Healer of the Water Monster

Published in 2021, Brian Young’s Healer of the Water Monster is a middle-grade magical realism/fantasy novel. Nathan, an 11-year-old Navajo boy, thinks summer at his grandmother’s home on the reservation will be dull, but then a water monster from the Navajo creation story asks for his help restoring rain to the desert. The novel won the American Indian Library Association Youth Literature Award for Best Middle Grade Book in 2022 and explores themes of family, nature, and heroism. Citations in this study guide refer to the eBook edition released by HarperCollins in 2021.

Content Warning: The novel contains mentions of substance abuse and suicidal ideation.

Plot Summary

The novel’s Prologue tells part of the Navajo creation story. Long, long ago, Mother Water Monster welcomed First Woman, First Man, and the land animals to her watery domain, the Third World. The trickster figure Coyote kidnapped an infant water monster, breaking the peace and forcing the land beings to flee to the Fourth World, where people now dwell. Chapter 1 introduces the novel’s protagonist, a young Navajo boy named Nathan. His parents are divorced, and he decides to spend the summer in the Diné Homelands of New Mexico with his paternal grandmother, Nali. A few days after Nathan’s arrival, Uncle Jet comes to stay with Nali too. Nathan’s uncle served in the Marines and has an alcohol addiction and depression. Nali and Uncle Jet argue, which stirs up Nathan’s memories of his parents’ fights.

One night, Nathan sees a talking horned toad and gets lost in the desert trying to catch it. Nathan stumbles upon the Water Monster of the Agave Pond, or Pond for short. The young water monster is sick from radiation poisoning, and the desert is suffering from a drought as a result. Nathan promises to heal the Holy Being if Pond helps him return to his grandmother. The water monster accepts Nathan’s offer and takes him back to Nali’s mobile home. The water monster tells Nathan to give Nali the message “Enemy Way.” This is the name of a ceremony that Nali believes can cure Uncle Jet. She and Nathan meet with a medicine man who can perform the ceremony, but he cautions them that the road to recovery is a long journey. To make matters more complicated, Jet sees medicine men as swindlers and doesn’t believe in Holy Beings.

Two nights later, the water monster returns and takes Nathan to meet the Holy Being known as Darkness. Darkness tests Nathan’s worthiness to accompany the water monster and finds that the boy’s heart contains hope, intelligence, kindness, and bravery. Satisfied, Darkness agrees to arrange a diagnosis meeting for the water monster. The following day, Nali tells Uncle Jet that she wants him to have an Enemy Way Ceremony, but he objects to the idea. That night, Nathan hears a vengeful spirit called an Ash Being tormenting Uncle Jet.

Nathan confronts the spirit, causing it to attach to him instead. Unbeknownst to Nathan, the Ash Being begins to leech away his positivity and energy. Pond shows Nathan how his old pond dried up because of the excavation of Church Rock Mine. Uncle Jet’s and Pond’s diagnosis meetings take place on the same day, and Nathan opts to attend the water monster’s meeting. There, the Holy Beings free Nathan from the vengeful Ash Being and advise him that only the Enemy Way Ceremony will banish it from Uncle Jet for good. The Holy Beings ask Nathan to journey to the watery Third World to gather medicine for Pond. In exchange, they promise to help the medicine man heal Uncle Jet.

The idea of facing Mother Water Monster frightens Nathan, and Pond gives Nathan the courage to answer the call to adventure by saying that they are friends. To journey to the Third World safely, Nathan must learn four water monster songs. He practices the songs at night with help from the Holy Beings Pond, Darkness, and Wind. One night, Uncle Jet takes Nathan to a party and becomes intoxicated. When Jet and Nathan return to Nali’s mobile home the next morning, the adults have a terrible fight, and Jet leaves. To make matters worse, Nali decides that she no longer wants Nathan going to the desert at night to meet with the Holy Beings.

Nathan convinces Nali not to give up on Uncle Jet. Three days later, they learn that Jet is in an adult detention center and pay his bail. Uncle Jet expresses suicidal ideation, so Nathan stays with him until his uncle is ready to admit that he needs help. Jet begins therapy and medication at a medical center. Nathan’s father comes to take his son home to Phoenix. Nathan explains that he needs to stay, tells his father and Nali about his promise to journey to the Third World, and proves the truth of his story by using a water monster song to freeze a bottle of water. With the Enemy Way Ceremony and Nathan’s journey to the Third World just days away, Nali brings Nathan to the medicine man for a blessing. The medicine man tells Nathan that he is more important than he realizes and encourages Nali to have faith that the Holy Beings will protect her grandson.

On Nathan's journey to the Third World, he encounters four obstacles: a crystal maze; a pool inhabited by a gargantuan, ravenous angler fish; a dream that tries to trap Nathan in endless slumber by showing him a version of his parents who never fight; and giant boulders waiting to crush anything in their path. Nathan proves to Mother Water Monster that Pond sent him by singing the water monster songs, and she gives him a rock that she says is medicine for her son. Nathan hurries back to Pond, who explains that the rock is actually an egg containing his little sister.

Pond makes Nathan promise to teach his sister the water monster songs so that she can bring back the rains and then passes away. After burying his friend, Nathan arrives in time for the ending of Uncle Jet’s ceremony. There he embraces his uncle, his grandmother, his father, and even his father’s girlfriend. Uncle Jet decides to move in with Nathan’s father in Phoenix, where he will continue to receive medical treatment. During the drive back, Nathan tells them all about his adventures. In the Epilogue, Nathan, his father, Uncle Jet, and Nali reunite at her mobile home the following November. Nathan goes into the desert and teaches Pond’s little sister a water monster song, causing a drop of rain to fall on the desert.