Fantasy, folklore, and magic fill the air as a young girl's grandmother relates a legend of Where Hummingbirds Come From. Grandmother explains the magic waters and the beauty of this tiny bird. Where Hummingbirds Come From may well become an all-time children's classic and a perfect book for the young reader. As well as a wonderful study guide for English as a second language students. According to UNESCO Endangered Languages it is estimated that, if nothing is done, half of 6,000 plus languages spoken today will disappear by the end of this century. With the disappearance of unwritten and undocumented languages, humanity would lose not only a cultural wealth but also important ancestral knowledge embedded, in particular, in indigenous languages. Navajo has more speakers than any other Native American language north of the U.S. - Mexico border. There are between 120,000 and 171,000 speakers. The decline of children learning the language renders Navajo an endangered language. In 1981, about 85% of the Navajo child population spoke Navajo as their first language. A more recent survey shows that has fallen to 25%. The Navajo Code Talkers, a small band of warriors who created an unbreakable code from the ancient language of their people, played a pivotal role in saving countless lives and hastening the end of WWII. At a time when America's best cryptographers were falling short, these modest sheepherders and farmers were able to fashion the most ingenious and successful code in military history. It is the only unbroken code in modern military history. Widely acknowledged to be instrumental in the success of every major engagement of the Pacific from Guadalcanal to Okinawa, this brilliant code allowed embattle regiments of Marines to communicate quickly, concisely, and above all, securely. Creations by Crouch is honored to have Elliot K. Bryant as our Navajo translator. Elliot is the son of Elsie T. Bryant from Cottonwood, Arizona, and the late, Harry Lee Bryant from Shonto, Arizona. Learning to communicate and write in English was difficult and often embarrassing while growing up. He was finally able to speak conversational English in eighth grade when he enrolled at Navajo Pine High School. His English improved in speech and in writing when he completed high school and worked in a variety of occupations on the Navajo reservation and in various communities. Elliot earned a bachelor's and master's degrees in education and has briefly taught the core subjects in the classrooms. He plans to continue teach and mentor younger generation about the values of life. Thank you Elliot for helping us continue to expand and pursue our mission to enliven children's literacy with passion and cross cultural mutual respect and to affirm, in the spirit of multinational brotherhood, the shared experience of our humanity.
About the Author: "Alphabet Alliteration" is a new twist on an old subject, learning the English alphabet. "How The Fox Got His Color" and "Where Hummingbirds Come From" are picture books for children ages 3 - 6 years of age. "The Dance of The Caterpillars," a lesson in prepositions is designed for 2nd grade students. "The Gnomes of Knot-Hole Manor" is a chapter book targeting 3rd graders. It teaches words with silent letters and words that sound the same but are spelled differently. "Catherine's Travels" is an historic novel that takes place in Missouri during the 1800's. Catherine and her family flee war torn Austria seeking a new life in America. Disaster strikes and Catherine finds herself alone in the wilderness. "Catherine's Travels Book 2 Lawson's Search" After Lawson's beautiful wife, Catherine, is kidnapped he embarks on a search that will take him across the United States, over the Rocky Mountains and into the land of the Navajo. Catherine will take a terrifying, yet rewarding journey with her husband's starch enemy. Blue Eyes goes on a vision quest that will change his life forever. Adele is an artist as well as a published author. Her books are currently available on the internet (Amazon and Barnes and Noble), through her web site (http: //www.creationsbycrouch.com ), and on Kindle and Nook Creations by Crouch is making an attempt to produce bilingual books that will not only assist people in learning the language of their choice, but also to preserve (in some small way) languages that are in danger of becoming extinct. With that in mind, Adele is always on the lookout for translators of new and endangered languages. Please feel free to contact Adele if you are a native speaker of any Native American languages. Adele's children's books have become popular with English as a second language students and foreign language students all over the world and are on the top 10 list of ESL study material on Amazon. Her website is filled with study material to help people study foreign languages. It includes - vocabulary lists, MP3 files, and even has a list of the questions you need to know to pass the US citizenship exam. All of this is free to the viewer. See: www.creationsbycrouch.com If you wish to contact Adele, you can email: Adele@creationsbycrouch.com