Edited by award-winning and bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith, this collection of intersecting stories by both new and veteran Native writers bursts with hope, joy, resilience, the strength of community, and Native pride.

"When Uncle and Windy Girl attend a powwow, Windy watches the dancers and listens to the singers. She eats tasty food and joins family and friends around the campfire. Later, Windy falls asleep under the stars. Uncle's stories inspire visions in her head: a bowwow powwow, where all the dancers are dogs. In these magical scenes, Windy sees veterans in a Grand Entry, and a visiting drum group, and traditional dancers, grass dancers, and jingle-dress...

A mother dedicated to her roots, shows her child the importance of culture and identity through the dance and ritual of the powwow.

"Not since Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine has such a powerful and urgent Native American voice exploded onto the landscape of contemporary fiction. Tommy Orange's There There introduces a brilliant new author at the start of a major career. "We all came to the powwow for different reasons. The messy, dangling threads of our lives got pulled into a braid--tied to the back of everything...

A young Indigenous girl's family helps calm her nervous butterflies before her first Jingle Dress Dance and reminds her why she dances.

"Nikosis grew up going to powwows with his family, happily immersed in music, dance and the sounds of the drum. But when he starts going to daycare, he doesn't feel like he belongs. Nikosis cries every time his mother leaves him in the unfamiliar environment until, one day, she and the teachers use drums to help Nikosis find connection and comfort. Inspired by her son's experience--and her family's love of powwow music and dance--Indigenous educator...

River is recovering from illness and can't dance at the powwow this year. She's been feeling isolated, and not dancing makes her feel even worse, but her community is willing to support her and help her heal both her physical body and her hurt feelings.

Scope and content: A variety of materials concerning Native Americans throughout Tennessee and the southeast generally. Quantity of materials ranges from a single item to several folders. Most folders contain less than five items, and often only one or two items. Subjects include general writings of a historical nature; Indian organizations in the late 20th and early 21st centuries and their activities; and historical articles about Indians in the...