Living in harmony with the environment is a theme that appears in several of Scott O'Dell's stories about Native Americans. Just as Karana, the heroine of Island of the Blue Dolphins (1960), manages to live and even find satisfaction in a hostile environment, Bright Morning, her family and people lead a frugal but satisfying life in Canyon de Chelly, raising sheep, fruit, vegetables, and corn. There is pleasure in watching the sheep prosper, as well as responsibility for their welfare. Bright Morning recalls an episode where she was frightened by a storm and went home, leaving the flock to fend for itself. She is not punished, but her mother refuses to trust her for a year and treats her as an irresponsible child.

The Navajo life is meaningful because everyone knows his place in it, but when this way of life is disturbed, so is the social balance. After...