INDIGENOUSPEOPLES’
“OWNVOICES” RECOMMENDEDREADS
P FLET, J
WE ALL PLAY = KIMÊTAWÂNAW
Julie Flett (Cree–Métis)
From chasing, chirping birds, to swimming, squirting whales, this book for young readers reminds them how animals play just like them This picture book, with gorgeous images and sweet simple text, is a marvelous celebration of the interconnectedness of all creatures, and includes some Cree phrases.
JUST LIKE GRANDMA P ROGE, K
Kim Rogers (Wichita)
Young Becca is honored when her grandmother asks her for help with a new skill.
P SORE, T
POWWOW DAY
Traci Sorell (Cherokee)
Because she has been very ill and weak, River cannot join in the dancing at this year's tribal powwow, she can only watch from the sidelines as her sisters and cousins dance the celebration--but as the drum beats she finds the faith to believe that she will recover and dance again.
M
BERRY SONG POR GOAD,
Michaela Goade (Tlingit and Haida)
As a young Tlingit girl collects wild berries over the seasons, she sings with her Grandmother as she learns to speak to the land and listen when the land speaks back.
D
Danielle Greendeer (Mashpee Wampanoag)
Wampanoag children listen as their grandmother tells them the story about how Weeâchumun (the wise Corn) asked local Native Americans to show the Pilgrims how to grow food to yield a good harvest-Keepunumuk--in 1621.
THE SONG THAT CALLED THEM HOME POR ROBE, D
David A. Robertson (Cree)
GO
SHOW THE WORLD J 970.004 KINE, W
Wab Kinew (Ojibwe)
Go Show the World showcases a diverse group of Indigenous people in the US and Canada, both the more well known and the not- so-widely recognized.
GRANDMA’S TIPI: A PRESENT-DAY LAKOTA STORY POR NELS, S
S. D. Nelson (Sioux)
Clara spends her summer visiting her grandma and cousin on Standing Rock reservation, where Clara and her family set up the ancestral tipi and grow closer together as they tell stories, sing songs, and learn about their Lakota roots.
YF QUIG, D
A picture book about two siblings who go on a strange, beautiful adventure while visiting with their grandfather.
JO JO MAKOONS: THE USED-TO-BE BEST FRIEND
Dawn Quigley (Ojibwe)
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.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME J BIRD,
James
Bird (Ojibwe)
When home is a car, life is unpredictable. Not every town has a shelter where a family can sleep for a night or two, and places with parking lots don't welcome overnight stays. Opin’s family is trying to get to Los Angeles, where they hope an uncle and a new life are waiting.
EAGLE DRUMS J HOPS, N
Nasugraq Rainey Hopson (Inupiaq)
Piŋa must travel up the mountain to collect obsidian for knapping -- the same mountain where his two older brothers disappeared. He reassures his family that will return. 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.
THE STAR THAT ALWAYS STAYS J JOHN, A
Anna Rose Johnson (Chippewa)
When fourteen-year-old Norvia moves from Beaver Island to Boyne City in 1914, she has to contend with a new school, a first crush, and a blended family, but she also must keep secret her parents' divorce and her Ojibwe heritage.
J GN BOWE, E
TWO TRIBES
Emily Bowen Cohen (Muscogee (Creek))
Mia is still getting used to living with her mom and stepfather, and to the new role their Jewish identity plays in their home. Feeling out of place at home and at her Jewish day school, Mia finds herself thinking more and more about her Muscogee father, who lives with his new family in Oklahoma.
HEROES OF THE WATER MONSTER J
YOUN, B
Brian Young (Navajo)
Now that Nathan is starting to lose his childhood connection to the Holy Beings, his stepbrother Edward will be the one to take over as young water monster Dew's next guardian. But Edward has a lot to learn about taking care of a water monster. And fast to prevent the Fourth World from a devastating disaster
NATIVE AMERICAN STORIES FOR KIDS J 398.2089 WESO, T
T. F. Pecore Weso (Menomenee)
Native Americans have a long tradition of storytelling. Now, you can easily introduce your children to these rich cultures with a compilation of powerful tales from multiple tribes.