I was excited for this middle-grade graphic novel featuring Mia, a Jewish and Indigenous girl, a rare and important intersection. I appreciated the well-developed portrayal of Mia’s dad, a rarity in similar stories. However, Mia’s solo bus trip from LA to Oklahoma felt unrealistic, and the illustration style was inconsistent—some images were charming, while others seemed too cartoonish for the subject matter. Overall, a thoughtful read with some flaws but definitely recommend others to read!!

At first I thought that I would really enjoy this graphic novel because it set up an interesting premise. The main character, Mia starts the book preparing for her Bat Mitzvah, something complicated by her mixed heritage and her lack of knowledge of her Muskogee family due to her parents' rough break up years before. Unfortunately, the narrative sunk to the most obvious levels with everything told rather than shown, ironic for a graphic novel. I wanted to like this but it ended up as a miss for me.

This story is engaging from the first page to the last. Such an uplifting arc. I'm so glad I read this.

As a reader who this book was a window, I learned so much about both Jewish and Muscogee traditions! Also, readers who are struggling to find themselves around multiple identities or separated parents will find solace in this book as a mirror. A great read that everyone will find something in.

Realistic fiction middle grade graphic novel sure to fill the huge void in publishing for Native voices. Not amazing but format and coming of age theme sure to be popular.

Loved this one!
A grrwt way to explore identity and family. Great art complements the plot. I found the characters to be well rounded and believable

Will def be getting this for our media center. Mia's struggle with 2 identities irrors the conflict many of my students face but is still informative and enlightening. Can definetly see my graphic-novel loving kids picking this one up

Coming from a multi-cultural family, I related SO MUCH to this graphic novel. Feeling saturated in one culture and separated from another. Feeling lost in both. Feeling like you're too much of one thing but not seen enough as that thing. The ignorant comments and "accidental racism" that plagues too many people in your community. Wanting to learn more yet being met with horrible stereotypes. Having a family that separates and denies you access to your cultures. Assimilation. Not being seen as your race and ethnicity. Realizing that you're not one or the other - you're both. Very excellent story.

A young girl torn between her two heritages. One that she feels forced to learn about, and ostracized from because she doesn't "look" the part and the other that she's felt distanced from. Colorful illustrations aid in this story to bring it to life.

This is such a heartfelt graphic novel about a tween girl trying to find her place in disparate cultural heritages. Mia's parents are divorced, and she lives with her mother and stepfather in LA where she goes to a Jewish school and is heavily involved in the synagogue. She doesn't know her biological father as well, he's Muscogee and lives in Tulsa and left Mia's mother when Mia was young. As a Bat Mitzvah, Mia feels like she knows what it means to be Jewish, but she knows nothing about being an Indian -- as a kid taunts her at school.

Desperate to reconnect with the Indigenous side of her family, Mia sneaks away to Tulsa to visit her father. There she experiences more of what it means to be Native American and gains an appreciation for cherishing culture and tradition. This is a powerful novel about a young girl fighting for self-acceptance. My only gripe is with Mia's voice. Sometimes she reads far younger than she is and I struggled to place her. Otherwise, an excellent graphic novel for young readers.

A story of multicultural identity which I haven’t seen covered before: Jewish and Muscogee Native American. When Mia was only a few years old, her parents split up, and she began living with her Jewish mother full-time.

Now just past her bat mitzvah, Mia has spent nearly her entire life steeped in her Jewish heritage, while being isolated from her Muscogee family and traditions. After several instances of racism at school, one even perpetrated by her otherwise kindly rabbi, Mia becomes determined to reconnect with her past, and does so in the ultimate tween literature fashion: running away!

This is a book of no 100% good guys, unless you count Mia’s cousin and grandmother, who are sources of knowledge on Muscogee life. But Mia’s mother, father, stepfather, rabbi, and even Mia herself all make pretty large mistakes. BUT, each of them acknowledge these mistakes and make huge steps or promises of change. It’s wonderful to see this perspective that speaking out can beget change, and that people can hold themselves accountable without also being defensive.

The author herself is also Jewish and Muscogee, making this book a bit more than semi-autobiographical. While she didn’t run away like Mia, and she certainly couldn’t video call with her family to keep connected, the split from and reconnection to heritage is still there.

Advanced reader copy provided by the publisher.

Two Tribes is a well written story of a girl who finds herself wanting to know more about her traditions and culture. She is being raised by her Jewish mother and attends a private Jewish school, but she wants to know more about her Native American half and her father's family. Without her mother's permission she boards a bus and travels to Oklahoma to visit her father and his new family. She begins to learn about her family's traditions and background. This book is a great conversation starter for learning about and respecting your culture and heritage. Recommended for all YA graphic novel collections!

Mia was a member of two tribes. The divergent cultures had never been an issue until a school bully, at her Jewish Community School in Los Angeles, insisted that she could not be Native American. "How can I say I'm Native American if I know nothing about it?"

What Mia knows:
-Mia's Jewish mother and biological father Van, a member of the Muscogee [Creek] Nation], divorced when Mia was three.
-Van lives in Oklahoma with his new wife and two sons.
-Mom makes a Shabbat To-Do-List. "The rituals make Friday night different from all other nights."
-Shabbat dinner includes the following:
1. Make the Challah [roll out the dough, braid it, apply an egg wash, bake]
2. Light the Candles
3. Make Kiddush [a blessing traditionally made over a cup of wine or kosher grape juice that sanctifies Shabbat].
4. Bless the Challah.
5. Eat!
-Mia recently had her Bat Mitzvah- she has come of age and the role of being a woman is spelled out in the Torah.

Mia devises a plan to visit her dad in Oklahoma using money from her Bat Mitzvah. After all, Mom had refused to discuss dad or help Mia connect with her Native identity. She deceptively buys a bus ticket from Los Angeles to Tulsa, Oklahoma. She tells her dad that her mother is on board for this trip.

What Mia learns in Oklahoma:
-Van, her father, attends fellowship meetings. He is now a better husband/father.
-Mia is introduced to an Old Time Indian Food-wild onions.
1. Go outdoors and pick onions, only those that have not flowered.
2. Boil the greens, then mix with eggs and shortening. Fry.
- "A long time ago darkness fell all over the land. No one could see anything. It was so scary. When one person found someone else, they held tight. Animals were scared, too. So scared that even they stayed with the people. Wind lifted the darkness. The people who group together became clans...Your clan is as close as family, so you do not marry them." Mia's clan is the bird clan.
- Mia learns traditional Muscogee Stomp Dance. [This dance is usually done around a sacred fire, the flames taking prayers up to the creator].

When Mia's deception is discovered, there would be consequences. Healing will occur as both tribes start to communicate with each other. The goal of this wonderful graphic novel, for the middle grade reader, is to teach children the importance of incorporating all parts of one's identity in order to enhance one's perspective and positively impact self esteem. Highly recommended.

Thank you HarperCollins Children's Books/Heartdrum and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A middle grade graphic novel about being torn between two identities.

Mia lives with her Jewish mother and stepfather, but she finds herself longing to spend more time with her Native American father. She hatches a plan to stay with her father and learn more about her heritage...without her mother finding out.

I think this is a very real struggle many of my students have, particularly when they feel removed from one of their identities. A definite add to my library.

My Thoughts:
This graphic story inspired by Emily Bowen Cohenʻs life, is about Mia who lives with her mom and new stepfather. She is sent to Jewish day school and as a family, they practice Jewish traditions. But Mia is also part Muskogee from her biological fatherʻs side. Like her mom, her dad lives with his new family in Oklahoma. Mia sticks out at her Jewish day school because she does not look like her classmates, and that just makes her hungry to get to know her Native American side of her identity. Her plan is to take her bat mitzvah money and sneak away to Oklahoma to visit her dad and his new family. It is a little disturbing that her mother does not seem to see her or that the teachers at the Jewish school do not curb the ethnic shaming by the students, especially when Semitic attacks are prevalent in the world.

Her mother eventually finds out and is very upset that Mia left and was staying with her dad and his family, but eventually she understands that the divorce is not about Mia and Mia should not be isolated from both sides of her family.

As teachers we cannot control parents, but it is our job to ensure that all students understand their identity as well as the gifts that come with being and/both, not one or the other.

This is another book out of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint of Harper Collins Children's Books.

From the Publisher:
Mia is still getting used to living with her mom and stepfather, and to the new role their Jewish identity plays in their home. Feeling out of place at home and at her Jewish day school, Mia finds herself thinking more and more about her Muscogee father, who lives with his new family in Oklahoma. Her mother doesn’t want to talk about him, but Mia can’t help but feel like she’s missing a part of herself without him in her life.

Soon, Mia makes a plan to use the gifts from her bat mitzvah to take a bus to Oklahoma—without telling her mom—to visit her dad and find the connection to her Muscogee side she knows is just as important as her Jewish side.

Publication Information:
Author, Illustrator: Emily Bowen Cohen

Publisher: Heartdrum (August 15, 2023)

I would love to see someone write an essay on how the author chose to redraw the cover with a Star of David because presumably everyone at Harper thought the double necklace as it actually appears in the narrative (hamsa) would be too niche or something

This is very good but not perfect. As a Jew of color, I particularly like that it doesn't pull punches when describing racism among white Jews, particularly affluent white Ashkenazim who send their kids to private school. I did feel like the church thing with the father and stepmother were a bit underdeveloped and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to get ick vibes, and I kept waiting for them to try and convert her or say something weird to her, which never happened and is great, but like...idk, maybe it's my own discomfort when people who talk about their church. I also felt like the way the mom talked about the father kept going back and forth between melodramatic and actually traumatic, and the author couldn't really decide where to land, and all that just made it harder for me to figure out who he was as a character. And of course the ending was a little bit pat, but the heart of the story was very good, and I am always here for books about mixed kids coming up with their own personal syncretism.

This is a story that so many kids will relate to as the product of different cultures. Though their struggles may be culturally different, it is great to have a story that reflects the beauty and internal struggles associated with expectations (family and self) when you are the progeny of multiple cultures.

This graphic novel was an amazing look at what it feels like to have two cultures within us and the conflicting feelings we have when we discover who we are. Cohen discusses the many complicated feelings that come with being bi-racial while living with only half of your family and understanding only one half of your culture. As Mia does research on her family's history, she reads a book with incredibly insulting depictions of indigenous people and determines that she wants to learn more about her Muskogee heritage from her father in Oklahoma. This book brings up several great points about the importance of family connection, language, and building your own, unique identity.

‘Two Tribes’ with story and art by Emily Bowen Cohen is a graphic novel about a young woman who comes from a diverse background and the conflicts that cause her.

Mia lives with her mom and step-dad and is going to a Jewish school, but she doesn’t look like a lot of the other students. Her Muscogee dad lives in Oklahoma and Mia doesn’t see him very much, but she feels like that part of herself is missing. She makes a plan and sneaks off to visit him. While there, she reconnects with a side of her that feels authentic. Can Mia live in both worlds?

This is a great story about a young woman struggling with the different cultures she comes from. The story is well told and the art is nice.

I adored this graphic novel about a girl from two cultures. Mia's parents don't speak to each other and she hasn't seen her father since she was small. Her mother is a devoutly religious Jew and her father is a member of the Muscogee Nation. Mia devises a plan to visit her father so she can learn more about that half of her heritage.

I love stories about discovering more about your culture and this book did a beautiful job of exploring both sides of Mia's heritage. I really appreciated the way the author handled discussing microaggressions. This is such an important story and one I hope many children get to read.