Kids Book Index
Deidre Havrelock
A young girl faces fear as the day of the Jingle Dress Dance arrives. At the dance, she draws on the tradition’s heritage, joy, and healing meaning to find strength. Created by Indigenous collaborators Deidre Havrelock and Aly McKnight, the story centers a child’s experience of a dance that connects courage with tradition.
This book appears on 2 reading lists across 1 edition from 2 organizations.
Before the Ships: The Birth of Black ExcellenceMaisha OsoBefore the Ships presents Black history as beginning well before the transatlantic slave trade. In poetic text and illustrations, it turns to Africa and the achievements found across the continent before that period. The book places slavery within African American history without treating it as the starting point, then connects this earlier history to the strength and resilience of Black people today. It foregrounds a long, rich past tied to Africa.Kindergarten to Second GradeOn the same reading list for the same age or grade groupView book details
Buffalo DreamerViolet DuncanSummer visits her mother’s family on a reservation in Alberta, where her usual summer days include gathering sweetgrass, attending powwows, and horseback riding. This time, vivid dreams lead her toward a painful history connected to residential schools that removed Native children from their families and sought to erase their identities. She also learns about her grandfather’s experience at one of those schools. The novel connects family history, memory, and Indigenous identity.Twelve to FourteenLexile Text Measure 790LATOS Book Level 4.9On the same reading list for the same age or grade groupView book details
AND THEN, BOOM!Lisa FippsJoe Oak is used to uncertainty. His mother does not stay long once she gets “the itch,” and he and his grandmother lose their home. Joe turns to journals, drawings, and comic books for an outlet, taking comfort in superheroes who face moments when everything seems ready to collapse. Told in verse, the novel follows Joe when he is without a home or family and has not told even his friends, until a crisis reminds him of the importance of friendship.Sixth to Eighth GradeWord Count 25904On the same reading list for the same age or grade groupView book details