Race to the Sun

Product Information

Race to the Sun is about Nizhoni Begay, a seventh grader who longs to be famous and just so happens to be able to detect monsters. Everything seems to go wrong when she spots a monster at her basketball game only to later learn that he is Mr. Charles, her father’s new boss. He also seems to have a weird interest in the Begay family and their Navajo heritage. Nizhoni tries to warn her father and brother, Mac, but they do not understand her ability. Mac also learns that he has his own powers too. When Mr. Begay is taken hostage, Nizhoni, Mac, and their friend Davery are launched into a quest with many trials where they must reach the House of the Sun with the help of the Diné Holy People. They must all come together to find Nizhoni’s father, defeat Mr. Charles, and stop him from releasing monsters. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting some of the Navajo cultural beings in this story, and it makes me really want to dive into more Navajo stories to become more familiar with them and to read about the actual stories separately to learn about the source of these characters. Should the total distance of 160 km be daunting to some, consider entering a Team of two Relay and ride only half the distance to have the full experience. These children are different from their ancestors. Just as the trials changed to fit Nizhoni’s imagination, so must the weapons adapt. The ways of the Diné are not static but alive and ever-changing.”

A short story written by Roanhorse about Nizhoni will be featured in the upcoming short story anthology book, The Cursed Carnival and Other Calamities. The cover art was revealed in February 2019 to have been by Dale Ray DeForest. [1] Reception [ edit ]

Parents in Distress: Nizhoni and Mac need to save their dad from Mr. Charles and accidentaly end up save their mom from Lost and Found. Roanhorse encourages truthful experiences for kids rather than ones designed to talk down to children. Her books are always political and this one is no different. Kids books should be political. In Race To the Sun, the politics is in a monster’s ability to shapeshift into a rich white capitalist oil tycoon. Written by the talented Rebecca Roanhorse, Race to the Sun uses Navajo mythology in an epic quest full of danger and trials. Main characer Nizhoni, a 7th grader who wants to be special, finds herself able to sense monsters — a gift which becomes crucial when her father goes missing. I had a blast listening to the audiobook for this. The characters are fun and read as the ages they are. Sometime middle grade characters can seem too mature or too immature, but Nizhoni, her bother, and her friend seemed to fit actual middle schoolers well. They worry about popularity and in hind-sight, relatively small things but are vastly important at that age.

The Power of Friendship: As the song states, Nizhoni needs to find out that she is not alone to win against monsters. Corrupt Corporate Executive: Mr. Charles is the CEO of a huge gas and oil corporation, seems to be friends with the President and his company destroys the environment (not to mention building a pipeline on Native land) and is the target of many protest actions. And he's also a man-eating monster who kidnaps gifted children to work for him. Roanhorse makes the emphasis that the way indigenous peoples survived and adapted in this modern world is part of their cultures. These aspects that became part of their histories is now part of their traditional ways.I like reading Riordan’s books and love that he has a series where underrepresented cultures get to tell their stories in a Riordan-style way. Sounded like a win-win until Rebecca Roanhorse (Ohkay Owingeh) was chosen to write a Diné story. Why would they choose a non-Diné to tell the Diné story? Or why didn’t they have Roanhorse tell an Ohkay Owingeh story? Seems to go against the premise of this whole series.

What a fun adventure! Great cast of characters, each with her/his own individual and endearing traits (uh, excluding Mr. Charles and his band of monsters, of course - not endearing at all. ug. ;) ). I read Race to the Sun with my 12-year-old daughter and we had a great time with it. My daughter especially liked the colorful characters, exciting story line, and entertaining dialogue. We laughed and acted out scenes from the book, complete with Nizhoni facial expressions and Mr. Yazzie hand signals (do horned toads even have hands?). Lots of action, fun-filled witty dialogue and clever exchanges, scary and perilous challenges, loads of Navajo mythology, and a large portion of personal growth on the part of Nizhoni. We can both highly recommend this wonderful adventure to kids and adults alike! Action Mom: Nizhoni's mom left the family to fight monsters and failed, but once she is released from Lost and Found, she goes into monster-slaying action, wielding a lightning sword, nonetheless. Right now, she was playing in a basketball game on the team of the Isotopes against the Beavers. However, she noticed one of the spectators was wearing a suit as opposed to everyone else, so Nizhoni suspected him to be a monster as they often disguised themselves as humans, she'd seen it twice before. Coach told Nizhoni to focus on her, she was a little short probably due to being a descendant of the Hopi tribe. A timeout was called with five seconds of the game left, confident Nizhoni offered to take the last shot when Davery Descheny, her best and only friend since preschool, passes her the ball. As no one else volunteered, Coach reluctantly allowed it. Paola Santiago and the River of Tears | Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares | Paola Santiago and the Sanctuary of ShadowsTristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky | Tristan Strong Destroys the World | Tristan Strong Keeps Punching

Roanhorse brings Navajo stories to life with her signature prose: casual and friendly, but still beautiful and full of turns of phrase that make this English major melt. Her characters are wonderfully true to life. And the way she weaves the history and lore into the contemporary setting is clever and educational without being boring or dry. Nizhoni's voice helps with this, as she peppers in her own opinions about the monsters she's fighting with witty asides and true seventh grade charm. Her journey from angry girl longing for recognition to proud monsterslayer brave enough to stand up for and forgive her family is beautiful to watch unfold, and her trials along the way had me both in tears and laughing out loud. She's so brave. I love her so much. I'm going to cry again. Nizhoni is just your normal 7th grader. But lately she's started seeing monsters, like the one attending her basketball game, like the one that turns out to be Mr. Charles, her dad's potential boss at the oil and gas company. He's strangely interested in her family, their Navajo heritage, and the legend of the Hero Twins. Despite her best attempts to warn him, Nizhoni's father won't believe his boss is a threat. I grew up in Southern Arizona and when I was little I would catch and play with horned toads (we called them horny toads). I freaking loved them and I am not a lizard girl at all. I would hold them and pet them and then let them go (sadly, of course, as I always wanted one as a pet). Every time I see or hear about one nowadays, I get so happy. So imagine my happiness level when a character in this book is an actual horned toad who is helping our hero along in her story. It really bumped this book up to another level for me personally. I also think it’s important that both Native and non-Native young readers have the opportunity to be exposed to mythologies beyond the Greek and Roman that are taught in school. Race to the Sun does this in an engaging, authentic way without ever making it feel like being force-fed something educational.

That is Nizhoni's special power. She can see monsters. She soon discovers that her little brother has powers of his own. The two together are part of an ancient line. She and her brother are the reincarnation of the Navajo twins of legend that were monsterslayers. [In mythology, the twins were called the slayer of alien gods.]