BPS invites YA author to speak to students about importance of self-acceptance
Author highlights beauty of Native culture in books
Indigenous Democracy Reporter
Dawn Quigley visited several schools, including Grimsrud Elementary where she talked with fourth and fifth grade students like Kently Many Horses, Kyrie Provost and Stefan Burton about the meaning behind her books on Oct. 26. Photo credit/ Adrianna Adame
Never in a million years did Dawn Quigley think that she’d be a writer talking to K-9 students about her books across Bismarck Public Schools.
She began writing her first book when she was 38 years old, it took her five years to finish it. Now she’s published several books, including Apple in the Middle, Joey Reads the Sky and Books One and Two for the children’s book series Jo Jo Makoons.
Bismarck Public Schools invited the author to speak about her stories and share her insight with elementary and middle school students. During her last day in town, she talked to Grimsrud Elementary fourth and fifth graders about her first story on Oct. 26.
Apple in the Middle is a Young Adult, YA, book about how Apple Starkington, a biracial white and American Indian girl, works to come to terms with her Native heritage. Named by her mother on her deathbed, her dual-meaning name signifies “treasured apple of my eye” and the negative connotation of a person who is Indian on the outside, but white on the inside. After Apple is called a racial slur on the playground, she turns her back on her Native identity –– until she finally reconnects with her mother’s side of the family at the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota.
Quigley’s first book acknowledges the struggle of balancing two cultures. Based on her own personal experience as a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe who grew up away from her reservation, she recalled how at times it felt like she was living a double life.
“One of the things I wanted to do, is that I wanted to fit in,” said Quigley. “When I was at school I’d try to blend in and then when I would go home, my family was really good about teaching Native history.”
While she would come to visit during the summer, she lacked that sense of community in Mankato, Minn. where she was one of the two American Indian students in her class from K-12.
Before becoming an author, Quigley worked as a K-9 teacher for 18 years. She said while she loved her job, she noticed her non-Native teaching friends focus on American Indian books about loss and tragedy. Though the author agrees that these are important parts of history to learn, she wanted to avoid the victim narrative or negative stereotypes.
“I knew from my family the Native humor, the love, the extended families and spending time together at powwows,” said Quigley. “I just really wanted to shine a light on the beauty of Native history, language and culture.”
Quigley formerly worked as an Indian Education Program Director after years of teaching to collaborate with teacher preparation programs to present cultures respectfully. As an educator, she also met a lot of Indigenous children who struggled with their cultural identity, especially if they didn’t grow up in the culture.
Kyrie Provost, a fourth grader at Grimsrud Elementary, quietly listened to the author during her visit. A booklover himself, the 10-year-old said he wants to read more of Quigley’s books. “I loved it,” Provost said.
Though each of the children in attendance have different tastes in book genres, they agreed Quigley’s stories on representation are important. Kently Many Horses, who normally prefers graphic novels, said “Apple in the Middle” is a relatable story, “in how people can be mean, kind of like how people can be mean at the playground,” Many Horses said.
The fifth grader said it’s important for people to learn to respect everyone, no matter their cultural background, “so that people don’t start to call each other names and by their skin color,” Many Horses said.
“I get so motivated meeting students,” said Quigley. “The joy of seeing students and how they experience things –– they even give me story ideas sometimes.”
In addition to being an author, she is now employed as an education professor at the Fond du Lac Tribal Community College in Minnesota.
Quigley’s next endeavor is working on a book highlighting Native life in the city through poetry. The novel, targeted towards seventh and eighth grade students, was written during the pandemic.
She said during a time of uncertainty, the one thing she could control was writing stories. Though publishing poetry is a scary new process for the author, she anticipates good things to come from this opportunity.