Using age-appropriate and empathetic language, Tess’s Red Dress introduces young children to Red Dress Day and the importance of remembering the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2 Spirit People. Backmatter pages include resources to support parents and educators through this important and difficult conversation with their children. Six year old Tess is excited to welcome her new baby sibling into the world! She asks her mom what it was like growing up with a sibling. Tess’s mom tells her stories about baking in the kitchen, singing loudly in the bathtub, sharing a bedroom, and braiding her sister’s hair. Despite their excitement over their growing family, they have experienced loss: her Auntie is one of the missing. The loss of any family member makes a drastic change for those left behind and the generations to come. As the family gets ready for the Red Dress Day march, Tess's mom and dad show her how to honour her Auntie by wearing her red dress and keeping the stories and memories of her family alive.
Carolyn Roberts is a renowned educator, speaker and storyteller with a wealth of experience and expertise in Indigenous education and decolonization. She is a St’at’imc and Sto:lo woman belonging to the Thevarge family from N'quatqua Nation and the Kelly Family from the Tzeachten Nation and a member of the Squamish Nation. Throughout her illustrious career as an educator and administrator for over 20 years, she has consistently demonstrated a passion for supporting Indigenous resurgence through education. Currently Carolyn holds the position as an Indigenous academic and Faculty Lecturer in the Teacher Education Department of the University of British Columbia. Her dedication to building teachers’ understandings in Indigenous history, education, and ancestral ways of knowing has not only garnered her recognition within the education community, but it has also had a positive impact on the decolonizing of the education system. Kelsey Mata Foote (Jaax̱snée) is a Tlingit and Filipina illustrator, writer, and producer from Ketchikan, Alaska. She prefers to work digitally with a drawing tablet but is no stranger to incorporating natural textures and watercolor elements in her pieces. Her inspiration is rooted in a Southeast Alaska childhood, one filled with family, putting up fish, exploring the Tongass with her older brothers, and celebrating her heritage. She finds joy in creating art that preserves culture, honors Native traditions, and amplifies authentic representation of Native peoples in media. Her creative work debuted with Celebration! (2022), a children’s book produced by Sealaska Heritage Institute's Baby Raven Reads program, which later received the American Indian Youth Literature Award - Picture Book Honor in 2024. Kelsey has a background in grassroots advocacy and culturally informed education. She has previously served as the Creative Editor of Restoration Magazine, a triannual publication dedicated to informing tribal leaders, advocates, and communities about emerging issues affecting American Indian and Alaska Native women. A notable work in this space includes the collaborative No More Stolen Sisters (2023) project with her brother Nick Alan Foote, featured as cover art for the June 2023 issue of Restoration and appearing as embroidered shawls in a forthcoming CDC exhibition on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW2S+) crisis. Kelsey and her brother, Nick, are currently the lead illustrators for a three-year language revitalization project in partnership with Tlingit & Haida, the Goldbelt Heritage Foundation, Cedar Group, and several language specialists. The project spans nine children’s books and animated shorts in the Tlingit language, beginning with Kuhaantí (2023). Kelsey has upcoming publications with Penguin Random House, Medicine Wheel Publishing, and Orca Book Publishers, while serving as the art producer for the film The Last Salmon.