The Water Lady, Alice B. McGinty
The Water Lady, Alice B. McGinty
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The Water Lady
How Darlene Arviso Helps a Thirsty Navajo Nation

Author: Alice B. McGinty

Narrator: Roger Willie

Unabridged: 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/20/2024


Synopsis

This inspiring picture book, adapted for audio, 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.

About The Author

ALICE McGINTY is the award-winning author of over forty books for children, including A Story for Small Bear, as well as The Girl Who Named Pluto, which was called "inspiring" in a Kirkus starred review. She also wrote Darwin, an Orbis Pictus Honor Book and one of Booklist's Top 10 Biographies for Youth, which received three starred reviews. Her 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.Shonto Begay is the illustrator of several picture books, including The Mud Pony, The Magic of Spider Woman, and The Boy Who Dreamed of an Acorn. He is the the fifth child of sixteen born to a Navajo medicine man. Shonto attended federal boarding schools all over the Navajo Indian Reservation in his elementary school years. Later, he attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico and received his Associate of Fine Arts degree, and later earned a degree from the California College of Arts & Crafts. He resides in Arizona.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Ben on May 14, 2021

The Water Lady: How Darlene Arviso Helps a Thirsty Navajo Nation is a children's picture book written by Alice B. McGinty and illustrated by Shonto Begay. It is set on the sprawling Diné reservation, which would educate young readers about the beauty and rigors of life on the high-desert plateau. McG......more

Goodreads review by Sandy on April 09, 2021

The Dine (Navajo) woman profiled in this picture book is Darlene Arviso, but she has earned her handle as THE WATER LADY. The story of her role in providing clean water for those on her reservation without access is launched through the eyes of a young Dine boy who wakes to the realization that ther......more

Goodreads review by Karen on May 21, 2021

It is still fun to read picture books once in a while with my kids even though they prefer chapter books. This is a good book to see the life on a Navajo reservation in our current days. Gives a good perspective of how others live...krb 5/21/21......more

Goodreads review by Jill on February 16, 2022

This book begins with a glossary of Navaho words. The story it relates takes place on the Diné, or Navajo, reservation that spans parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, and which is home to more than 150,000 people. The author tells us in her note at the end of the book that almost 40 percent of th......more

Goodreads review by Barbara on November 10, 2021

Wow! Darlene Arviso, the subject of this story, is one strong, resilient, and determined woman. This picture book, a 3.5 for me, describes how she spends her days, driving a school bus in the mornings and afternoons, and in between, driving a large water truck to supply water to the Navajo homes in......more


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

McGinty’s storytelling, peppered with Navajo phrases and cultural cues, provides a balanced view of this life and through Cody’s perspective, just enough suspense.” —School Library Journal, 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