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.
A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger
Nina is a Lipan girl in our world. She’s always felt there was something more out there. She still believes in the old stories. Oli is a cottonmouth kid, from the land of spirits and monsters. Like all cottonmouths, he’s been cast from home. He’s found a new one on the banks of the bottomless lake. Nina and Oli have no idea the other exists. But a catastrophic event on Earth, and a strange sickness that befalls Oli’s best friend, will drive their worlds together in ways they haven’t been in centuries. And there are some who will kill to keep them apart. Author Darcie Little Badger, an enrolled member of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas, draws on traditional Lipan Apache storytelling structure to weave another unforgettable tale of monsters, magic, and family.
Available Formats: Book, Ebook (Hoopla), Ebook (OverDrive by Media on Demand), Audiobook (OverDrive by Media on Demand), Playaway
Apple: Skin to the Core by Eric Gansworth
The term “Apple” is a slur in Native communities across the country. It’s for someone supposedly “red on the outside, white on the inside.” Eric Gansworth is telling his story in Apple (Skin to the Core). The story of his family, of Onondaga among Tuscaroras, of Native folks everywhere. From the horrible legacy of the government boarding schools, to a boy watching his siblings leave and return and leave again, to a young man fighting to be an artist who balances multiple worlds. Eric shatters that slur and reclaims it in verse and prose and imagery. Author Eric Gansworth, S˙ha-weñ na-saeˀ, is an enrolled Onondaga writer and visual artist, raised at the Tuscarora Nation.
Available Formats: Book, Ebook (Hoopla), Ebook (OverDrive by Media on Demand), Audiobook (Hoopla), Audiobook (OverDrive by Media on Demand)
Hunting by Stars by Cherie Dimaline
When plagues and natural disasters killed millions of people, much of the world stopped dreaming. The government soon finds that the Indigenous people of North America have retained their dreams. Soon, residential schools pop up–or are re-opened–across the land to bring in the dreamers and harvest their dreams. Seventeen-year-old French has spent the years since heading north with his new found family. But then French wakes up in a pitch-black room, locked in and alone for the first time in years, and he knows immediately where he is–and what it will take to escape. Meanwhile, out in the world, his found family searches for him and dodges new dangers–school Recruiters, a blood cult, even the land itself. When their paths finally collide, French must decide how far he is willing to go–and how many loved ones is he willing to betray–in order to survive. This engrossing, action-packed, deftly-drawn novel expands on the world of Cherie Dimaline’s award-winning The Marrow Thieves. Cherie Dimaline is a registered and claimed member of the Metis Nation of Ontario.
Available Formats: Book, Ebook (Hoopla), Ebook (OverDrive by Media on Demand), Audiobook (OverDrive by Media on Demand)
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug. Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, drawing on her knowledge of chemistry and Ojibwe traditional medicine to track down the source. But the search for truth is more complicated than Daunis imagined, exposing secrets and old scars. Author Angeline Boulley is an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.
Available Formats: Book, Ebook (OverDrive by Media on Demand), Audiobook (Hoopla), Audiobook (OverDrive by Media on Demand), Playway
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger
Imagine an America very similar to our own. It’s got homework, best friends, and pistachio ice cream. There are some differences. This America has been shaped dramatically by the magic, monsters, knowledge, and legends of its peoples, those Indigenous and those not. Some of these forces are charmingly every day, like the ability to make an orb of light appear or travel across the world through rings of fungi. But other forces are less charming and should never see the light of day. Elatsoe lives in this slightly stranger America. She can raise the ghosts of dead animals, a skill passed down through generations of her Lipan Apache family. Her beloved cousin has just been murdered, in a town that wants no prying eyes. But she is going to do more than pry. The picture-perfect façade of Willowbee masks gruesome secrets, and she will rely on her wits, skills, and friends to tear off the mask and protect her family. Author Darcie Little Badger, an enrolled member of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas, draws on traditional Lipan Apache storytelling structure to weave another unforgettable tale of monsters, magic, and family.
Available Formats: Book, Ebook (Hoopla), Ebook (OverDrive by Media on Demand), Audiobook (Hoopla), Audiobook (OverDrive by Media on Demand)
Walking in Two Worlds by Wab Kinew
In the real world, Bugz is a shy and self-conscious Indigenous teen who faces the stresses of teenage angst and life on the Rez. But in the virtual world, her alter ego is not just confident but dominant in a massively multiplayer video game universe. Feng is a teen boy who has been sent from China to live with his aunt, a doctor on the Rez, after his online activity suggests he may be developing extremist sympathies. Meeting each other in real life, as well as in the virtual world, Bugz and Feng immediately relate to each other as outsiders and as avid gamers. But betrayal threatens everything Bugz has built in the virtual world, as well as her relationships in the real world. It will take all her newfound strength to reconcile the parallel aspects of her life. Author Wab Kinew is a follower of the Anishinaabe way of life.
Available Formats: Book, Ebook (OverDrive by Media on Demand)
Dreaming in Color by Melanie Florence
Jennifer McCaffrey has been working hard on her art for years and is thrilled when she is accepted to a prestigious art school. The school is everything she always thought it would be, mostly. There is one group of kids who seem to resent her and say she only got in because of her skin color. Jen, who loves to create new pieces of artwork that incorporate her Indigenous heritage, finds herself a target when the group tells her to stop being “so Indian”. The night before the big art show at school, Jen’s beading art project is defaced. Jen has to find a way not to let the haters win. Author Melanie Florence is a Canadian author of Cree and Scottish heritage.
Available Formats: Book, Ebook (Hoopla)
Surviving the City: From the Roots Up by Tasha Spillett-Sumner
Dez and Miikwan’s stories continue in this sequel to Surviving the City. Dez’s grandmother has passed away. Grieving, and with nowhere else to go, she’s living in a group home. On top of everything else, Dez is navigating a new relationship and coming into her identity as a Two-Spirit person. Miikwan is crushing on the school’s new kid Riel, but doesn’t really understand what Dez is going through. Will Dez be comfortable expressing her full identity? And will her community relearn the teachings and overcome prejudice to celebrate her for who she is? Author Tasha Spillett-Sumner is an active member of Manitoba’s Indigenous community.
Available Formats: Book, Ebook (Hoopla)
Sugar Falls by David Robertson
A school assignment to interview a residential school survivor leads Daniel to Betsy, his friend’s grandmother, who tells him her story. Abandoned as a young child, Betsy was soon adopted into a loving family. A few short years later, at the age of 8, everything changed. Betsy was taken away to a residential school. There she was forced to endure abuse and indignity, but Betsy recalled the words her father spoke to her at Sugar Falls — words that gave her the resilience, strength, and determination to survive. Sugar Falls is based on the true story of Betty Ross, Elder from Cross Lake First Nation. Author David Robertson is a member of Norway House Cree Nation.
Available Formats: Book, Ebook (Hoopla)
Trickster: Native American Tales Edited by Matt Dembicki
All cultures have tales of the trickster-a crafty creature or being who uses cunning to get food, steal precious possessions, or simply cause mischief. He disrupts the order of things, often humiliating others and sometimes himself. In Native American traditions, the trickster takes many forms, from coyote or rabbit to raccoon or raven. Trickster brings together Native American folklore and the world of comics with 24 Native storytellers paired with 24 comic artists, telling cultural tales from across America.
Available Formats: Book, Ebook (Hoopla)
Borders by King Thomas
A boy and his mother’s road trip from Alberta to Salt Lake City is thwarted at the border when they identify their citizenship as Blackfoot. Refusing to identify as either American or Canadian first bars their entry into the US, and then their return into Canada. In the limbo between countries, they find power in their connection to their identity and to each other. Author King Thomas is of Cherokee and Greek descent.
Available Formats: Book, Ebook (Hoopla)
Four Faces of the Moon by Amanda Strong
In the dreamworld, Spotted Fawn bears witness to a mountain of buffalo skulls, a ghostly monument to the slaughter of the buffalo–a key tactic to starve and contain the Indigenous People onto reservations. She must travel through her own family history to confront the harsh realities of the past and reignite her connection to her people and the land. Her darkroom becomes a portal, allowing her glimpses into the lives of her relatives. Guided by her ancestors, Spotted Fawn’s travels through the past allow her to come into full face–like the moon itself. Adapted from the acclaimed stop-motion animated film of the same name, also by Strong, Four Faces of the Moon brings the history of the Michif, Cree, Nakoda, and Anishinaabe Peoples alive on the page. Author Amanda Strong is a Michif Indigenous filmmaker.
Available Formats: Book, Ebook (OverDrive by Media on Demand)
Killers of the Flower Moon: Adapted for Young Readers by David Grann
In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma, thanks to the oil that was discovered beneath their land. Then, one by one, the Osage began to die under mysterious circumstances, and anyone who tried to investigate met the same end. As the death toll surpassed more than twenty-four Osage, the newly created Bureau of Investigation, which became the FBI, took up the case, one of the organization’s first major homicide investigations. An undercover team, including one of the only Native American agents in the bureau, infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest modern techniques of detection. Working with the Osage, they began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.
Available Formats: Book, Audiobook (OverDrive by Media on Demand)
Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask: Young Readers Edition by Anton Treuer
An essential book of questions and answers for Native and non-Native young readers alike. Answering nearly 200 questions and covers topics ranging from “Why is there such a fuss about nonnative people wearing Indian costumes for Halloween?” to “Why is it called a ‘traditional Indian fry bread taco’?” to “What’s it like for natives who don’t look native?” to “Why are Indians so often imagined rather than understood?”, and beyond, in a style consistently thoughtful, personal, and engaging. Author Dr. Anton Treuer (troy-er) is Professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University.
Available Formats: Book, Audiobook (OverDrive by Media on Demand)
The Power of Style: How Fashion and Beauty Are Being Used to Reclaim Cultures by Christian Allaire
As a fashion-obsessed Ojibwe teen, Christian Allaire rarely saw anyone that looked like him in the magazines or movies he sought out for inspiration. Now the Fashion and Style Writer for Vogue, he is working to change that–because clothes are never just clothes. Allaire takes the reader through boldly designed chapters to discuss additional topics like cosplay, make up, hijabs, and hair, probing the connections between fashion and history, culture, politics, and social justice. Christian Allaire is an Ojibwe writer who grew up on the Nipissing First Nation reserve in Ontario, Canada.
Available Formats: Book, Ebook (Hoopla)
Find more titles from our pervious list here – Native Nations: A Reading List for Teens
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