Ancestor Approved

This week I am reading Ancestor Approved (2021) which is written by a collection of authors and edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith. This new book has a collection of intertribal stories of kids! Each short story follows a new kid as he or she makes their way to the annual Mother Earth Powwow in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The book is very unique in how they show the many places and experiences that these children come from. For example, one boy is half Cree, half white and is denied his ancestral heritage by his abusive white father. It’s only after he leaves that the boy is able to explore his heritage by dancing in the powwow for the first time.

Others come from native communities, foster parents, military families, etc. All of them find themselves at the powwow and experience it as individuals but also collectively as a native community. The book does a great job of honoring the place in which any native person finds themselves and is inclusion to all backgrounds. I also thought it was cool that powwows are open to all people. I did some research and it looks like it takes place every March. It’s $10 to get in and would be a great learning experience. If anyone ever teaches in Michigan, it would be awesome for students to experience and ask questions.

This book is recommended for ages 8–12. The characters in the book are between ages 11–13 so this makes sense. I haven’t found anything in the book that would be controversial. The book is in partnership with “We need diverse books” I also like that the book does not follow a specific tribe the whole time. Some kids in the book are Cree and they will talk specifically about Cree language and culture and then the next story might be about a Choctaw kid and talk specifically about Choctaw. But the overall the stories talk over and over again about the connection that they feel to everyone when they are at the powwow no matter the tribe. The book also starts and ends with a poem on powwows and would help students explore poems as stories and see the connection between the short stories about the powwow and the beat of the poems about powwows.