Welcome to Litsy!

And now, some sticky toffee apple cake with my daily short story. ANCESTOR APPROVED is a great anthology so far. It‘s full of emotional truths and I love all the little connections between the stories as these kids (& one dog) converge on the powwow.

The cake recipe is available on the Food Network‘s website. They bill it as the best ever, and they ain‘t wrong. I ate it off my hummingbird plate designed by Coast Salish artist Maynard Johnny Jr.

My son and I enjoyed finding the common elements in these intertribal stories for middle-grade children. Each is written by a different author, but all center around people traveling to the annual Dance for Mother Earth Powwow in Ann Arbor, Michigan. There is good variety in the characters' experiences, and good exploration of identity and the discomforts of growing up. We read this for Build Your Library homeschool curriculum, level 7.

A great middle grade collection of loosely connected short stories by numerous Indigenous authors. As I followed each character to the Pow Wow, I learned a lot looking up the different dances & more on YouTube. This would be a good addition to a classroom library to expose children to the lives of Native Americans today.
#NativeAmericanHeritageMonth

Here‘s a page from my library‘s Instagram page that I put together. Indigenous people are the most underrepresented people in literature. AND there are also fantastic Indigenous writers putting out amazing work for all ages!

This was a wonderful collection of stories all revolving around a Powwow. Several were interconnected and multiple tribes were represented. It was fun! My favorite was Reservation Dawg by Rebecca Roanhorse. A great middle grade book!

Next up! Going to read in bed for a bit. This cover art really is beautiful.

I‘m out of the habit of reading middle grade, but this short story collection was a delight. All stories centered around a powwow in Michigan and authors obviously collaborated so that characters reappeared and perspectives changed cleverly. A great contemporary #middlegrade read.

Audiobooks always take me a while, wanting to take time to absorb the story while listening. This book was such a treat, and I loved the various tween/ teen‘s stories and how they were all interwoven. Highly recommend!

I enjoyed every single story in this anthology! It's so hard to choose a favorite, but "Rez Dog Rules", "Joey Reads the Sky", "Bad Dog", and "Warriors of Forgiveness" stand out in my mind. I listened to the audio (Thanks, Libro.fm for the ALC!) and the narrators are great. I wish the back matter had been included in the audio, but I enjoyed reading it in the print version. I'll be keeping an eye out for other works by these authors, for sure!

Squeezed in a third book today

A prettier version of my #bookspin list. Listening to the tagged book and loving it so far!

A wonderful anthology of stories for kids age 8 & up, all written by #Indigenous authors, all having common elements: the protagonists travel to an intertribal powwow in Ann Arbor, & the stories include mention of a particular rez dog. The dancing, regalia, food stalls, craft vendors—these are seen from different viewpoints. The kids, from tribal groups across the US & Canada, portray the vibrancy of indigeneity today. #audiobook

The jingle dress dance is used in ceremonies for healing and is danced at powwows.

Easter bunny‘s assistant, seen while #audiowalking.

Really enjoyed this book of MG short stories about Native Families and their journeys to Powwow‘s and about what they do at Powwow‘s. It shows the friendships and resilience and strength of these Native Families.

This is also my last book for this months #bookspinbingo. Thanks for putting this together @TheAromaofBooks and I can‘t wait until next month!

All the children's & teen sessions at the Tucson Festival of Books (like the one in this image) are eligible for free Professional Development Certificates--even if you catch them on replay.

Sessions: http://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org/?id=466&genre=Children+%2F+Teens
PD: https://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org/?id=1502

Loved this MG collection of short stories from Native authors! All the stories revolve around a Powwow that the characters are either on route to or attending. They are woven together in really fun ways. This is part of the free February collection from Libro.fm‘s ALC program for educators.

⚠️🎉Hey all! Each month, LibroFm gives free choices for Educators and Librarians! Go to: https://libro.fm./alc-program It‘s pretty awesome and I chose 5 from this month!

A compilation of shorts stories and poems all centered around a huge annual powwow set in Ann Arbor at the U of M. The diversity in the stories and the reflection of different tribes' values, customs, and languages is incredible.

Out 2/21/2021

After reading Stone Fox, I spent some time looking for more representative stories by and about Indigenous peoples, and I stumbled across this. Publishing date is February 2021 and I can‘t wait to read it.

Side note - I am finally blogging again! I usually have 1-2 viewers per post 😂 but I enjoy writing when I have time. If you‘re at all interested in my longer thoughts about books and sometimes teaching, the link is in my bio.