Bookbag: Be grateful for some of these books

November is a month for gratitude. This month I am grateful for the writers and illustrators who make beautiful books that tell us stories we would not know, books that make our neighborhoods, and our hearts, larger.

  Buy Photo

Powwow Day

“Powwow Day” (Charlesbridge, 2022; $16.99) written by Traci Sorell and illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight, tells readers of a girl named River, who cannot dance at the powwow her family is going to because she has been sick. “No dancing./No jingle dress competition for me,” she remembers on waking.

River plans at least to march in the Grand Entry, the march of dancers from oldest to youngest, all dressed in dance regalia, some carrying flags. But she is too weak and has to return to her chair before the Grand Entry begins.

River is especially sad when the Jingle Dance begins. In a normal year she would be out dancing, but not this year. Her friend Dawn promises to dance for her. “They dance for/ the Creator,/ the ancestors,/ their families,/ and everyone’s health … / including mine.”

River listens to the drum “BAH-dum./BAH-dum./BAH-dum/BAH-dum.’ She feels the drum beat inside her body and is sure she “ … will dance again.”

This is a lovely book that gives readers a wonderful example of sadness turning to determination and at the same time tells readers about powwows. The backmatter includes an explanation: “Powwows are celebrations of dance, song, culture, and community, mostly originating from the warrior societies of the Ponca and Omaha tribes on the northern and southern plains of North America.”

The backmatter also explains some of the dances. The Jingle Dress Dance is often done for healing and the author writes: “During the COVID-19 pandemic, jingle dress dancers across Canada and the United States shared videos online of themselves dancing in their homes or outside for all people affected by the terrible disease.”

  Buy Photo

Just Like Grandma

Dancing is one of Grandma’s activities in “Just Like Grandma” (Heartdrum, 2023; $17.99), written by Kim Rogers and illustrated by the wonderful Metis artist Julie Flett. Becca loves her Grandma and wants to be just like her. She watches and learns as Grandma beads moccasins. As Becca watches, Grandma shows her some dance moves. Becca paints a sunrise with Grandma. They dance together at the weekend powwow.

Then a reversal — Becca shows Grandma some basketball moves and they play basketball together until it’s time for Becca’s basketball tryouts. She makes the team! And Grandpa, who makes all the meals — as does the author’s own father — takes them all out for pepperoni pizza.

This book has a lovely, cozy feel, perfect for reading on chill November days, and includes information about beadwork as well as a glossary.

  Buy Photo

Remember

“Remember” has for its text a poem published in 1983 by Joy Harjo, U.S. poet laureate. It is illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goade.

In the poem the narrator exhorts the reader to remember.

“Remember the sky that you were born under,/ know each of the star’s stories./ Remember the moon, /know who she is.” And to remember the sunrise, sunset, mother, father, even the Earth. “Remember the earth whose skin you are: /red earth, black earth, yellow earth,/ white earth, brown earth, we are earth.”

Harjo writes in an author’s note, “’Remember’ came into the world to remind me who I am as a human being living on this generous earth. We all need to be reminded to remember.”

Michaela Goade tells us, “As I worked on the book, I wanted the pages to feel like a celebration of Lingit Aani, or Tlingit land. The ocean and rain forest settings reflect our ancestral home in Southeast Alaska, and the animals and plants I included hold special cultural significance …. I hope this book helps you remember where and who you come from. This will mean different things to different people, and that is a beautiful thing. We all have our own important stories to remember and share with the world.”

And that is also something to be grateful for — our own stories and the stories of our families — who and where we are from.

Jacqueline Briggs Martin of Mount Vernon writes books for children.