"Both story and illustrations in this wonderful book sprang from Pulitzer Prize-winning Momaday's remembrances of his childhood on the Jemez Reservation." (The Bloomsbury Review)

"In his preface ... the author reflects on his first Christmas Eve at Jemez Pueblo when he was twelve: 'The air was cold and crisp and scented with sweet smoke. The night sky was radiant; the silence was vast and serene. In all the years of my life I have not gone farther into the universe.... I have come no closer to the understanding of the most holy.' Momaday leads us on a journey of spiritual awakening, a journey we share with a lonely youngster named Tolo.... The illustrations are evocative both in their richness of color and in their simplicity of image .... As native and Christian traditions merge, we experience 'the moment of Christmas and of a spirit that transcends time.'" (Native Peoples Magazine)