Coming Home: A Hopi Resistance Story [Hardcover]

From master Hopi woodcarver Mavasta Honyouti, the story of his grandfathers experience at a residential boarding school and how he returned home to pass their traditions down to future generations.

When Mavasta Honyouti was a boy he would go with his grandfather to their cornfield, watching him nurture every plant. During breaks, his grandfather would take out a piece of paako root and use his pocketknife to whittle away. He made beautiful carvings that Mavasta would later learn to do himself. 

But Mavasta would often wonder: what was his kwaa like when he was a boy? And one day, he heard the story. 

Mavastas grandfather, like many Native American children across the country in the late 19th and early 20th century, was forced to leave his Hopi reservation as a child and go to a residential boarding school far away. There, the government cut his hair, punished him for speaking his native language, and gave him a new name. But Mavasta's grandfather never forgot who he was  or where he came from  and he tried to escape again and again. Finally, he made it back to their reservation. 

In later years, Mavastas kwaa chose a simple life, taking great care of his family just like he took great care of his plants. His son and later his grandson became acclaimed Hopi katsina woodcarvers, just like him.Coming Home: A Hopi Resistance Storyis a deeply personal book  written in both English and Hopi  that features sixteen stunning original painted wood carvings. It is an unforgettable testament to one man rising above a painful piece of history to keep the light of his family and culture alive. 

P R A I S E 

Best of the Year:
Politics and Prose * Cooperative Children's Book Center * Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature * American Indians in Children's Literature 

 Honyoutis rich wood carvings, painted with acrylics, beautifully illuminlóL