Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
The Blue Jay's Dance: A Memoir of Early Motherhood Audio CD – Unabridged, January 15, 2026
[ MP3 CD Format ]
"Pregnancy, birth and caring for an infant inspire Erdrich’s reflections on being a woman, a mother and a writer in this affecting memoir of a daughter’s first years." --People
New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Louise Erdrich's moving meditation on the experience of motherhood -- the first nonfiction work by one of the most acclaimed authors of our time.
Louise Erdrich's first major work of nonfiction, The Blue Jay's Dance, brilliantly and poignantly examines the joys and frustrations, the compromises and insights, and the difficult struggles and profound emotional satisfactions the acclaimed author experienced in the course of one twelve-month period -- from a winter pregnancy -- through a spring and summer of new motherhood -- to her return to writing in the fall. In exquisitely lyrical prose, Erdrich illuminates afresh the large and small events that every parent will recognize and appreciate.
- Print length1 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarperCollins B and Blackstone Publishing
- Publication dateJanuary 15, 2026
- Dimensions5.2 x 1 x 5.7 inches
- ISBN-101665096608
- ISBN-13978-1665096607
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : HarperCollins B and Blackstone Publishing; Audio MP3CD edition (January 15, 2026)
- Language : English
- Audio CD : 1 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1665096608
- ISBN-13 : 978-1665096607
- Item Weight : 8.3 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.2 x 1 x 5.7 inches
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Louise Erdrich is one of the most gifted, prolific, and challenging of American novelists. Her fiction reflects aspects of her mixed heritage: German through her father, and French and Ojibwa through her mother. She is the author of many novels, the first of which, Love Medicine, won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the last of which, The Round House, won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2012. She lives in Minnesota.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book's prose beautiful and relatable, capturing the beauty of motherhood. They describe it as a true gem for mothers, providing a new perspective on motherhood.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers enjoy the book's language quality. They find the prose beautiful, poignant, and relatable, capturing the beauty of the first year with a child.
"...The Blue Jay's Dance is full of poetic descriptions that are so powerful you feel like you are there with the author, watching through her eyes...." Read more
"...Erdrich is engaging, funny, poignant, and captures the beauty of that first year with your child." Read more
"...There's a lot of beautiful prose about the seasons and the baby, but I wanted something more relatable to me as a first time mom...." Read more
"While Erdrich's use of the language is truly beautiful, it does not need to be laced with profanity...." Read more
Customers appreciate the book for mothers. They say it provides a new perspective on motherhood and is great for parents.
"...far the best book I've ever read on the emotional struggles and rewards of mothering...." Read more
"...reproduction exercise I can only say- WOW it gave me a new positive perspective on motherhood." Read more
"A true gem for all moms in your life..." Read more
"Great book for parents..." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2024I continue to be moved every time i share the book with friends.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2012bought it for my pregnant daughter whose husband is an ojibwe canadian. not sure if she read it yet, but i did and i enjoyed it. i had thought it was about the birth of ms. erdrich's youngest daughter , but actually it was a much older book talking about her older 3 daughters' births. sadly her late husband michael dorris is mentioned and his suicide is in the future.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2016This is by far the best book I've ever read on the emotional struggles and rewards of mothering. The Blue Jay's Dance is full of poetic descriptions that are so powerful you feel like you are there with the author, watching through her eyes. This book changed the way I see the world, my children and myself. I highly recommend Louise Erdrich. Her books are meticulously researched and written from more than one point of view.
- Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2017I have recommended this book to several female friends in order to get a report on how it was received. Not being able to carry out the reproduction exercise I can only say- WOW it gave me a new positive perspective on motherhood.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2012I highly recommend this book as a real account of what it's like to be a new mother. Buy it for all the moms in your life, it makes a great Baby Shower or Mother's Day gift. Erdrich is engaging, funny, poignant, and captures the beauty of that first year with your child.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2007I have loved each if Louise Erdrich's books that I have read. Her warmth and heart come through perfectly in this journal of birth. She has been blessed by the same goddess who has nurtured every woman during her birthing times from time immemorial. Highly recommended to all women who love life. And all men who love them.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2018I love all of Louise Erdrich’s fiction books so it was fun to read this too. Great book, I would recommend to new parents
- Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2015Not what I expected - I was hoping for something with more discussion of the nuanced relationship between mother and child. There's a lot of beautiful prose about the seasons and the baby, but I wanted something more relatable to me as a first time mom. I read Great With Child (highly recommended) as well and that was much more what I was looking for.