Firefly Season

Written by the award-winning, bestselling author of Jingle Dancer, Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee), and filled with tender illustrations by Kate Gardiner (Nipmuck), this unforgettable, warmhearted picture book is for family and the friends who become family.

Piper feels grateful for visits with her relatives, especially for the time spent with her cousins in Cherokee Nation and Muscogee Nation during summer vacations, fishing on misty mornings and playing on firefly-filled evenings. Piper's family lives a road trip away in Kansas City. So when a neighbor named Sumi moves in next door, Piper is excited to share her stories and seasons with a new friend.

The two are inseparable--until Piper's family moves to another city. Their bond overcomes distance, and with time, Piper dreams up a plan to reunite with the people she loves most of all.

Kate Gardiner is a New England-based illustrator. She is a member of the Chaubunagungamaug band of Nipmuck Indians and a graduate of Maine College of Art & Design. Kate has illustrated several books, including her debut picture book, Small Places, Close to Home by Deborah Hopkinson, and Sometimes We Fall by Randall de Sève. She can be found online at kategardinerillustration.com.

Cynthia Leitich Smith is the bestselling, acclaimed author of books for all ages, including Firefly Season, Jingle Dancer, Indian Shoes, On a Wing and a Tear, Sisters of the Neversea, the Blue Stars series, Rain Is Not My Indian Name, Harvest House, and Hearts Unbroken, which won the American Indian Youth Literature Award. Cynthia is also the anthologist of Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids and Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories. She has been honored with the American Library Association's Children's Literature Lecture Award and has been named the NSK Neustadt Laureate. She is the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint at HarperCollins Children's Books, and served as the Katherine Paterson Endowed Chair on the faculty of the MFA program in writing for children and young adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Cynthia is a citizen of the Muscogee Nation and lives in Denton, Texas.