— Book Review —

“Grandpa Lolo”“Grandpa Lolo”Title: “Grandpa Lolo’s Navajo Saddle Blanket/La tilma de

Abuelito Lolo”Author: Nasario Garcia

Photographer: Richard MoellerISBN: 978-0-8263-5079-4

$19.95 paperback, 72 pages34 color photographs

Publication: March 2012Publisher: University of New Mexico Press,

www.unmpress.com By Rosanne Boyett

Beacon Staff Writer

Editor’s note: Book review articles are available online at

www.cibolabeacon.com/bookreviews.

This simple tale describes a friendship between a Hispanic

and a Navajo that spans decades.

The author, Nasario Garcia, recalls an incident that hap-

pened when his grandfather was 74 years old that led to his

first meeting with Manuel (Manuelito) Yazzie.

Grandpa Lolo lived on the family ranch southeast of

Chaco Canyon.

Yazzie lived at Torreon on the Navajo Reservation.

Each spring the grandfather would saddle up a horse and

visit his friend. The distance required traveling two full days

by horseback, round-trip. This allowed Grandpa Lolo to

spend the night at Cabezon with another long-time friend,

Bernardino.

“Bernardino tells me that you train and sell mustangs (wild horses). Is that true?” the grandfather asked Yazzie during his first visit

to the family hogan, which is a traditional Navajo-style home.

The visit ended with Manuelito’s gift to Grandpa Lolo.

The septuagenarian rode home on his new saddle horse, named Zorrillo because he was marked like a black and white skunk.

The friendship flourished, and in the spring a baby goat was traded for a Navajo saddle blanket. Manuelito’s wife wove a traditional

Navajo blanket each winter in anticipation of trading it for one of Grandpa Lolo’s kid goats in the spring.

But eventually it becomes apparent to Grandpa Lolo and his grandson, Junie Lopez, that the elderly man can no longer live alone

on the ranch.

He moved into Albuquerque to be near his extended family.

The grandson noticed how much Grandpa Lolo missed the ranch and his annual visits with his friends.

One day Bernardino visits Grandpa Lolo in Albuquerque and brought a gift from Manuel.

“He slowly unfolded a handsome dark gray and orange Navajo saddle blanket. In the middle there was a white baby goat (cabrito),

with a red stripe going across the bottom of the goat’s small legs,” wrote the author. “The white cabrito looked like the first baby goat

Grandpa gave to Manuelito.”

The storyteller, Junie Lopez, inherited Manuelito’s final gift and promises, “One of these days I will donate the blanket to a museum.

That way, visitors, especially children, can learn to appreciate how Manuelito Yazzie and Grandpa Lolo, two total strangers from dif-

ferent cultures, became such good friends.”

This charming memoir offers a slice of the northern New Mexico’s cultural heritage. The multi-lingual text (English and Spanish)

includes several Navajo words along with a glossary that translates terms into English.

The book is recommended for children aged six and older.

The author is a master folklorist and native New Mexican. He has published numerous books dealing with Hispanic folklore and the oral history of

northern New Mexico. He has dedicated more than three decades to preserving the region’s Hispanic culture and language, whose roots rest primarily

in Spain and Mexico.

Garcia lives in Santa Fe.

The photographer, Richard Moeller, is a retired engineer and Santa Fe resident. He has been photographing archaeological projects for the National

Park Service for the past 12 years.