Children's Books

NAVAJO ABC: A DINE ALPHABET BOOK, written by Luci Tapahonso and Eleanor Schick, illustrations by Eleanor Schick. Simon and Schuster, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, N.Y., NY 10020, (800) 223- 2336, FAX: (212) 698-7007. Illustrated, glossary. 32 pp., $15.00 cloth. 0-689-80316-8, Ages 3 - 5

Children will be totally baffled by this mis-named book, which should be titled "Mostly English ABC with a Navajo Word Guide in Back." Each page presents a letter from the English alphabet combined with a pictured item appropriate to the Navajo culture. Most of the words for the items, however, are in English also (a Navajo word doesn't occur until the letter "I"), leaving the reader to look in the glossary for the word in Navajo. Though the colored-pencil drawings make it easy to identify the item associated with the word when it is written in Navajo ("zas" is snow), Tapahonso, evidently, doesn't share this faith. Grade: C. Reviewed by Steve Brock

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