Return of the Chindi - Leah Leonard - Bog

When her mother is unexpectedly killed by a drunk driver, Sasha Johnson discovers she has a new talent - she sees dead people. Her mother's spirit is not at peace and when her grandmother is diagnosed with a terminal illness, Sasha's life is turned upside down. Now she must leave her beloved New York City and travel with her ailing grandmother to New Mexico to go live with the father she never knew she had- a Navajo Medicine Man. Red Feather always hoped his daughter would return. He'd been receiving signs of her arrival for days. Sasha is shocked by the barren Gallup, New Mexico, and vows to return to Manhattan as soon as she can, but when her grandmother dies, she realizes her father Red Feather is the only person she has left in the whole world, and decides to give him a chance. But things aren't easy. Red Feather lives in a mud Hogan in the middle of nowhere. He teaches Sasha much about the Navajo ways, including things she never knew about herself including her real name, Nascha, meaning Little Owl, and the curse she has of being able to see the dead that comes from her Navajo lineage. The kids at school have never seen the likes of Nascha before, so after a run in with the school bully Yaz, and a trip to the Principal's office, Nascha must find a way to get along in her strange new world. Nascha and Yaz have another conflict - their parents have been enemies for years. When Red Feather buries Nascha's grandmother on sacred land, Yaz' father reports him to the Tribal Council. Will they have mercy on the burial or will the family feud drive a further wedge between Nascha and Yaz? And will Nascha's mother ever find peace in the afterlife?