The Water Lady: How Darlene Arviso Helps a Thirsty Navajo Nation

by Alice B McGinty (Author) Shonto Begay (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

This inspiring picture book tells the true story of a woman who brings desperately needed water to families on the Navajo reservation every day.

Underneath the New Mexico sky, a Navajo boy named Cody finds that his family's barrels of water are empty. He checks the chicken coop-- nothing. He walks down the road to the horses' watering hole. Dry.

Meanwhile, a few miles away, Darlene Arviso drives a school bus and picks up students for school. After dropping them off, she heads to another job: she drives her big yellow tanker truck to the water tower, fills it with three thousand gallons of water, and returns to the reservation, bringing water to Cody's family, and many, many others.

Here is the incredible and inspiring true story of a Native American woman who continuously gives back to her community and celebrates her people.

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Publishers Weekly

Through the story of a fictional Diné boy named Cody, McGinty introduces Darlene Arviso, known as the Water Lady, who delivers water to Navajo Nation families that do not have running water (40%, per an author's note). Waking to discover that his mother has used the last of the family's water supply, Cody worries about their farm animals and himself: "the sun will blaze from the sky, another scorching day in the high desert. And he is thirsty." As Cody's grandmother relays to him the story of the Water Sprinkler, "the Navajo God of Water who collects water in a jar and sprinkles it" in all directions, Arviso finishes her job driving a school bus, then visits a water tower to fill a tanker truck with 3,000 gallons before steering to Cody's home, and to others'. Navajo artist Begay's vibrant ink and watercolor art brings a stirring emotional undercurrent to this community-oriented narrative. An author's note discusses the story's origins in a ride McGinty took with Arviso, who contributes a note of her own. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

Praise for The Water Lady:

"This quiet yet touching story will open young readers' eyes in a multitude of ways." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

[An] illuminating story about a contemporary child's experience with water insecurity, set in the Navajo Nation." —The Horn Book

"Navajo artist Begay's vibrant ink and watercolor art brings a stirring emotional undercurrent to this community-oriented narrative." —Publishers Weekly

Praise for Alice McGinty's The Girl Who Named Pluto:

An inspiring and beautifully illustrated tale made all the better by its historical foundation. —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
Alice B McGinty
ALICE McGINTY is the award-winning author of over forty books for children, including Darwin, an Orbis Pictus Honor Book and one of Booklist's Top 10 Biographies for Youth. It received three starred reviews and was called "exquisite and enlightening" by Kirkus Reviews. Her most recent picture book, Rabbi Benjamin's Buttons, was named a Sydney Taylor Notable Book. She also runs a writing camp for kids, Words on Fire. Visit her on the web at alicebmcginty.com or follow her on Twitter @AliceBMcGinty.

ELIZABETH HAIDLE is the creative director of and a regular contributor to Illustoria magazine, as well as a collaborator at Mascot Press, an independent comics press. She has illustrated a graphic novel, I, Parrot, written by Deb Olin Unferth, she has several nonfiction comics series in the works. Ms. Haidle received her MA in illustration from Savannah College of Art and Design. You can follow her on Instagram at @ehaidle.
Classification
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9780525645009
Lexile Measure
640
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Schwartz & Wade Books
Publication date
March 30, 2021
Series
-
BISAC categories
JNF007120 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Biography & Autobiography | Women
JNF018040 - Juvenile Nonfiction | People & Places | United States - Native American
JNF065000 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Recycling & Green Living
Library of Congress categories
Picture books
Indians of North America
Deserts
Navajo Indians
New Mexico
Water supply
Water-supply
Arviso, Darlene
ALSC Notable Children's Book
Selection 2022

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