• HOME
  • RED WOLF
  • PAINT
  • HAWK
  • GONE but still here
  • DANDELIONS IN THE WIND
  • INTERVIEW
  • BLOG
  • Contact
  • More
    • HOME
    • RED WOLF
    • PAINT
    • HAWK
    • GONE but still here
    • DANDELIONS IN THE WIND
    • INTERVIEW
    • BLOG
    • Contact
  • HOME
  • RED WOLF
  • PAINT
  • HAWK
  • GONE but still here
  • DANDELIONS IN THE WIND
  • INTERVIEW
  • BLOG
  • Contact

JENNIFER DANCE Writing books that support school curricula

RED WOLF

RED WOLF

RED WOLF

 Life is changing for Canada’s Anishnaabek Nation and for the wolf packs who share their territory.

Topics covered 

  • The Indian Act 
  • Colonialism 
  • Residential schools 
  • Timber wolves
  • TEACHER GUIDE AVAILABLE

FIND OUT MORE

PAINT

RED WOLF

RED WOLF

Settlers are moving west across the Great Plains of North America. Told through the perspective of a mustang, this book is called  "The Black Beauty of America!" 

 Topics covered 

  • Destruction of the grasslands  leading to the Dust Bowl
  • Annihilation of the buffalo and the people who depended on them 
  • Pioneer life in Canada

FIND OUT MORE

HAWK

RED WOLF

HAWK

When a First Nations teen rescues a fish hawk from a tailings pond in Alberta’s oil sands, he has no idea that soon they will both be fighting for their lives  

Topics covered     

  •  The enduring effects of the Indian residential school system.     
  • The environmental and social damage caused by  the Oil Sands industry      
  • TEACHER GUIDE AVAILABLE 

FIND OUT MORE

Teen-adult Fiction

GONE BUT STILL HERE

A fictionalized memoir of a family's journey with Alzheimer's disease

Find out more

Coming soon

DANDELIONS IN THE WIND

 AUDIO THEATRE


An Anti-Racism Program 

adapted from Jennifer's Broadway-style stage show

 

Offered in the medium of audio broadcast yet wrapped in the unique cultural experience of world-class theatre, this socially relevant program will more than fill your curriculum requirements for Black History Month as well as provide a year-round tool in Social Studies, History, Music and Drama, Anti-racism Teaching, and Current Affairs. Most importantly it will inspire students to stand up for justice and equality. 


Find out more

About Jennifer Dance

Jennifer's life has demonstrated her passion for justice and racial equality. She has experienced first-hand where racism can lead. 


"You may look at my photo and wonder what I could  possibly know about racism. In 1966, when I was 17, I  met a Black engineering student who would become my husband and the father of our three biracial children. Looking back, the racism we experienced  made me more sensitive to the pain of others. It has driven my creativity."


Jennifer's musical, DANDELIONS IN THE WIND, inspired by her own tumultuous life has been staged in both England and Canada. She is  currently working to bring it to schools as part of  their anti-racism teaching.  

The three books of her White Feather Collection - RED WOLF, PAINT and HAWK  address the issue of racism, both past and present, against Indigenous people in North America. These novels are fiction, but they present the truth in a way that creates compassion and understanding, joining the dots between the colonial policies of the past and the rift of mistrust that still exists. They open the door to reconciliation. 


GONE BUT STILL HERE is Jennifer's first adult novel ... a fictionalized memoir in which she tells her personal biracial love story through the perspective of Alzheimer's disease. Her ability to do this comes from her experience as caregiver to her second partner.  


In 2016, Jennifer was awarded the Ontario Achievement Award, for making a significant contribution through her writing and presentations in the schools and community. Jennifer was also honoured to be nominated as a Woman of Excellence in the J.S. Woodsworth Awards for 

Human Rights and Equity. And is the recipient of a prestigious Creative Writing grant from the Canada Council of the Arts. 


“Reconciliation is not an aboriginal problem, it is a Canadian problem. It involves all of us."

These words, spoken by Justice Murray Sinclair, Chair of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, in 2015 compel us ALL to become involved with reconciliation. But as non-natives 

how can we reconcile, or make something right, if we don’t know what’s wrong?


Jennifer believes that when armed with the history that has been hidden for generations, today's youth will stand up for justice and equality, and lead us to reconciliation.

Reconciliation invloves all of us. Learn more

Jennifer in the schools and community

Jennifer is available for a limited number of SCHOOL presentations


 A warm welcome from William G. Davis Public School 

Jennifer's books in the lesson plan  


Students run an inter-school marketing campaign  for HAWK. They placed third!  

A well- worn school library book! 



 Grade 8 students script their own play and perform it complete with programs and scenery  


On TV discussing Red Wolf with students, hosted by the Junior Economic Club of Canada. 

 Speaking at INSPIRE, the Toronto International Book Fair  

 JUDGE Jennifer with the finalists of the  Young People's Short Story competition, sponsored by the Canadian Federation of University Women 

Forest of Reading: the closest thing an author gets to being a rock star! 

 Forest of Reading: Harbourfront, Toronto

Book signing 

6,000 book-lovers in attendance at Toronto's Harbourfront. 

 Receiving the Ontario Achievement award   from the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario : The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell Queen's Park, 2016   

 

"Essential Reading for Every Canadian" - Indigo  

MY NAME IN LIGHTS!

At SilverCity Cinemas in Thunder Bay

More about Jennifer

PODCAST - I Value Canadian Stories

Highlighting the work, the creative habits  and unique perspectives 

of Canadian author,  Jennifer Dance.   

Listen in

Powered by