Raven's Ribbons

Raven loves round dances. The drums sing to the people, and the people dance to their songs. Raven especially loves dancing with his grandma, sidestepping to the rhythm of the drums. His favorite part of all is watching the ribbon skirts swirl like rainbows.

“Nohkum, do you think a boy could wear a ribbon skirt?” Raven asks his grandmother one day. She tells him she has lived for a long time, but she has never seen it. That evening, she sews late into the night, and Raven awakes to a rainbow skirt of his own. “I’ve lived for a long time,” his grandma says, “and I’m lucky to see beautiful things that I’ve never seen before.” At the next dance, Raven wears the swirl of unique ribbons with pride.

With illustrations infused with joy and color, this moving intergenerational story celebrates self-expression, honoring traditions, and finding room for reinvention.