Fifteen-year-old Mark Centeno is of Chumash, Crow, Mexican, and Filipino ancestry—he calls himself "four kinds of brown." When Mark goes to live with his Chumash grandmother on the reservation in central California, he discovers a rich world of family history and culture that he knows very little about. He also finds a pathway to better understanding a part of his ownidentity: the world of powwow dancing. Riveted by the traditional dancers and feeling the magnetic pull of the drums, Mark begins the training and other preparations necessary for him to compete as a dancer in one of America's largest powwows. Like all of our PathFinders novels for reluctant teen readers, this contemporary story is by a Native American author, features a linear plot, and is written at a 4.0 to 4.5 reading level.
1 of 1 copy available
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Release date
August 26, 2016 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781939053923
- File size: 1208 KB
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781939053923
- File size: 1208 KB
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- Lexile® Measure: 690
- Text Difficulty: 3
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Reviews
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April 1, 2014
Powwow drums call a modern teen to reconnect with his Native American roots. Discontented with a move to Dallas, 15-year-old Mark persuades his father and stepmother to let him spend the summer with his Chumash grandmother on a California reservation. Following the lead of a newly met half brother who is a committed powwow dancer, Mark is irresistibly drawn both by the spectacular ceremony at events he attends and also a strong inner calling to become a dancer himself. A broad informational agenda runs through Robinson's story, as his protagonist eagerly absorbs Chumash history and culture from those around him, along with details of the dancer's ornate regalia as well as the purpose and spirit of powwows. Ultimately Mark stays with his multicultural extended family (he himself is, as he puts it, "four kinds of brown," since his father is Filipino-Mexican and his birth mother was Chumash-Crow) to finish high school and to enter the huge Gathering of Nations Powwow in Albuquerque--"the Indianapolis 500 of the powwow world" and the book's climax. Free of crises and melodrama, a buoyant take on the theme of embracing one's family heritage. (Fiction. 10-13)COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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