Huge thanks to my family: Mike and the kids, to Brian and Sue Foster, and Janiel and Jerry Swore, as well as the many friends and neighbors who support me and this crazy writing thing I do even when it conflicts with farming season.
Thanks to the talented Brandon Durmond for the beautiful cover. I love it. High fives to Chris and Kimmel Dalley and kids for thinking up mischevious and rotten things to do on the farm. And to Tina Petersen for sharing her talents with me.
I’m sure there are some I’m forgetting, and please forgive me if I have. It takes a village, and I am grateful for all of you.
To Uncle Steve, we miss you every day the sun is shining.
And a special thanks to all my readers out there. Thank you for stepping into my world and sharing this story.
For the last twenty years, it’s been my privilege to live and farm on the Sho-Ban Reservation where my husband and children were born and raised. Prior to writing The Wish and the Peacock, I asked some of my Shoshone-Bannock friends and neighbors what they’d like to see in a fictitious Shoshone-Bannock character, and they responded that they wanted to have their love for beading and dancing at powwows reflected in a story.
I’ve invited them to explain in their own words why these skills, talents, and events are important to them.
Georgette Running Eagle said, “Dancing matters because to dance is to heal, to be in connection with the healing spirit, if only for a brief moment. I feel connected to a higher power through my regalia and my eagle feathers. Dancing can take away any worries or burdens that I may be carrying that affects my well-being. After I am done dancing, I feel rejuvenated spiritually, though my physical being is exhausted.
“In today’s modern society, there are two types of Jingle dancers, old style—which is more traditional—and contemporary. Old-style dresses often have 365 cones on them to represent each day of the year.
“There are different versions of the story of the jingle dress, though they share many similarities. This is the story as I learned it:
“The jingle dress, it has been told, evolved from a dream. The daughter of an elder man was very ill, and he was given a dream in which four women were each wearing a jingle dress and dancing. In the dream, he was given instructions on how the dress was to be made, along with a specific song that needed to be sung. When he woke, a ceremony was conducted for the ill daughter in which the women danced and sang. Throughout the night, the daughter regained her strength, and upon the end of the night, she joined the women and began dancing. That is why the jingle dress is also known as the healing dress.
“We are a bartering people and trade often, and when we work on projects such as dressmaking, beadwork, or hide tanning, we are supposed to think good thoughts or prayers for the individual whom will eventually wear or use the items. So in the story, when Kimana puts aside her own projects to work on a medallion for her friend who is struggling, it is an example of how my people will sometimes create something beautiful as a service to have prayers and blessings go with the handmade item to bless the life of a friend in need.”
Feather and Natasha Toane said, “The Shoshone-Bannock people are especially well-known for their high quality beadwork, and we use two needles at the same time to do it. Beading connects us to our ancestors and the skills they had. It’s vital that we carry on those skills from generation to generation so they won’t be lost. When we bead, we put good thoughts and prayers into our beadwork. In our tradition, when someone buys our beadwork, they also get all our good thoughts and energy that goes into our work. As a signature for our work, we put one oddball bead into the piece to represent ourselves.”
Tonia Anthony Countryman of the Eastern Shoshone, Northern Arapaho, and Navajo Nation said, “We are a spiritual, humble, and grateful people. The Shoshone-Bannock reservation is the only reservation that allowed women to dance in the annual Sun Dance, a spiritual event and honorable tradition where dancers fast from Friday evening to Monday at noon and offer prayers for the land, crops, water, the people, and other important issues. The Northern Arapaho tribe has one of the largest Sun Dance in North America. We love to hear our songs, listen to the drums, and tell our stories.”
I’m grateful for all my dear friends who helped me honor their culture and traditions in this story, and who taught me about their history. And for those readers who are curious, “Hutsi” is the Shoshone word for paternal grandmother, and “Kimana” means butterfly.
ABOUT THE
photo by marcy curr
Wendy S. Swore and her family are farmers. She writes part-time, particularly in winter when her farming chores give her time to plant seeds in her imagination. She is a member of SCBWI. She was named the Idaho Farm Bureau District 1 Woman of the Year in 2018.
1.Paige makes a promise to her dad to always take care of the farm. How does she do that? In what ways does she take that promise too far?
2.Paige is proud of her knowledge of how a farm works. What things did you learn about farming that surprised you? What kind of work do you do that are you proud of?
3.Kimana’s skill in beadwork is something she was taught how to do by her family. Does your family have traditions that have been passed down through generations? What is something you know how to do that you could teach to someone else?
4.Scotty tells Paige that peacocks symbolize eternal life and rebirth. How are those two ideas woven into the story?
5.Mr. Collier assigns Paige’s class to write a report on someone from history “whose story speaks to you, someone we don’t hear about every day.” If you had to complete that assignment, which person would you choose to write about? Why?
6.Friendship is an important part of this story. In what ways is Paige a good friend to Mateo? To Scotty? To Kimana? To Mr. Ferro? In what ways is she not such a good friend? How could you be a better friend to the people in your life?
7.Paige realizes that her life isn’t just a puzzle where the pieces only fit one way. It is more like a mural—a story that continues and gets bigger and bigger over time. If you were to draw a mural of your life—and what you hope your future holds—what things would you include?
8.If you had a wishstone, what would your wish be?
Contents
Hide-and-Seek
Stained-Glass Windows
Chickens Are Terrible at Sharing
Facts Are Facts
Royal Turkey
Beads and Books
Fertilized Brains
No Spark, No Fire
A Little Lost
Calling to Strangers
Baby Spider Hotel
Trained Attack-Grasshoppers
Stuck
Milkshake
Count on Me
Many Hands Make Light Work
Too Late
Escape
Sounders and Squealers
Hoe to the End of the Row
Don’t Say He’s Gone
Real Friends Know
He’s All Heart
A Web of Wishes
Down a Well
Kiss a Skunk
Best Part of His Day
Report
Wishfire
Acknowledgments
Author’s Note
About the Author
Discussion Questions
Landmarks
Cover
Table of Contents
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