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A young Cherokee girl is filled with joy because today is moving day! She and Etsi—the word for mother in their native language—are leaving the city and moving to their ancestral land. In the city “cars rush, / crowds collect.” Etsi says “this is not our rhythm. / More houses go up. / Fewer animal relatives visit. / Our family is too far away.”

As the girl rides in the car with her dog and Etsi, she thinks, “Time to head home / and change our tempo.” The girl chronicles their journey by sketching all she sees. She’s excited because “singing, / shell shaking, / storytelling, / stickball playing / all offer different beats.”

When the family arrives at the Cherokee Nation Reservation, they are greeted by helping hands and a welcoming community. Soon the girl is exploring her new home with other children, catching crayfish in the creek, swinging on a tire under a shady tree, and playing hide ’n‘ seek. As the children play beneath the stars and a crescent moon, the girl thinks, “I love the rhythm of being home.”

Author Traci Sorell is a Cherokee Nation citizen and lives in her tribe’s reservation in northeastern Oklahoma. Illustrator Michaela Goade is a member of the Tlingit Nation and lives on her ancestral homelands in Alaska.

capture the heart of a child who has finally arrived home.

(Kokila)