Jan Bourdeau Waboose

A young girl and her Noko (Nokoomis, or grandmother) head to Smooth Rock Island one dark autumn night in this atmospheric picture-book from Ojibwe author Jan Bourdeau Waboose and Mohawk illustrator C.J. Taylor. Here they build a fire, and the girl is drawn into a dance with her grandmother, a dance that reaches back to their ancestors and that ties them to the natural world around them...

Pairing a richly descriptive text with beautiful, intensely colorful illustrations, Firedancers was a pleasure to read. Waboose's story involves the readers immediately in the child-narrator's experience, as she finds herself out and about in a dark world that feels both frightening and familiar. The connection to her loving grandmother is beautifully evoked, as is the symbolic significance of the dance. The artwork, which looks like it was done in oil paint, is very intense, with a deep, vivid color palette and stylized figures. This is my fourth picture-book from Waboose, but my first from Taylor - I will definitely have to seek out more of her books! Recommended to picture-book readers looking for stories about grandparents and grandchildren and/or about Native cultural traditions.… (altro)