Brian L. Young '19 Receives American Indian Youth Literature Award
The American Indian Library Association (AILA) recently awarded alumnus Brian L. Young '19 with the American Indian Youth Literature Award for his book Healer of the Water Monster (HarperCollins, 2021). The book is available for purchase here.
Founded in 1979, the AILA is an action group affiliated with the American Library Association that addresses the library-related needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives. Members—both individuals and institutions—develop programs that improve Indian library, cultural, and informational services in school, public, and research libraries on reservations.
Established in 2006 under the AILA, the American Indian Youth Literature Award identifies and honors the best writing and illustrations by Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples in North America. In odd-number years, nominations are encouraged in fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, and picture books. Recipients of the award are announced in even-numbered years. Categories include Best Picture Book, Best Middle Grade Book, Best Young Adult Book, and honors.
Young's Healer of the Water Monster was announced as the 2022 winner of the Best Middle Grade Book.
Published under Heartdrum, an imprint of Harpercollins, Healer of the Water Monster follows the story of Nathan, a young Navajo boy who spends the summer in Phoenix with his grandmother. Nathan has a difficult time adjusting to his grandmother's lifestyle in a mobile home site on the Navajo reservation in northwestern New Mexico. When Nathan gets lost in a nearby desert, he meets a sick water monster from the Navajo Creation Story and searches for a cure to the monster's illness.
Author and filmmaker Brian L. Young is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who grew up on the Navajo Reservation and now lives in Brooklyn. He was awarded a fellowship with the Sundance Ford Foundation for one of his feature-length scripts and has worked on several short films including Tsídii Nááts’íílid – Rainbow Bird and A Conversation on Race with Native Americans for the short documentary series produced by The New York Times. He is currently working on two more books.