Children’s book highlights Navajo Nation geology
Submitted | Daniel W. Vandever
The cover of High Desert Treasure, a children’s picture book published by Navajo Technical University Press and written by Daniel W. Vandever. The story follows a grandmother and her grandsons on a journey through the Navajo Nation in search of a hidden treasure found in the land itself.
WINDOW ROCK
The Navajo Technical University Press has published a children’s picture book by Daniel W. Vandever that introduces students to the geology of the Navajo Nation through a story about family, discovery and the high desert.
The book, “High Desert Treasure,” was commissioned by Navajo Technical University under NASA’s MAIANSE program to engage students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.
Three thousand copies are being distributed to students in the Navajo Nation through the grant program. The book uses features of the Navajo landscape, including petrified wood, pictographs and dinosaur tracks, to introduce students to geology and environmental science.
“High Desert Treasure” follows a grandmother and her twin grandsons in a remote part of the Navajo Nation. Without phone service, the boys become restless. Their grandmother sends them on a treasure hunt that leads them through the high desert.
To read the full article, please see the May 21, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
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