Waterless Mountain

I exchanged about a hundred letters with Armer before her death. From her unpublished manuscripts I edited 10 chapters of her Navajoland adventures for Desert Magazine. These chapters were then published as "In Navajoland." She shared many mystical insights with me and a credo which I cherish: "I will walk with fate / And thus compel / The jade to go my way. / A jackal falling down a well said, / "Here I camp today." I have in my living room the large canvas Armer painted called "The Shepherdess," a scene described in one of her books. I welcome any comment on Armer.

I also read this book in fifth grade ( quite a few years ago!) and have never forgotten it. Truly this is a book to have for your child to read. Alas, it is almost impossible to find. I would love to have this book to give to my grandchildren.

I loved this book. I read it in 5th grade and I couldn't put down the boo

I read this for a college course on children's literature, so I'm not exactly a part of the book's target audience, but I find the snarky review above unjustified. God help the poor pitiful humans in the 1930s for not being politically correct enough to please the Horn Book's reviewing staff. And I guess religious values and a respect for nature is now to be dismissed pejoratively as "mysticism." I thought the book was an interesting read, if, sure, a bit dated. It's all the more interesting because the life it depicts -- life on the Navajo Res before the coming of paved roads, is slipping away from living memory.