Salt Boy

Salt Boy wanted what only his father could give, but asking for it might turn his father against it. One morning, however, he found the words and did ask, only to be told that the time had not yet come. Now there was nothing for Salt Boy to do but wait and continue tending the sheep as he had always done.

Then came the day of the big storm, when the gray rain was everywhere and the water moved like a strong horse running. On that day Salt Boy used the forbidden rope he had found long ago in a cave and by a moment's unselfish courage earned his father's respect and his own dearest wish.

In this, Mary Perrine's first book, she tells a moving story of the deep, unspoken feelings between a boy and his father, a story that is eminently true to the spirit of the Navajo people.