powwows

Sandy Starbright's family celebrates her birthday by giving her gifts and going to a powwow, where she learns about Native American traditions and cultures.

Text and photographs look at the dance, music and culture of the powwow celebration.

"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 dancers--all with telltale ears and paws and tails. All celebrating in song and dance. All attesting to the wonder of the powwow"--Provided by publisher.

Twelve individuals travel to the Big Oakland Powwow for their own reasons. Following each one, their stories reveal a unique glimpse into the struggles faced by modern Native Americans in urban America, highlighting the complex history and inheritance of both a profound spirituality and a propensity for addiction and suicide.

A twelve-year-old Ojibwa Indian living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, learns about her tribe's traditional costumes from her grandmother and gets ready to dance at a powwow.

Beginning readers will learn to celebrate diversity by appreciating the many culturally influenced behaviors and practices people bring to our society.

"Native American celebrations are packed with symbolic gestures and intriguing details. A kind of party called a potlatch, staged by native peoples of the Pacific Northwest, was marked by guests receiving gifts, not giving them, and were sometimes put on to get back at an enemy. This [book] highlights several celebrations and ceremonies important to Native Americans across North America"--Amazon.com.

Fifteen-year-old Mark Centeno convinces his father, who is Filipino and Mexican, to let him spend time with his mother's Chumash and Crow family in California in hopes of surfing with his friends but, instead, connects with his heritage through dance.

A young First Nations boy prepares for his first pow-wow as his beloved grandmother guides him through the events of the day.