WOW Reads: S3, E2 - MSRAP Reads Buffalo Dreamer by Violet Duncan

Join the Worlds of Words Center Middle School Reading Ambassadors (MSRAP) as we recap our experience around Buffalo Dreamer by Violet Duncan.

In this episode, we discuss... 

• Our connections with the main character, Summer, and the fun we have when we reunite with distant family.
• How Buffalo Dreamer is the first formal introduction for the Reading Ambassadors about Residential/Industrial Schools for Indigenous children in North America, and how we can carry this new information forward. We consider the idea of "moving forwards, backwards" (sourced from University of Arizona faculty member, Sheilah Nicholas), and how even when history doesn't repeat itself, it can often "rhyme."
• The empathy and admiration we have for Violet Duncan after her book was announced as a finalist for the 2024 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. It can be hard to be in the spotlight, but this award is well-deserved.

Violet embodied grace and generosity on her visit, and we are thankful she took time to share her time with us.

Bonus Book Mentions:
We Are the Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom and Michaela Goade
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
Rez Dogs by Joseph Bruchac
And maybe someone can help us locate the title of a book about a young girl who is a member of the Yaqui Tribe and successfully petitions to save a tree?

This podcast was recorded in the Digital Innovation and Learning Lab (DIALL) in the U of A College of Education with assistance from the U of A COE Tech Team.

Producer/Host: Rebecca Ballenger, Worlds of Words Center Associate Director
Co-host and Lit Discussant: Kait Waterhouse, U of A COE Graduate Assistant
Audio Engineer: Liam Arias, Worlds of Words Student Employee and U of A Radio, TV, Film Major
Audio Engineer In Training: Alexis Mendoza, Worlds of Words Student Employee and U of A First-year Student
Coordinator: Vianey Torres, Worlds of Words Student Employee and U of A Nursing Major

For more information on the Worlds of Words Middle School Reading Ambassadors (MSRAP), visit wowlit.org.

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We Can Promote Global Literature Together!

The Worlds of Words Reading Ambassador program is completely free for participants who receive a book for themselves and a book to share with their school librarian, ELA/English teacher, or other school entity. If you would like to support this program, please make a gift on-line through the University of Arizona Foundation.

Thank you for listening and keep reading!

Transcript

Welcome to Wow reads, a podcast of the Worlds of Words, Center of Global Literacies and Literatures that is centered around middle school and teen voices on books written for young people.

Worlds of Words is committed to creating an international network of people who share the vision of bringing books and children together, thereby opening windows on the world. We encourage thoughtful dialog and around global literature so that children can reflect on their own cultural experiences and connect to the experiences of children across the globe. World of Words, reading ambassadors engage in a university experience of children's literature within the University of Arizona College of Education. Reading ambassadors learn about literature for young people under the direction of faculty and staff with expertise in children's literature, education, library science and marketing.

We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories and do indigenous people. Today, Arizona is home to 22 federally recognized tribes, with Tucson being home to O’Odham and and Yaqui. Committed to diversity and inclusion, the university strives to building sustainable relationship with sovereign native nations and indigenous communities through education offerings, partnerships, and community services.

Summer and her family always spend idyllic summer vacations in Canada on the Cree reservation where her mom's family lives. But this year, some things are troubling her. First, Summer starts having vivid dreams about running away from one of the real life residential schools that tore native children from their families in order to erase their native identities. Not long after that, she learned of a shocking discovery at the school her grandpa once attended.

Now, more elders, including her grandpa, are starting to speak up about their experiences at these places, and Summer and her cousins are taking note. Violet Duncan is Plains Cree and Taino from Kehewen Cree Nation. After becoming a mother of four and seeing the need for native representation in literature, she wrote three picture books. I Am Native, When We Dance and Let’s Hoop Dance.

She has toured nationally and internationally as an author, educator, dancer, and storyteller, and facilitates workshops, workshops to promote spiritual wellness and cultural education across the United States, Canada and Europe. She is currently the Indigenous Cultural Advisor at the Tempe Central Center for Arts, where she aims to create space for a permanent program of indigenous performance and practice. She lives in Mesa, Arizona.

Today, the Reading Ambassadors met with Violet Duncan. She mentioned how all traditional stories were told out loud. So we will all go around telling our favorite stories from our childhood. My name is Alice and my favorite childhood story was all the frozen stories and soundtracks.

My name is Nia and my favorite childhood story is a Filipino folktale about a hermit and two worms. My favorite story, when I was like a little kid during Christmastime, was a Santa Claus coming to Tucson because, like, I live in Tucson, so it’s kind of like traditional.
And what is your name?

Jacob.

My name is Carlos. And my favorite story from my childhood was La Llorona.

My name is Elliotte, and my favorite story from my childhood was when my mom was telling me about how Javelinas roaming around our neighborhood and getting into trouble. My name is Graham, and my favorite story was Go, Dog, Go. My name is Cheyenne and my favorite story was the thermometer story from my grandma.

My name is Gabriel. My favorite story was Dogman, for whom the ball rolls.

My name is Kate and my favorite childhood story was Sylvester and the Magic Pebble.

My name is Rebecca, and I loved hearing all the tall tales my parents told about their wedding day.

My name is Emmeline, and my favorite story from childhood was Bear Snores on.

Well, we had such an amazing conversation with Violet Duncan. We asked a ton of questions, and we still didn't get all of our questions answered. Well, somebody please speak to how you felt, how that event was for you.

Meting Violet Duncan umm, was very interesting. I loved how she put into perspective a lot of the people and characters in her story, and how they related to her actual life, and how a lot of the story was just reflective on personal meaning and, childhood memories.

I really liked how, like, she really like, I like to compliment and say, like, you want to be like this when she goes up. Like she always, like, talked about like her dad. Like you want to like she wanted to, like, be like the mom in the story and like, you know, like like all like the stories about her dad.

How, like, she's a cool. But then every time when we asked questions about her, like, what do you like to do? She said, like, she would like need to get better at it. So like that. And I was kind of nice. I like she and she talked about herself.

I really liked how she was open and how she related to the book and even when she was talking about chapters that were harder to write. She she told us about them and she was. Yeah, really cool about it.

I really liked how she was really open to it. And, she was actually telling the truth about her story, and she was actually being very light about it.

I liked how how she made herself look relatable. Like, as if maybe we could all be her someday.

You mean in terms of writing or?

Yeah, sure. Sort of. Like we could all write that story and we could all write that story, you know.

I, liked how when she was talking, she would use her hands to kind of broaden the point of what she was saying and how she was able to, illustrate what she was talking about really well.

So what parts of Buffalo Dreamer did you personally connect with?

I feel like I personally connected with, her mom, and my mom, because they're both really, like, you know, they try to get things done really quickly, and it's a good habit to have because, it makes people feel like they actually need to do something. And not being rude just direct.

I relate to, when I would go to Massachusetts to see all my family because, obviously we're in Arizona and they're in Massachusetts, and in Maine, so it's far away. And I remember my cousins and I would always get excited, like, oh my God, you're here, you're here!

and it was just a fun, like, special moment. And I think, Violet really captured that in her story.

I can relate to the connection between Sage and Summer's mom and how they didn't want to be apart, even for just a little bit, when...as...well, he's really young.

I can relate. Well, Emeline kind of just said this, but I also, I do the summer trips to see my family during the summer and winter. So and I really relate to that because I get really happy. And I also have a really close friend there that I only see during those times. And during that little short time, we, we connect a lot.

that story kind of like, reminded me of going to London sometimes to visit my, my Tata sometimes because, like, I talked about, like, they used to always like visit, like they went there just to visit, like their grandpa. And that kind of reminds me of that moment because, like, I barely see him because, like, he like pastors in New England.

So, like, I like, like I barely get I really get to see him sometimes. But he's coming down January. So, I have the same kind of thing with Emmeline and Alice, what they said, because I every like other Christmas, I go to Portland to see my dad's family and everybody, like, gets to see each other.

And then the next year we'll go and see my mom's side of the family. And it's kind of reminded me about how everybody like, when they get together, they, I everybody gets really happy and they say, like, catching up and everything. So that was kind of like I was able to connect to that. I also think that with my mom, we also go on trips a lot, but it's not to visit family.

It's usually just the two of us, maybe like visit a friend or something. But, I really, enjoy those trips with my mom because she usually always knows where we're going, but we also have a chill day, and it's just all planned out all the time. Yeah.

So sort of like Alice, every once in a while, we always go down to Culiacan, Mexico, and, well, let's just say it's a long road trip.

So I'm hearing a lot of connections, between summers family and your families in terms of, vacations and, reunions and seeing family and friends seasonally. was there something about Buffalo Dreamer that you found surprising?

when you were discussing this book, we were looking into stuff like Orange Shirt Day or, Residential schools, which Was part of Buffalo Dreamer. And I was shocked that the last, residential school closed in 1996. like, that was just astounding to me that my parents were in their 20s. Like, it was just a very weird time to think about something so terrible and how people didn't realize like that it hadn’t stopped until the late 90s.

I would like to add on what she was saying, because it is true. I was shocked that it took almost, 100 years, like 150 years to just get them to, Realized, that it wasn't the right thing to do. And that shocked me because that means, if, my ancestors were Native American, then that means a lot of their history now would be, you know, left unread and.

I was definitely shocked. Like, Emmeline and Cheyenne about how the residential schools lasted so long, but what shocked me even more was that after that, they still continued with these schools, and the mistreatment and racism and abuse still continue through that time.

What I wanted to say was kind of sad, but, other than the 150 years, I thought it was really surprising that, it took them 30 years just to close them all, even after they found out. And some people started saying that they didn't want to anymore, they still took a lot of time closing them one by one.

On top of that, a few of them even inspired Hitler's camps.

So that was specifically the Carlisle school that she mentioned in that case, which was, in the United States, the industrial school as compared to the residential schools.

I was surprised that the day schools were like, Violet Duncan was talking about how she went to a day school, and they had said, they kind of like twisted it. So they said that they were giving the kids a, like, vitamin rich, like breakfast, but instead they were giving them these pills that just had a bunch of vitamins in them.

At first when I heard about this thing, I thought it was just school for Native Americans. And then white people tried, and then like the white people were trying to shut it out at first I'm like, like, why would they shut down a native Native American school?

And then I realized I was actually for like, being jerks to actually the Native Americans. I'm like, that's I just messed up. Like, this is like, this is like dumb. Like I feel like I'm like, I'm like, geez, I did not know they made schools like this. I thought this was illegal. I also think that, another thing that definitely surprised me was how, I guess like when I actually think about how recent that was and like, even with, like, all the civil rights movements, it still didn't stop.

And the only reason why they didn't shut them, the only reason why they shut them down was because it wasn't working as well as they wanted it to.

What shocked me was that, it wasn't only how long it lasted. It was, they discovered graves there in mass amounts. So they were killing off children and taking them when they were five years old.

This is a bit on a lighter note, but what surprised me was, how dreams impacted her life. Because in the book, we see all the dreams. But then she talks about how in real life, her dreams that constantly came, brought her to Italy, where she found her husband, which I thought was really cool. And how dreams can really impact your life.And she. They met in Italy. Yeah, but then he was from Arizona.
Right. And then she came here to Arizona.

So one of the things that she had said on that note was history is at our heels. And we have a member of faculty here, Sheila Nichols, who talks about “walking forwards, backwards”. it's a way to sort of progress in the world while still acknowledging our history. What do you guys how do you think about history in in your lives now?

I think thinking about what happened before us and realizing what kind of led up to what's happening now is important and kind of knowing what happened and being able to, like, think about it while still connecting it to everyday life.

Yeah, I kind of I agree with what you said Elliotte. I feel like history has kind of just some of it has just been ignored to try and cover up mistakes. But in order to not repeat those mistakes, we have to learn about that. and I think that's something really important that has to be like passed on.

Something that I think shows history in a nice way is that it doesn't often repeat itself, but most of the time it rhymes.

What do you mean it rhymes?

Most of the time it's not the exact same thing happening over and over. But if we don't learn from past mistakes, something similar will happen. And most of the time it's not good. Yeah, I sort of find it a bit strange how like, how like slavery is always in the history books, but Native American residential schools aren’t, which is a whole new scenario in and of itself.

I liked what Gabriel said about how the like slavery is in the books, but people don't normally, like, acknowledge it. And I know that it's kind of like when past events happen, we still sometimes repeat it, but either in a lesser way or in a different way. And so it's kind of like. Repeating itself. And I think the more we go forward, we want to make sure that we're not making the past mistakes that we've made already.

And so just kind of making sure we're doing something different.

So I want to know what I'm what I would like to know from you is, how many, if any books have you read recently or that you can remember that depict, indigenous people in sort of maybe modern day settings in cosmopolitan settings?

I remember this one book that was about a girl and her tribe trying to protect her like tribal communities, waters that were being polluted by all those big city factories and other factors like that. I read, I read a book about, there was this girl and she was from the Yaqui, and, they were trying to cut down a tree.

And so she stood her ground and she said, no, but they wouldn't stop. So, she raised the entire petition because that tree was hundreds and hundreds of years old, and it actually worked. And it was like a happy ending. I, I know, I think I know the book that Nia was talking about, I think it was like, We Are Water Protectors, and it's about I think I like the way it showed them and like it talks about how water is kind of, I guess it is like kind of like a person kind of and how like the oil that they were pumping is like the black snake and it brings poison to the land. And I think that was I, I can kind of like see how that would affect things.

Another book set by Native American protagonist is Walk to Moons, where the protagonist, Sal, is Seneca. there's a whole section about it when she heads to Pipestone. Sort of acknowledges it.

There's another book that came out pretty recently called Rez Dogs, and it is about, a family who is going through the Covid pandemic and it's awesome. It's definitely a middle grade read too.

So we're going to I love all of these books. and I'll put them in the show notes. I want to, say, just first of all, congratulate, Violet, that her book, Buffalo Dreamer is a, is, it was the National Book Award for Young people's literature finalist.

And she talked about that. She said, in her family, she's not necessarily always the person that's in the spotlight. And when the spotlight was on her, it burned too much. so she was really honored and pleased with that. but also, it was overwhelming to her. Does anyone here ever feel like that?

So, it's kind of a story. So one time I was, I was doing, So you're doing a karaoke in class, and then everyone was, like, applauding and stuff, and, and then I felt really out of place because usually I'm just, you know, a kid that has a lot of friends, but still doesn't get out much.

So that was that was a new experience for me. I can relate to that Cheyenne, because I know normally I'm not one to be like in attention. And I know, like when my sister was born, I was definitely was like, oh, well, I'm not an only child anymore, so I'm not going to get everything. So it's kind of like when I'm like in the spotlight, I'm going to get scared and I'm probably going to freeze up.

It's like I because I have stage fright and I can definitely see how that would, I guess, affect what she was doing.

So my family were very loud, to say the least. Like, there's never a moment where one of us doesn't have something to say. So at the dinner table, it's a very big thing when you get to actually get like three words in because we have big discussions on like Politics or the Environment or like the most randomest things we get into arguments and discussions about. So it's, it's, not more of a spotlight.

I remember last year in band, we all had to do solos, and I was anticipating that solo so much. I practiced and practiced, and then when I actually got there and I was standing in front of the class, I couldn't stop shaking. I just froze up and I missed my cue.

That reminds me a little bit of our last book, Miracle by Karen S. Chao.

Also, I also had to do solos at school last year, and I remember at the end of the year we did this thing minuet. We were playing it and everyone had to go up and play it, and I, I had kind of forgot. Well, I had practiced, but then once I was up there, I forgot everything and I just started playing and it was so bad and and everyone started laughing.

But it was okay because it was a joke. Like I knew they weren't making fun of me, but I really, like froze up and started playing these random notes and squeaking.

I remember I, we had a show for a, my show that I do because we were like, we’ll perform this, I had to do my first solo. And that's when we do like a bunch of, like, movements. And I didn't really have anything planned. And so it was kind of scary. And I know I kind of messed it up a little bit, but I think I was like, people were like, nice about it, and they were like...

So yesterday I had to do a performance for my school, and, it was definitely scary. And I was one of the main characters, and I'm usually a backstage person, so that was definitely scary. And, I, even though definitely having that spotlight on you, like, it hurt. I definitely feel like it was empowering to to feel like to finish it and feel confident that you did good.

Well, I think that Violet is going to win many more awards, so hopefully she gets more comfortable with being in that limelight. And I'm predicting some reading ambassadors will also have to get comfortable being in the limelight as each of you are exceptional in your own ways. I'd like to thank, Alexis and Liam for, being our sound engineers today.

I'd like to thank Kate Waterhouse, our little discussant and my partner in crime here. I'd like to thank the C, the University of Arizona College of Education Tech team for helping us with recording this podcast. We are currently recording in the Digital Innovation and Learning Lab right here in the University of Arizona College of Education.