What Your Ribbon Skirt Means to Me: Deb Haaland's Historic Inauguration

by Alexis Bunten (Author) Nicole Neidhardt (Illustrator)

What Your Ribbon Skirt Means to Me: Deb Haaland's Historic Inauguration
Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

A contemporary Indigenous picture book that offers both an homage to Secretary Deb Haaland's achievements, and a celebration of urban Indigenous community through the eyes of a little girl.

Pia rushes over to the Indigenous community center after school. It's where she goes every day to play outside with friends and work on her homework. But today--March 18, 2021--is special: Auntie Autumn gathers all the children around their television to witness Secretary Deb Haaland in her ribbon skirt at the White House as she becomes the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary. Pia and the other kids behold her Native pride on an international stage.

Together with their parents and Elders, the children explore the values woven into their own regalia, land, community, and traditions, making precious memories on this day they won't soon forget.

Select format:
Hardcover
$18.99

ALA/Booklist

Starred Review
This simple story . . . artfully folds in all kinds of cultural details about Indigenous ceremonies, customs, and beliefs. Filled with bright, full-page illustrations, this attractive publication celebrates multiple urban and intertribal Native American traditions.

Publishers Weekly

A community event encompasses a celebration of tradition in this conversational picture book by Bunten, who is Aleut/Yup'ik. At the Native American Center where Pia does homework after school, "today is special"--the organization is throwing a party to celebrate the swearing-in ceremony of Deb Haaland (b. 1960) as secretary of the interior, the first Indigenous person to serve in this capacity. Community members, portrayed with various abilities and skin tones, soon show up with dried buffalo, fry bread, and smoked salmon, as anticipatory prose describes food that "smells so good, it's hard for Pia to wait." Following the meal, the party's attendees next craft regalia to honor Auntie Deb--notably ribbon skirts like the one Haaland wore to the ceremony. As kids and elders discuss ribbon shirts and skirts ("When you wear your regalia, you shine with all the strength of our mothers and grandmothers since time immemorial"), the back-and-forth answers Pia's questions and results in a welcoming gift to a newcomer. Digital images from Diné illustrator Neidhardt weave portraiture and pattern. Back matter includes an author's note. Ages 4-8. (July)

Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

 
Alexis Bunten
Alexis Bunten (Aleut/Yup'ik) has served as a manager, consultant, and applied researcher for Indigenous, social and environmental programming for over 15 years. She holds a BA in Art History from Dartmouth College and a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from UCLA. Alexis has published widely about Indigenous and environmental issues. She is the award-winning author of So, How Long Have You Been Native? and Keepunumuk: Weeâchumun's Thanksgiving Story​.

Nicole Neidhardt is Diné (Navajo) of the Kiiyaa'áanii Clan, and is originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has a BFA from the University of Victoria as well as an MFA at OCAD University in Toronto. Nicole's Diné identity is the heart of her practice, which encompasses illustration, installation, murals, and Indigenous Futurisms.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780316430036
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Christy Ottaviano Books-Little Brown and Hachette
Publication date
July 25, 2023
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV014000 - Juvenile Fiction | Girls & Women
JUV011040 - Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | United States - Native American
JUV016190 - Juvenile Fiction | Historical | United States - 21st Century
JUV061000 - Juvenile Fiction | Politics & Government
Library of Congress categories
Picture books
Clothing and dress
Indians of North America
Symbolic aspects
Ethnic identity
Inauguration
Haaland, Debra A.
Ribbon skirts

Subscribe to our delicious e-newsletter!