We hope these selections serve to educate, celebrate, and encourage dialogue on the diverse nations, cultures, and experiences of Native peoples throughout North America. Celebrate Native American Heritage Month—and continue reading all year long—with nonfiction and fiction, from remembered histories to imagined futures, by Native authors.
Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids by Cynthia L. Smith
Edited by award-winning and bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith, this collection of intersecting stories by both new and veteran Native writers bursts with hope, joy, resilience, the strength of community, and Native pride. Native families from Nations across the continent gather at the Dance for Mother Earth Powwow in Ann Arbor, Michigan.In a high school gym full of color and song, people dance, sell beadwork and books, and celebrate friendship and heritage. Young protagonists will meet relatives from faraway, mysterious strangers, and sometimes one another (plus one scrappy rez dog). Editor Cynthia L. Smith is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation.
Available formats: Book, eBook (Hoopla), eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand), Audiobook (Hoopla), Audiobook (Overdrive Media on Demand)
Rez Dogs by Joseph Bruchac
Malian loves spending time with her grandparents at their home on a Wabanaki reservation. She’s there for a visit when, suddenly, all travel shuts down. There’s a new virus making people sick, and Malian will have to stay with her grandparents for the duration. Everyone is worried about the pandemic, but Malian knows how to keep her family and community safe: She protects her grandparents, and they protect her. She doesn’t go outside to play with friends, she helps her grandparents use video chat, and she listens to and learns from their stories. And when Malsum, one of the dogs living on the rez, shows up at their door, Malian’s family knows that he’ll protect them too. Told in verse inspired by oral storytelling, this novel about the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the ways Malian’s community has cared for one another through plagues of the past, and how they keep caring for one another today. Author Joseph Bruchae is citizen of the Nulhegan Abenaki nation.
Available formats: Book, eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand), Audiobook (Overdrive Media on Demand)
The Sea in Winter by Christine Day
It’s been a hard year for Maisie Cannon, ever since she hurt her leg and could not keep up with her ballet training and auditions. Her blended family is loving and supportive, but Maisie knows that they just can’t understand how hopeless she feels. With everything she’s dealing with, Maisie is not excited for their family midwinter road trip along the coast, near the Makah community where her mother grew up. But soon, Maisie’s anxieties and dark moods start to hurt as much as the pain in her knee. How can she keep pretending to be strong when on the inside she feels as roiling and cold as the ocean? Author Christine Day is a citizen of the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe.
Available formats: Book, eBook (Hoopla), eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand), Audiobook (Hoopla), Audiobook (Overdrive Media on Demand)
Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation by Monique Gray Smith
Canada’s relationship with its Indigenous people has suffered as a result of both the residential school system and the lack of understanding of the historical and current impact of those schools. Healing and repairing that relationship requires education, awareness and increased understanding of the legacy and the impacts still being felt by Survivors and their families. Guided by acclaimed Indigenous author Monique Gray Smith, readers will learn about the lives of Survivors and listen to allies who are putting the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into action. Author Monique Gray Smith is Cree, Lakota and Scottish.
Available formats: eBook (Hoopla)
Sisters of the Neversea by Cynthia L. Smith
Lily and Wendy have been best friends since they became stepsisters. But with their feuding parents planning to spend the summer apart, what will become of their family—and their friendship? Little do they know that a mysterious boy has been watching them from the oak tree outside their window. A boy who intends to take them away from home for good, to an island of wild animals, Merfolk, Fairies, and kidnapped children, to a sea of merfolk, pirates, and a giant crocodile. Auhtor Cynthia L. Smith is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation.
Available formats: eBook (Hoopla), eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand), Audiobook (Hoopla)
Healer of the Water Monster by Brian Young
When Nathan goes to visit his grandma, Nali, at her mobile summer home on the Navajo reservation, he knows he’s in for a pretty uneventful summer, with no electricity or cell service. Still, he loves spending time with Nali and with his uncle Jet, though it’s clear when Jet arrives that he brings his problems with him. One night, while lost in the nearby desert, Nathan finds someone extraordinary: a Holy Being from the Navajo Creation Story—a Water Monster—in need of help. Now Nathan must summon all his courage to save his new friend. With the help of other Navajo Holy Beings, Nathan is determined to save the Water Monster, and to support Uncle Jet in healing from his own pain. Author Brian Young is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation.
Available formats: eBook (Hoopla), eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand), Audiobook (Hoopla), Audiobook (Overdrive Media on Demand)
Jo Jo Makoons: The Used-to-Be Best Friend by Dawn Quigley
Jo Jo Makoons Azure is a spirited seven-year-old who moves through the world a little differently than anyone else on her Ojibwe reservation. It always seems like her mom, her kokum (grandma), and her teacher have a lot to learn—about how good Jo Jo is at cleaning up, what makes a good rhyme, and what it means to be friendly. Even though Jo Jo loves her #1 best friend Mimi (who is a cat), she’s worried that she needs to figure out how to make more friends. Because Fern, her best friend at school, may not want to be friends anymore. Dawn Quigey is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe, North Dakota.
Available formats: Book, eBook (Hoopla), eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand), Audiobook (Hoopla), Audiobook (Overdrive Media on Demand)
Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis and Traci Sorell
When Regina’s Umpqua tribe is legally terminated and her family must relocate from Oregon to Los Angeles, she goes on a quest to understand her identity as an Indian despite being so far from home. Regina Petit’s family has always been Umpqua, and living on the Grand Ronde reservation is all ten-year-old Regina has ever known. Now she must explore her identity and culture far from home, while navigating her family’s struggles to find work and survive in a new city. Regina’s story is based of of Native author Charlene Willing McManis’ Umpqua tribal heritage and her family’s own experiences. McManis is enrolled in the Confederated Tribes of Grand Rond, while co-author Traci Sorell is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation.
Available formats: Book
The Great Bear by David A. Robertson
In this second book in the Narnia-inspired Indigenous middle-grade fantasy series The Misewa Saga, Eli and Morgan journey once more to Misewa, travelling back in time. Back at home after their first adventure in the Barren Grounds, Eli and Morgan each struggle with personal issues: Eli is being bullied at school, and tries to hide it from Morgan, while Morgan has to make an important decision about her birth mother. They turn to the place where they know they can learn the most, and make the journey to Misewa to visit their animal friends. This time they travel back in time and meet a young fisher that might just be their lost friend. But they discover that the village is once again in peril, and they must dig deep within themselves to find the strength to protect their beloved friends. Can they carry this strength back home to face their own challenges? Author David Robertson is Cree.
Available formats: Book, eBook (Overdrive Media on Demand)
In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph Marshall
Jimmy and his grandfather head out on a summer road trip. Jimmy is blue eyed with light brown hair, subjected to teasing by his peers. He doesn’t feel he fits in on or off the reservation. On this road trip, they trace the important places of their ancestors, and Jimmy learns about Crazy Horse, sacrifice, and gains a greater connection to his ancestors. Joseph Marshall is a registered member of the Sicangu Lakota (Rosebud Sioux) and shares this heritage with the main characters of this story.
Available formats: Book, Ebook (Overdrive Media on Demand)
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