INTRODUCTION
This reading guide is designed to accompany author Denise Lajimodiere and illustrator Angela Erdrich’s picture book Josie Dances. We hold the belief that anti-racist practice is a process of learning (and unlearning) over time. Reading Is Resistance sees reading as an opportunity to seed deeper conversations and possibilities for action around racial justice.
Lesson content was written by Zapoura Newton-Calvert and was designed to start and deepen anti-bias/anti-racist conversations in families and other learning communities.
BOOK THEMES
IDENTITY, BELONGING, FAMILY, ANCESTORS, TRADITION, DANCE, CULTURE VS. COSTUME, APPRECIATION VS. APPROPRIATION
BOOK SUMMARY
In the fall, Josie (a young Ojibwe girl) asks her family if she can dance at the next summer powwow. Over winter and spring, the women in her family make everything she needs for her regalia while Grandma Greatwalker dreams of Josie’s spirit name. Josie practices her dancing in preparation and is anxious to see if her regalia and spirit name will be ready in time for summer.
This story highlights intergenerational connection, making, and dancing and depicts Ojibwe art in addition to the natural world and the beauty of summer’s powwow gathering.
THE READ ALOUD
READING GUIDE & STICKY NOTES PRINTABLE PREVIEW
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