trees." Throughout this picture book, the narrator connects her family members to both one another and their shared Navajo identity, using the hogan as the hub of their life together. Flood's straightforward, economical text very loosely adapts the structure of "The House That Jack Built," lending itself to reading aloud. There are some rough and even awkward edges with meter and line structure on the page; however, that must be accounted for in the read aloud context. Yazzie's mixed-media illustrations feature oil pastels, with color schemes that reflect the American Southwestern setting and pay particular attention to the ever-changing sky on almost every two-page spread, with dazzling shades of gold, turquoise, navy, mauve, amber, cerulean, and more. Pastels arguably cost Yazzie valuable detail at times, detracting somewhat from the impact of certain spreads. Back matter provides an author's note discussing the role and importance of the hogan, as well as her own personal remembrances.—Ted McCoy, Springfield City Library, MA