INDIGENOUSPEOPLES’ “OWNVOICES”BOOKS
PFAIR, A
ThisLand
Ashley Fairbanks (Anishinaabe)
Before my family lived in this house, a different family did, and before them, another family, and another before them. And before that, the family lived here, not in a house, but a wigwam. Who lived where you are before you got there?
PTROI, M
It’sPowwow Time
MarthaTroian (Ojibwe )
TanaCooks withCare YFWELL, S
StacyWells (Choctaw)
Tana's friend Ana is nervous about auditioning for the school play, so Tana helps her practice and makes Ana's favorite snack. Includes recipes for Little Corn Stew and Turkey and Cream Cheese Rollups.
Bineshii is looking forward to his first powwow. He wakes up and travels with his mother to the community event. He eats bannock and drinks strawberry juice as he watches the dancers perform. And ever so slowly, Bineshii works his way from the edge of the circle watching the dancers to inside the circle itself, dancing and celebrating with everyone else.
PORBORG, K
What’sina Bead?
KelseyBorgford (NbisiingNishnaabe)
Tessa loves how her grandmother always smells of campfire stories. Mom says it’s because Kohkom spends her days sewing beautiful beads onto smoked hides. Inspired, Tessa asks Kohkom to teach her beading, but first she must listen and learn about the many stories held in a bead.
WhoAmI?
JulieBuchholtz (Chippewa
)
"Who am I?" a young girl asks her mom as she snuggles close. "You are the fire that burns and the eagle that soars. You are the oak tree and the wild rose," says momma. Written from an Indigenous perspective, Who Am I? tells the story of how we are all connected to our ancestors, our past and future, and the Earth--and how it is everyone's duty to fend off darkness, connect to the past, offer safety and shelter, and color the world with beauty.
PORGEOR, K
PORHAVR,
WhyWe Dance
DeidreHavrelock (Cree)
A young Indigenous girl's family helps calm her nervous butterflies before her first Jingle Dress Dance and reminds her why she dances.
What do we learn from plants when we listen to them speaking? Indigenous plantsman Nicholas Hummingbird calls on the legacy of his great-grandparents to remember how one drop of rain, one seed, one plant can renew a cycle of hope and connection.
JDAY, C
(Hawaiian)
Aloha Everything , is a magical story that will take you on a thrilling journey through the breathtaking islands of Hawaiʻi! In this exciting adventure, you'll encounter mighty canoes crashing over ocean waves, regal hawks soaring high above the clouds, and brilliant lizards jumping nimbly through forest trees!
WeStillBelong
ChristineDay (UpperSkagit)
Wesley's hopeful plans for Indigenous Peoples' Day (and asking her crush to the dance) go all wrong--until she finds herself surrounded by the love of her Indigenous family and community at the intertribal powwow.
TheStoryteller
BrandonHobson (Cherokee)
Ziggy's mother disappeared ten years ago, one of the many Native women who have mysteriously gone missing, and Ziggy believes a secret cave may hold the key--so with his sister and friends, he sets out to find the cave and solve the mystery of his family's origins.
Ancestor Approved JANC
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.
TwoTribes JGNBOWE, E
EmilyBowenCohen
(Muscogee (Creek))
In her poignant debut graphic novel inspired by her own life, Emily Bowen Cohen embraces the complexity, meaning, and deep love that comes from being part of two vibrant tribes. This graphic novel by Muscogee-Jewish writer and artist Emily Bowen Cohen is perfect for fans of American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang.
NasugraqRaineyHopson (Inupiaq) EagleDrums
Piŋa must travel up the mountain to collect obsidian for knapping -- the same mountain where his two older brothers disappeared. But when he reaches the mountaintop, he is confronted by a terrifying eagle god named Savik, who gives the boy a choice: Follow me, or die like your brothers.
JSMIT, C
CynthiaLeitichSmith (MuscogeeCreek)
A living legend roosting in the backyard. An unmissable game. A hair-raising mystery. A road trip full of adventure and danger. And all the overlapping circles that connect us throughout Creation.
ThomasKing (Cherokee) Borders JGNKING, T
Borders is a masterfully told story of a boy and his mother whose road trip from Alberta to Salt Lake City is thwarted at the border when they identify their citizenship as Blackfoot.