Jingle Dancer book review

“The depiction of the culture must ring true to the population the book purports to represent. Believability is part of the magic of fiction,” (Smith 2005).

Before reading the fiction picture book, Jingle Dancer by Cynthia Leitch Smith, I had not heard of the tradition of jingle dancing. This originally Ojibway custom is brought to life in Jingle Dancer through the exquisite watercolor paintings of Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu.
The book follows Jenna, a young girl who is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Set in contemporary Oklahoma, Jenna asks friends and neighbors of different generations for jingles to complete her regalia so that she can dance at the powwow.

In her article “Spotlight on CLA Social Justice Workshop: Social Justice in Native American Literature for Youth” Smith states that one reason why she writes primarily contemporary fiction is to counteract the domination of historical fiction in Native American children’s literature. She believes that many children are led to believe that Native Americans no longer exist, (“Spotlight” 8).

Throughout Jingle Dancer Smith interweaves cultural Native American tradition into a contemporary situation. For example, she links the natural world with the modern one. “As Moon kissed Sun good night, Jenna shifted her on Grandma Wolfe’s shoulder,” Smith describes while Jenna and her grandmother are painted sitting in a contemporary living room, (“Jenna” 3). Also, the Native women in the story have traditional roles like Jenna’s storyteller aunt, (9), and also contemporary ones like her lawyer cousin, (13).

Smith is an “insider” author as she is a mixed-blood member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Audiences know that she is an “informed” author for a few reasons. Firstly, Smith notates that the number four is significant in Native American storytelling, (“Spotlight” 8). She includes this custom in the text the following ways: Jenna compiles four rows of jingles for her dress, (“Jenna” 5), she visits four women to ask for jingles, and the cone-shaped jingles make the sound “tink, tink, tink, tink,” (2).
Secondly, Smith includes an Author’s Note which explains the jingle dancing art form and its significance within the community. She also incorporates into the text four terms used within the culture and compiles a glossary at the end.

Jingle Dancer successfully describes how a Native American custom is continuing in a contemporary setting. This accomplishment ensures that a misinformed audience of children will understand that the Native American culture exists today.

Works Cited:

Smith, Cynthia L. Jingle Dancer. New York: Morrow Junior Books, 2000.

---. “Spotlight on CLA Social Justice Workshop: Social Justice in Native
American Literature for Youth.” Journal of Children’s Literature 31.1 (2005): 7-9.

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