HALL OF FAME # 5-- JINGLE DANCER and INDIAN SHOES, by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Ashleigh, 13: After Alexis' review of HEARTS UNBROKEN, we decided there were so many books by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee (Creek) Nation) that we want to honor. This is my favorite! After she watches a video of her Grandma Wolfe jingle dancing, a girl Jenna wants to dance at an upcoming powwow. But she needs jingles for her dress. Jenna visits her neighbors and family who loan her jingles for the dress. She is careful not to take too many, so that another person's dress won't "lose its voice." This book looks and sounds like our real lives, the way we keep traditions in today's world. I wrap my arms around it and squeeze it to my heart.

Charlie, 16: INDIAN SHOES is a great book about a boy named Ray and his Grampa Halfmoon. I like to see a book about a loving relationship between generations of Native men. In this book, there are different stories about them. I have two favorites. "Night Fishing." where the boy and his grandfather spend quality time together. And the title story, "Indian Shoes," where Ray tries to buy the Seminole moccasins that Grampa Halfmoon sees in the window and says remind him of home. He has to come up with a clever solution to buy them. "Guess Who's Coming for Dinner" is a perfect story to share during Christmastime. Ray is a Seminole-Cherokee boy from Oklahoma, but this Florida Seminole boy can totally relate to him.

These are more than Hall of Fame books. They are the stories of our lives.

*Thanks to Alexis and Eduardo for helping us with our reviews.

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APPLE IN THE MIDDLE, by Dawn Quigley--Review by Alexis, Age 18

*Warning: There are spoilers because I discuss the book, but I don’t give away important plot points. There is also use of the n-word. I know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I was really drawn to the image on Dawn Quigley’s APPLE IN THE MIDDLE (AITM) before the book was even published (August 2018). The image of a contemporary Native teen, who is not ridiculously glamorous, but pretty and real (love those earrings!), got stuck in my mind immediately. I thought, ‘I want to know who this girl is,’ and why there’s a pink house in the background. I am happy to say that the book more than lived up to my expectations. It’s not just a well-written, enjoyable book I admired from a distance. In some ways, I feel I am that girl on the cover, fifteen-year old Apple Starkington. Even though the circumstances of our lives are very different. Like Apple, I have a White father and a Native mother. My mom is Florida Seminole, while Apple’s mother was Turtle Mountain Chippewa.

I CAN MAKE THIS PROMISE, by Christine Day--a review by Ashleigh, 13

This is the kind of book you can't put down. But you don't want to read it all at once either--because then it will be over! It's a novel I related to personally, and I think many readers will enjoy it, young and old. The more I look at this cover by Michaela Goade --all the details--the more I love it! The Upper Skagit author, Christine Day, has a "Dear Reader" note at the beginning of the ARC that is very heartfelt. She talks about being a graduate student and going on a trip "to visit a Suquamish Elder, the Suquamish Museum, and the historic site of Old Man House." She remembers the exact date--January 21. 2017--because it was the same day as the Women's March. She talks about seeing "Instagram flooded with pictures from the protests," while she ate breakfast and listened to professors. pink hats This is kind of a perfect image of a

Welcome to Indigo's Bookshelf!

We are a group of Florida Natives--Miccosukee, Seminole, Black, Latinix, queer and disabled--from the ages 12-20, who are passionate about kidlit and yalit. We believe in the power of books to reflect, entertain and enrich our lives from the time we are young ones. We enjoy books in digital and bound copies, with texts and/or graphics. We have experienced the bitter disappointment and danger of widespread Native misrepresentation, theft, cruelty and lies in books for all young readers. This blog is dedicated to reviewing Native #ownvoices. To us, that means books written from an inside perspective by Native authors, with proper research, respect and authorization, first and foremost for young Native readers, but also to educate other young readers and their families. We join our elders in calling to replace harmful, stereotypical texts in libraries, schools and homes. This blog is named after our friend Indigo, a Q2S sixteen-year-old who took her own life in 2018 Her beauty

Indigo's Bookshelf: Voices of Native Youth

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