Native families
from Nations across the continent gather at the Dance for Mother Earth Powwow
in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
In a high school
gym full of color and song, people dance, sell beadwork and books, and
celebrate friendship and heritage. Young protagonists will meet relatives from
faraway, mysterious strangers, and sometimes one another (plus one scrappy rez
dog).
They are the
heroes of their own stories.
Featuring stories and poems by:
Art Coulson
Eric Gansworth
Dawn Quigley
David A. Robertson
Kim Rogers
Monique Gray Smith
Tim Tingle
Brian Young
In partnership with We Need Diverse Books
Cynthia Leitich Smith is a bestselling, acclaimed author of books for all ages, including Here Come the Aunties!, Firefly Season, Jingle Dancer, Indian Shoes, On a Wing and a Tear, Sisters of the Neversea, Blue Stars: Mission One: The Vice Principal Problem (with Kekla Magoon), Rain Is Not My Indian Name, Harvest House, and Hearts Unbroken, which won the American Indian Youth Literature Award. Cynthia is also the anthologist of Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids, and Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories, which won the Michael L. Printz Award and the American Indian Youth Literature Award. She has been honored with the American Library Association’s Children’s Literature Lecture Award and has been named the NSK Neustadt Laureate. She is the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint at HarperCollins Children's Books, and served as the Katherine Paterson Endowed Chair on the faculty of the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Cynthia is a citizen of the Muscogee Nation and lives in Denton, Texas.