In this mesmerizing picture book from the author of the New York Times bestselling Stars, a young ballerina finds dancing inspiration in the natural world. There’s a place I go that’s green and grass, a place I thought that no one knew— until the deer came. This gorgeous picture book from celebrated author Mary Lyn Ray features luminous and evocative art from Lauren Stringer and will capture the hearts of young dancers everywhere.

In 1800s Sonora, Mexico, the Yaquis are in constant struggle to keep their homelands from first the Spaniards and later the Mexicans. The battle between Yaquis and the Mexicans is personal for the Falcon family of Mateo, Petra, Luz, Angel and Cheve, as they fight to survive in the dangerous and violent world they live in. Deer Dancer blends both the mystical culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and historical events from this dark period in Mexico's history to fascinate and educate older young adults and adults alike.

For centuries, shamanic men and women have engaged in shapeshifting rituals - the powerful process of taking on the physical or psychological aspect of an animal to access its strength and perceptions. The imagery of shifting between human and nonhuman form has strongly pervaded folklore, myth, legend, and superstition - from the selkie (or seal shifter) of Celtic myth to bear-human love matches in Native American folklore. In chapters on the buffalo, cat, bird, bear, dragon, frog, and more, Michele Jamal explores the qualities associated with various shapeshifter forms. In her own lyrical style, she retells myths from around the world, and ends each chapter with a poetic and sensual visualization that takes the reader into the heart of each animal's power. Deerdancer shows how to use shapeshifting ritual to find direction, strength, and insight - it will forever transform the way one views other living creatures and the self.

Winner of the American Folklore Society’s Chicago Folklore Prize Yaqui regard song as a kind of lingua franca of the intelligent universe. It is through song that experience with other living things is made intelligible and accessible to the human community. Deer songs often take the form of dialogues in which the deer and others in the wilderness world speak with one another or with the deer singers themselves. It is in this way, according to one deer singer, that “the wilderness world listens to itself even today.” In this book authentic ceremonial songs, transcribed in both Yaqui and English, are the center of a fascinating discussion of the Deer Song tradition in Yaqui culture. Yaqui Deer Songs/Maso Bwikam thus enables non-Yaquis to hear these dialogues with the wilderness world for the first time.

The boy had heard the old stories about a mysterious white deer that appeared among the fields of corn. Some said she had been formed from a star that fell to the earth; others said she had risen up from some tanks of spilt milk. But to the young boy, it seemed that's all she was, the stuff of stories--until one night when she appears on his farm, standing in the field, her coat a sparkling white. During this magical nighttime encounter, the deer leads the boy into the skies on a flight through the lights of the aurora, among the countless other creatures living in its glistening colors. But the boy will discover more the next day, when he tells his family about his experience. This modern folk tale inspires young readers to see the magic that comes from the twinkles of the nighttime sky.