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When Nonie and Billy go to visit their grandparents, Mishomis tells them a story about how Nanabosho, the son of West Wind and grandson of Nokomis, is born into this world, and how he grows and learns of the world around him. There is much cultural information here, and this is an excellent starting place for understanding the great and beloved hero and trickster. — Oyate

The Birth of Nanabosho

Joseph McLellan

Illustrator:

Jim Kirby

Age Level:

6-9

Yerxa, a Canadian of Ojibwe ancestry, celebrates the relationship between horses and the native people of the Great Plains in a series of three-mystically themed montages. At the center of each picture is a paper fringed shirt, crafted from handmade paper and modeled on those worn by the First Peoples; the shirt serves as both backdrop and landscape for Yerxa’s lean, schematic portraits of horses, usually depicted in groups at full gallop. — Publishers Weekly

Ancient Thunder

Leo Yerxa

Age Level:

6-9

These seven beautifully illustrated bilingual board books for the very youngest picture-readers show Baby learning — by watching and helping — the things Diné babies learn. In Baby Learns About Seasons, Baby watches the changing seasons and learns about bottle-feeding the lambs and preparing the field for planting in the spring, gathering corn pollen and picking peaches in the summer, catching falling leaves and harvesting piñon nuts in the fall, and chopping wood and listening to stories in the winter. — Oyate

Baby Learns About Seasons

Jessie Eve Ruffenach

Age Level:

0-3

The struggle to survive provides the exciting action in this sequel to The Birchbark House and The Game of Silence, which takes place in 1852Omakayas, now 12, feels the anguish of displacement as her family, driven from its beloved Madeline Island by white settlers, endures violent raids in the freezing winter and comes close to starvation in its search for a home. — Booklist

The Porcupine Year

Louise Erdrich

Age Level:

9-12

In this coming-of-age story, the children of the longhouse are 11-year-old Ohkwa’ri and Itsi:tsia. Twin brother and sister, they live in a Mohawk town in the traditional homelands of what is now eastern New York State in 1491. Reflecting the balance between male and female roles in Iroquois society, the book’s chapters alternate between the events and perspectives of Ohkwa’ri and Itsi:tsia, who very definitely see things differently. Bruchac seamlessly incorporates an impressive amount of information about pre-contact Mohawk culture, society, and beliefs, and tells a good story as well. — Oyate

Children of the Longhouse

Joseph Bruchac

Age Level:

9-12

Genre:

Fiction, Historical Fiction

In Native cultures, the night is a crucial part of the Great Circle and balance in the universe. In the tradition of the best-selling Keepers of the Earth and Keepers of the Animals, this collection offers unique ideas about understanding the natural world by looking at it through a nocturnal lens. Resources and activities include legends and myths, puppet shows, stargazing guides, campfire topics, and traditional dances.

Keepers of the Night: Native American Stories and Nocturnal Activities for Children

Joseph Bruchac, Michael J. Caduto

Age Level:

6-9

Genre:

Nonfiction, Fairytales, Folk Tales, and Tall Tales, Myths and Legends

Neekna and Chemai

Jeannette Armstrong

Illustrator:

Barb Marchand

Age Level:

6-9

It’s circle time, and in answer to his classmates’ questions about his moccasins, a child describes in detail how his grandmother made them: “By washing and scraping and pulling and smoking a deer hide, my Kookum made the leather. And from the leather she made my moccasins for me.” A related lesson plan is featured on the American Indians in Children’s Literature blog . — Oyate

Where Did You Get Your Moccasins?

Bernelda Wheeler

Illustrator:

Herman Bekkering

Age Level:

3-6

As he helps his grandfather haul firewood, seven-year-old Jared Martell says, “I want to be like my grandpa.” In a photo-essay emphasizing the relationship between grandfather and grandson, Jared shows how his activities (getting ice cubes from the fridge, hunting for something under the bed) parallel the traditional activities Grandpa does in the bush. Bilingual Chipewyan-English. — Oyate

Me Too

Brent Kaulback

Age Level:

3-6

Dzanibaa’ is alone when U.S. troops swoop down on her family’s hogan. Before she can run to safety, a soldier grabs her and puts her on his horse. She is taken to Fort Canby, and from there is forced to walk to Bosque Redondo. For four long years, Dzanibaa’ and her family endure incredible hardship and sacrifice. Nevertheless, this time of trial gives Dzanibaa’ a profound sense of herself as a Navajo and of the importance of her culture. Bilingual Navajo/English.

Little Woman Warrior Who Came Home: A Story of the Navajo Long Walk

Evangeline Parsons-Yazzie

Age Level:

9-12

A long time ago, fire belonged only to the animals in the land above, not to those on the earth below. Curlew, keeper of the sky world, guarded fire and kept it from the earth. Coyote, however, devised a clever plan to steal fire, aided by Grizzly Bear, Wren, Snake, Frog, Eagle, and Beaver. Beaver Steals Fire is an ancient and powerful tale springing from the hearts and experiences of the Salish people of Montana.

Beaver Steals Fire: A Salish Coyote Story

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes

Age Level:

3-6

Genre:

Fairytales, Folk Tales, and Tall Tales, Myths and Legends

Here are traditional Salish Indian coyote stories, recorded by Salish elders and illustrated by Indian artists from the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana. Written at a fourth grade level, these legends are meant to be enjoyed by people of all ages — from three to eighty-three — just as they have been for generations among the Salish, who often gathered together to listen to these stories during the cold, dark Montana winters.

Coyote Stories of the Montana Salish Indians

Montana Historical Society Press

Age Level:

9-12

With the direction of and encouragement from Mohawk elder and tribal scholar Tehanetorens, the students of the Onkwehonwe Neha/Indian Way School at Akwesasne Mohawk Nation made authentic, exact copies of the sacred Haudenosaunee wampum belts and strings. Here, Tehanetorens and his students interpret the belts and set them in the context of the history of the Haudenosaunee people. This important book is a must in any classroom in which the U.S. Constitution is taught. — Oyate

Waumpum Belts of the Iroquois

Ray Fadden Tehanetorens

Age Level:

9-12

Although the traditional Sioux nation was in its last days when Luther Standing Bear was born in the 1860s, he was raised in the ancestral manner to be a successful hunter and warrior and a respectful and productive member of Sioux society. His life would be very different from that of his ancestors, but he was not denied the excitement of killing his first buffalo before leaving to attend the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania.

My Indian Boyhood, New Edition

Luther Standing Bear, Delphine Red Shirt

Age Level:

9-12

For a Girl Becoming is a book of beautiful, sensitive poetry and song celebrating a young girl’s coming of age. Created by acclaimed Mvskoke/Creek poet, writer, and musician, Joy Harjo, For a Girl Becoming is a beautiful experience waiting to be treasured by its lucky recipient, appropriate for celebrations of such joyous transitions as birth, graduation, or any other significant turning point in a young woman’s life. — Midwest Book Review (Sun Tracks Series)

For a Girl Becoming

Joy Harjo

Illustrator:

Mercedes McDonald

Age Level:

9-12

More than 450 inventions and innovations that can be traced to indigenous peoples of North, Middle, and South America are described in this wonderful encyclopediaAmong the entries are Adobe, Agriculture, Appaloosa horse breed, Chocolate, Cigars, Diabetes medication, Freeze-drying, Hydraulics, Trousers, Urban planning, and Zoned biodiversity. — Booklist

Encyclopedia of American Indian Contributions to the World: 15,000 Years of Inventions and Innovations

Emory Dean Keoke, Kay Marie Porterfield

Age Level:

9-12

“We See the Moon” opens the adoption dialogue at an early age by allowing the questions in your child’s heart to be asked and discussed, creating the foundation for conversations to come. This is a story written from the child’s perspective, asking the questions that dwell in their hearts about their birthparents: What do you look like? Where are you now? Do you think of me? It will help children use the moon as a private tool to connect with a family that is always with them in their hearts.