I went and checked the American Indians in Children's Literature blog to see what Debbie has to say, and unsurprisingly she really likes this book. It's good to have her perspective on this, too, because the book felt very authentic to me, very much like what this girl's experience of her family and community would be today, and the art was so evocative of a particular and particularly modern (if, at this point, a little bit dated) life in this culture.

I think the things that really worked for me were the little details--the living room with the television set seemed so lived in and so descriptive of the family, it didn't have that generic 'this is A Living Room' style of art where only the things that are remarked upon by the text are shown. This book had so much realistic detail in the art and so much resonance between the content and the style and shape in the repetitions in the text, which altogether brought out such a living experience of participating in this ritual.

I also really liked the way the book brought out both the protagonist's agency and her community. We got to see her making a commitment to learn the dance and find the things she needs for her dress, and also her female role models who supported her commitment and aided her when she asked. It's a good book from a gender perspective, too, as we see a realistic portrayal of family broadly construed, and a range of women in different careers and capacities helping the girl out. It reads as somewhat idealistic next to the bitterness in Absolutely True Diary, but I think this story is both believable and accurate as a particular representation--not all Native communities and families live in the kind of poverty Junior experiences growing up, though some do. It helps to have both realities shown, to give a broader sense than you can draw from just one book's depiction of a native culture.

I really liked this book a lot, and I'm happy to see it's being reprinted.