JINGLE DANCER tells the story of a young girl who wants to participate in the “jingle dance” just like her Grandma Wolfe.  Smith tells the reader that Jenna is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and of Ojibway (Chippewa/Anishinabe) decent in the author’s note following the story.  In a book sure to bring a smile to the faces of young readers, Jenna imagines her grandmother performing and longs to be as graceful and fluid as she is.  Jenna then goes on search for jingles that she can use to create her own regalia for the powwow. 

At the end of the story, the author, who identifies herself as a “mixed-blood member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation,” includes a short glossary.  Here and in her author’s note, she makes distinctions that every reader may not know.  For instance, she explains that regalia is highly valued, carries spiritual significance, and should never be confused with a costume.  Notes like these are very important to placing the story in context and to the discussion that should take place at its conclusion.

It should be noted that as Jenna is looking for jingles, she consults her female family members and neighbors.  Jenna is able to walk to each location, indicating that her extended family remains in close proximity.  While Jenna eats fry bread, and daydreams about jingle dancing, she is shown in modern kitchens similar to those that might be found in any American home.  Jenna is dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, with her hair pulled back.  The places she visits have some items that show culture without seeming artificial.  For example, Mrs. Scott wears a beaded barrette and earrings and Grandma Wolfe rests in a chair draped with a woven blanket.  The soft illustrations allow emotion to show on the varied faces of the charaters, young and old.  Their features are varied in a way true to life: with different noses, eyebrows, lips, and so on.

Jenna borrows one row of jingles from each woman, ending with Grandma Wolfe.  She does not want to take so many jingles from one person that their dress “would lose its voice,” however; she is trying to have four complete rows of jingles.  In the author’s note, Smith recognizes the number four and states, ”Many Native people believe that it is an important, even sacred number symbolizing, for example, the four directions, four seasons, four stages of life, and four colors of man.”