ANDREA L. ROGERS writes in a variety of genres, centering Cherokee people. She is the author of the book Mary and the Trail of Tears: A Cherokee Removal Survival Story and an essay titled “My Oklahoma History” in You Too? 25 Voices Share Their #MeToo Stories (edited by Janet Gurtler). She is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation and grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the former Indian Territory. She graduated from the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with an MFA in creative writing. She currently commutes between Fort Worth, Texas, and Fayetteville, Arkansas.
KIM ROGERS writes books, short stories, and poems across all children’s literature age groups. Her work has been published in Highlights for Children, the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and many other publications. Kim is an enrolled member of Wichita and Affiliated Tribes and the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. Much of her current writing highlights her Wichita heritage. She lives in Oklahoma with her husband, two boys, and one ornery but very cute Chiweenie dog named Lucky.
CYNTHIA LEITICH SMITH is a New York Times best-selling author of books for young readers. Her debut book, Jingle Dancer, is widely considered a modern classic. She was named Writer of the Year by Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers for Rain Is Not My Indian Name and won the American Indian Youth Literature Award (young adult category) for Hearts Unbroken. She also serves as the Katherine Paterson Chair on the faculty of the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults. Cynthia is a citizen of the Muscogee Creek Nation. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Kansas and a JD from the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor, where she served as president of the Native American Law Students Association.
MONIQUE GRAY SMITH is a proud mom of Cree, Lakota, and Scottish ancestry. She is an award-winning and best-selling author of both children’s books and adult novels. Her works include My Heart Fills with Happiness, You Hold Me Up, When We Are Kind, and Tilly and the Crazy Eights. Monique is well known for her storytelling and spirit of generosity and believes love is medicine. She is blessed to live with her family on the traditional territory of the WSÁNEĆ people, also known as Victoria, Canada.
TRACI SORELL writes fiction and nonfiction books as well as poems for children. Her debut nonfiction picture book, We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga, won an American Indian Youth Literature (AIYLA) Honor, a Sibert Honor, a Boston-Globe–Horn Book Honor, and an Orbis Pictus Honor. The audiobook edition won an Odyssey Honor. At the Mountain’s Base, her first fiction picture book, won an AIYLA Honor. Indian No More, her middle grade novel with Charlene Willing McManis, won the AIYLA Middle School Book Award. Traci is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation and lives in northeastern Oklahoma, where her tribe is located.
TIM TINGLE is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and an award-winning author and storyteller. His great-great-grandfather John Carnes survived the Trail of Tears, and in 1993 Tingle returned to Choctaw homelands in Mississippi and began recording stories of tribal Elders. The author of twenty books, he was awarded the Ariel Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to literature in the state of Oklahoma. Tingle was a featured speaker at the National Book Festival, based on critical acclaim for How I Became a Ghost. His YA novel House of Purple Cedar won the American Indian Youth Literature Award.
ERIKA T. WURTH’s publications include two novels, two collections of poetry, and a collection of short stories. A writer of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, she teaches creative writing at Western Illinois University and was a guest writer at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in publications including Buzzfeed, Boulevard, the Writer’s Chronicle, Waxwing, and the Kenyon Review. She has been on the faculty at Breadloaf, is a Kenyon Review Writers Scholar, attended the Tin House Summer Workshop, and has been chosen as a narrative artist for the Meow Wolf Denver installation. She is Apache/Chickasaw/Cherokee and was raised outside of Denver.
Author and filmmaker BRIAN YOUNG is a recipient of the prestigious Sundance Ford Foundation Fellowship (2008) and is a graduate of Yale University with a degree in film studies and Columbia University with a master’s in creative writing (fiction). An enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, Brian co-directed A Conversation with Native Americans on Race with the New York Times. He is currently working on two middle grade novels for Heartdrum; the first is Healer of the Water Monster.
Editor’s Note
Dear Reader,
Images of graceful dancers in powwow regalia—a blur of color, light, and motion—are often widely shared to reflect Native people today. Those vibrant photos and videos evoke culture, tradition, and community—celebrating a moment in time. Yet the Native dancers depicted and the intertribal powwows that surround them live well beyond that moment.
They are multifaceted people and gatherings, each representing thousands of stories.
A powwow is a terrific opportunity to highlight the diversity of the intertribal Native and First Nations community, of individual Indigenous Nations within it, and of young Native heroes.
I’m so grateful to the contributing writers, poets, and artists in this book for embracing my invitation to bring a powwow to life on the page and for working together to create a resonant, page-turning, and fictionalized cultural experience for you.
It’s been a joy to introduce those of you who are Native and First Nations readers to stories that hopefully feel both familiar and new. It’s been a joy to introduce those of you who are non-Native readers to them, too, connecting you with Indigenous characters and points of view.
Have you read many stories by and about Native people? I hope that Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids inspires you to read more. This anthology is published by Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint of HarperCollins Children’s Books. I’m delighted to include the book on our first list for so many reasons: because it embodies and raises up Native voices and visions . . . because the art, poems, and stories are so wonderful . . . and because it beautifully reflects our commitment to the intertribal community while centering heroes who are young like you.
Mvto,
Cynthia Leitich Smith
In 2014, We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) began as a simple hashtag on Twitter. The social media campaign soon grew into a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a team that spans the globe. WNDB is supported by a network of writers, illustrators, agents, editors, teachers, librarians, and book lovers, all united under the same goal—to create a world where every child can see themselves in the pages of a book. You can learn more about WNDB programs at www.diversebooks.org.
About the Editor
CYNTHIA LEITICH SMITH is the bestselling, acclaimed author of books for all ages, including Rain Is Not My Indian Name, Indian Shoes, Jingle Dancer, and Hearts Unbroken, which won the American Indian Library Association’s Youth Literature Award. Cynthia is the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint at HarperCollins Children’s Books, and is on the faculty of the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and lives in Austin, Texas. You can visit Cynthia online at www.cynthialeitichsmith.com.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
Copyright
Heartdrum is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
ANCESTOR APPROVED: INTERTRIBAL STORIES FOR KIDS
“What Is a Powwow?” © 2021 by Kim Rogers
“Fancy Dancer” © 2021 by Monique Gray Smith
“Flying Together” © 2021 by Kim Rogers
“Warriors of Forgiveness” © 2021 by Tim Tingle
“Brothers” © 2021 by David A. Robertson
“Rez Dog Rules” © 2021 by Rebecca Roanhorse
“Secrets and Surprises” © 2021 by Traci Sorell
“Wendigos Don’t Dance” © 2021 by Art Coulson
“Indian Price” © 2021 by Eric Gansworth
“Senecavajo: Alan’s Story” © 2021 by Brian Young
“Squash Blossom Bracelet: Kevin’s Story” © 2021 by Brian Young
“Joey Reads the Sky” © 2021 by Dawn Quigley
“What We Know About Glaciers” © 2021 by Christine Day
“Little Fox and the Case of the Missing Regalia” © 2021 by Erika T. Wurth
“The Ballad of Maggie Wilson” © 2021 by Andrea L. Rogers
“Bad Dog” © 2021 by Joseph Bruchac
“Between the Lines” © 2021 by Cynthia Leitich Smith
“Circles” © 2021 by Carole Lindstrom
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
Cover art © 2021 by Nicole Neidhardt
Cover design and lettering by Molly Fehr
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2020945305
Digital Edition FEBRUARY 2021 ISBN: 978-0-06-286996-8
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-286994-4
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FIRST EDITION
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