Product details
- ISBN 9781419756672
- Weight: 216g
- Dimensions: 279 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 15 Aug 2024
- Publisher: Abrams
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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From Indigenous creative team Deidre Havrelock and Aly McKnight comes a powerful and exuberant story about the heritage, joy, and healing power of the Jingle Dress Dance—a perfect read-aloud picture book.
It’s a special day—the day of the Jingle Dress Dance! Before the big powwow, there’s a lot to do: getting dressed, braiding hair, packing lunches, and practicing bounce-steps.
But one young girl gets butterflies in her stomach thinking about performing in front of her whole community. When the drumbeats begin, though, her family soothes her nerves and reminds her why she dances.
Emerging historically in response to the global influenza pandemic of 1918–19, the Jingle Dress Dance is a ceremonial dance of healing and prayer that still thrives today in many Indigenous and First Nations communities across North America.
Lyrically and rhythmically written with lush, full-color illustrations, Why We Dance is a joyous celebration of a proud Indigenous tradition that inspires hope, resilience, and unity.
Aly McKnight is a self-taught watercolor artist and illustrator whose art features vibrant colors and Indigenous stories. Aly is an enrolled member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and grew up in a small farming community in northern Nevada, She is the second-youngest of eight children and is now based out of Utah, where she lives with her partner, Brockton, of Hawaiian/Samoan descent, and their daughter, Paoakalani.
