IRES Library Book Spotlight: Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah

Calling for a Blanket Dance is written by Oscar Hokeah, Cherokee Nation and Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma. Told through the eyes and experiences of different family members, it centers around the child Ever Geimausaddle, half Mexican and half Native. Each chapter is a member of his family, their experiences that shaped them and relating to Ever as he grows up. Each story and chapter is raw and real, sometimes unflinchingly and emotionally so. The experiences of police brutality, alcoholism, drug addiction, but also the love that is extended to Ever in each of these stories, the ceremonies. There are so many things or sentences I could pull from this book but they're all important. What I love about this book is that it is real. The pain and the grief that shapes us, but it isn't the only thing. The love and the hardships is trying to do the right thing, and not always being able to. Here is a small paragraph from the book, I hope y’all take the time to read this amazing book!

As the rugged part of the storm faded, the chatter picked up. Someone yelled, “If this was a Stomp Dance, then at least we’d have a fire to warm us.” Another voice called out, “Why do we still hold Stomps at night?” “That’s the only time we can be real Cherokees,” a voice answered from the crowd. Then someone added, “Under the cover of darkness." We all remembered how practicing anything Cherokee has once been a crime and a reason to be killed. When old customs fell out of favor, it was best to keep them alive inside the earth, like a medicine root writing to be harvested at the coldest point in the winter.