Jo Jo Makoons: Fancy Pants

By Dawn Quigley and Tara Audibert

Filled with lots of glitter, raised pinkies, and humorous misunderstandings, this second book in the Jo Jo Makoons series—written by Dawn Quigley and illustrated by Tara Audibert—is filled with the joy of a young Ojibwe girl discovering her very own special shine from the inside out.

First grader Jo Jo Makoons knows how to do a lot of things, like how to play jump rope, how to hide her peas in her milk, and how to be helpful in her classroom.

But there’s one thing Jo Jo doesn’t know how to do: be fancy. She has a lot to learn before her Aunt Annie’s wedding!

Favorite purple unicorn notebook in hand, Jo Jo starts exploring her Ojibwe community to find ways to be fancy.

The Heartdrum imprint centers a wide range of intertribal voices, visions, and stories while welcoming all young readers, with an emphasis on the present and future of Indian Country and on the strength of young Native heroes. In partnership with We Need Diverse Books.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: May 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9780063015425

Dawn Quigley

Dawn Quigley is a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe, North Dakota. Both her first book in the Jo Jo Makoons series, Jo Jo Makoons: The Used-to-Be Best Friend, and her debut YA novel, Apple in the Middle, were awarded American Indian Youth Literature Honors. She is a PhD education university faculty member and a former K–12 reading and English teacher, as well as an Indian Education program codirector. You can find her online at dawnquigley.com.

Book preview

Dedication

To the real Auntie Anne and Uncle Jeffery: Love you to Wisconsin and back.

—DQ

To all Indigenous little girls who never got to see themselves in storybooks.

—TA

About This Story

Jo Jo lives on a fictional Native American Ojibwe reservation, the Pembina Ojibwe Reservation. A reservation is land under the care of a Native Nation that calls it home. The land now called the United States is home to more than three hundred reservations and over five hundred Tribal Nations. There are many reservations in the United States, but Jo Jo’s is not an actual one. Every reservation has unique and special elements, and Jo Jo’s reservation incorporates many of those found in Ojibwe (and many other Native American) communities.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

About This Story

1: Mail Call

2: Fancy Pants

3: Pie, Oh My!

4: Dance Machine

5: Alphabet Parade

6: Math A-Go-Go

7: Eggs and an Auntie

8: Wedding Ever After

9: Wedding Crasher

Jo Jo’s Glossary

Author’s Note

Editor’s Note

Excerpt from Jo Jo Makoons: The Used-to-Be Friend

About the Author, Illustrator, and Editor

We Need Diverse Books

Books by Dawn Quigley

Copyright

About the Publisher

Mail Call

"Mimi, stay here. You’re too little to cross the street alone. Somebody has to hold your hand. And I need to have empty hands right now," I said.

It was four o’clock in the afternoon. That meant it was time for me to go get the mail. Getting the mail is my job after I come home from school. Teacher told us there is a law that says kids cannot work until they are teenagers. Mama must not know this. I work a lot, only she calls it chores instead of work.

It is very important to be safe when you cross the street. You always need to look both ways.

I live on Eighth Street. This means I need to turn and look side to side eight times before I step into the street.

Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Right. Left . . . Right. It is good to hold your arms straight out to balance when you are looking both ways. If you don’t you get can spinny head.

I am very glad I don’t live on 108th Street like my best school friend, Fern. That would hurt my neck. And is a very lot of counting.

Mama!