From Booklist
Gr. 4-7. Celinda McKelvey looks like a typical 13-year-old American, and most of the time she lives like one, but her roots are deep in the Navajo nation, and she returns to the reservation to solemnize and celebrate her change from girl to woman. The ceremony, called Kinaald{ }a, marks the coming-of-age for a Navajo girl. Celebrated outdoors and in the family hogan, it is composed of two days of prayer, ritual, feasting, running, and rejoicing. Celinda wears a new dress woven like a Navajo blanket. She blesses her relatives and is blessed by them. She mixes a huge cake, made in part from cornmeal she has ground herself, dedicated to the sun god, and shared with all who attend the Kinaald{ }a. Roessel's text describes Celinda's preparations and the ceremony itself and relates the ancient myth that gave rise to it. The photographs, which are sharp and beautiful but not slick, are reminiscent of candid shots taken by a very good photographer at a family gathering. Because the subject is unusual, this book may need a little promotion, but it could complement either a Native American collection or a women's studies unit. Sheilamae O'Hara

From Kirkus Reviews
By ``a Navajo photographer and writer who specializes in contemporary Native Americans,'' a clear, strikingly photographed account of 13-year-old Celinda McKelvey's coming-of-age ceremony, set in its historical context (such traditions, nearly lost in the 1950s and -60s, are coming back along with renewed Navajo pride). Described are specific details of costume, the making of a corn cake that's cooked overnight in the ground, the gathering of the extended family to help and share the celebration, and the ceremony's symbolic meaning. In glowing color photos, the reservation's natural beauty is represented by such sacred sites as Shiprock, while Navajos are depicted using a mix of new (store-bought clothing) and traditional items (Celinda's hand- woven dress). Unusually authentic and attractive; an interesting comparison to Seymour's The Gift of the Changing Woman, which depicts the similar Apache ceremony. Also just published in the ``We Are Still Here'' series: Sandra King's Shannon: An Ojibway Dancer (ISBN: 0-8225-2652-2). Bibliography. (Nonfiction. 8-12) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Card catalog description
Celinda McKelvey, a Navajo girl, participates in the Kinaalda, the traditional coming-of-age ceremony of her people.

ANNOTATION

Celinda McKelvey, a Navajo girl, participates in the Kinaalda, the traditional coming-of-age ceremony of her people.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

An insider's view into the world of the contemporary Navajo people, this is a story about a tribal family that keeps alive a traditional coming-of-age ceremony.

FROM THE CRITICS

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot