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Can you believe fewer than 1% of Native stories are written by Native Authors?
For many Native people, storytelling is how knowledge is shared and passed on through generations. It is how we have learned and protected our culture and heritage. It is how we have developed our voice and shaped our identity. And over the years, we have shared our voices so others can learn and enjoy.
Below we have books suitable for all age groups that facilitate a deeper understanding of Native culture and spark a sense of wonder. Whether reading with your children or getting a group of friends together for a special Native American Heritage Month book club, using the associated discussion questions/activities can help guide conversation.
Also included is Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, who was inspired to write about the historical events shared in his book, primarily because of his own ignorance on the subject matter. Go to our ‘Watch’ section and see the new film adaptation of the book directed by Martin Scorsese.
With reading these books, consider supporting Native-owned bookstores or visiting your local library.
We are excited to host two virtual book clubs with American Indian College Fund President and CEO, Cheryl Crazy Bull!
Shutter by Ramona Emerson
Date/Time: Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at 12pm MT (2pm ET/11am PT)
College Fund President, Cheryl Crazy Bull, will join Ramona Emerson to discuss Ramona’s book Shutter – a crime thriller about Rita, a Navajo woman, terrorized by nagging ghosts who won’t let her sleep and who sabotage her personal life. Her taboo and psychologically harrowing ability was what drove her away from the Navajo reservation, where she was raised by her grandmother.
Purchase Shutter today and get ready to bring your questions and thoughts to our virtual book club!
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About the Author
Ramona Emerson is a Diné writer and filmmaker originally from Tohatchi, New Mexico. Her debut novel, Shutter, was longlisted for the National Book Award and the Bram Stoker Award, nominated for the Edgar for Best First Novel, a finalist for the PEN America Open Book Award, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the Macavity, Barry, and Anthony Awards for Best First Novel, and winner of the Lefty Award for Best First Novel. She has a Bachelor’s in Media Arts from the University of New Mexico and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. She resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she and her husband, the producer Kelly Byars, run their production company Reel Indian Pictures.
We Are All Related: Mitakuye Owasin and Thunder’s Hair by Jessie Taken Alive-Rencountre
Date/Time: Monday, November 20, 2023 at 12pm MT (2pm ET/11am PT)
College Fund Indigenous Early Childhood Education Senior Program Coordinator, Cassandra Harden will join Jessie Taken Alive–Rencountre to discuss the best ways to approach conversations around diversity and culture with children through the lens of Jessie’s book We Are All Related: Mitakuye Owasin and Thunder’s Hair.
Purchase We Are All Related: Mitakuye Owasin and Thunder’s Hair today and get ready to bring your questions and thoughts to our virtual book club!
About the Author
Jessie Taken Alive-Rencountre is a Hunkpapa Lakota from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. She has worked as a school counselor serving hundreds of students for 15 years and now works full-time as an author and presenter. She was named the Great Plains Emerging Tribal Writer’s Award winner for her 1st children’s book Peta Shows Misun the Light. Utilizing her teachings from her Lakota culture combined with a school counselor lens, she has published 5 children’s books, with another being released in late 2023. Jessie was invited to be a guest speaker for Facebook and Instagram in the fall of 2021. Her passion is to help people remember their importance in life and to utilize their unique talents, to create better communities for future generations to come. She is also a Lakota Jingle Dress Dancer and loves to educate others about Lakota culture using storytelling combined with traditional song and dance. In 2021, Jessie was named a future legacy leader by the Spirit Aligned Leadership Program, an international organization.
About the Author
Jessie Taken Alive-Rencountre is a Hunkpapa Lakota from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. She has worked as a school counselor serving hundreds of students for 15 years and now works full-time as an author and presenter. She was named the Great Plains Emerging Tribal Writer’s Award winner for her 1st children’s book Peta Shows Misun the Light. Utilizing her teachings from her Lakota culture combined with a school counselor lens, she has published 5 children’s books, with another being released in late 2023. Jessie was invited to be a guest speaker for Facebook and Instagram in the fall of 2021. Her passion is to help people remember their importance in life and to utilize their unique talents, to create better communities for future generations to come. She is also a Lakota Jingle Dress Dancer and loves to educate others about Lakota culture using storytelling combined with traditional song and dance. In 2021, Jessie was named a future legacy leader by the Spirit Aligned Leadership Program, an international organization.
Based on reading level, here are some books we think you’ll enjoy along with some discussion guides.
Preschool/Early Education
By Carole Lindstrom
(Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe Indians)
An Ojibwe girl stands up against a water pipeline to protect the water supply of her people.
We Are Water Protectors
By Monique Grey Smith
(Cree and Lakota)
Centered around indigenous characters, it celebrates everyday acts of kindness and encourages children to explore how they feel when they initiate and receive kindness.
When We Are Kind
By Bernice Johnson-Laxdal
(Cree)
A picture book about the moon calendar of the northern Cree and how we are connected the seasons and nature’s cycle.
When the Trees Crackle Cold
By Daniel Vandever
(Navajo)
A day in the life at boarding school, Holden is expected to conform to the strict rules, but he continues to lead his life with wonder and a vivid imagination.
Fall in Line, Holden!
Discussion Questions
We Are Water Protectors
We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom (Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe Indians)
An Ojibwe girl stands up against a water pipeline to protect the water supply of her people.
When We Are Kind
When We Are Kind by Monique Grey Smith (Cree and Lakota)
Centered around indigenous characters, it celebrates everyday acts of kindness and encourages children to explore how they feel when they initiate and receive kindness.
When the Trees Crackle Cold
When the Trees Crackle Cold by Bernice Johnson-Laxdal (Cree)
A picture book about the moon calendar of the northern Cree and how we are connected the seasons and nature’s cycle.
Middle School
By Dawn Quigley
(Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe, North Dakota)
Bouncing in the middle of two cultures, Apple meets her Indian relatives, shatters Indian stereotypes, and learns what it means to find her place in a world divided by color.
Apple in the Middle
By Cherie Dimaline
(Georgian Bay Métis Nation)
In a futuristic world ravaged by global warming, people have lost the ability to dream, and the dreamlessness has led to widespread madness. The only people still able to dream are North America’s Indigenous people, and it is their marrow that holds the cure for the rest of the world.
The Marrow Thieves
By Eric Gansworth
(Tuscarora Nation)
Carson Mastick is entering his senior year of high school and desperate to make his mark, on the reservation and off. A rock band — and winning Battle of the Bands — is his best shot. But things keep getting in the way.
Give me Some Truth
By Tasha Spillet
(Cree)
Graphic Novel follows Dez and Miikwan, two teen friends who live in Winnipeg. Dez is facing being placed in a group home because her grandmother is becoming too ill to care for her any longer. Miikwan’s mother is one of the many missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.
Surviving the City
By Cynthia Leitich Smith
(Muscogee Creek Nation)
Native families from Nations across the continent gather at the Dance for Mother Earth Powwow in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Young protagonists will meet relatives from faraway, mysterious strangers, and sometimes one another (plus one scrappy rez dog).
Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids
Discussion Questions
The Marrow Thieves
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline (Georgian Bay Métis Nation)
In a futuristic world ravaged by global warming, people have lost the ability to dream, and the dreamlessness has led to widespread madness. The only people still able to dream are North America’s Indigenous people, and it is their marrow that holds the cure for the rest of the world.
Surviving the City
Surviving the City by Tasha Spillet (Cree)
Graphic Novel follows Dez and Miikwan, two teen friends who live in Winnipeg. Dez is facing being placed in a group home because her grandmother is becoming too ill to care for her any longer. Miikwan’s mother is one of the many missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.
Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids
Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids
By Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee Creek Nation)
Native families from Nations across the continent gather at the Dance for Mother Earth Powwow in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Young protagonists will meet relatives from faraway, mysterious strangers, and sometimes one another (plus one scrappy rez dog).
High School +
By Leslie Marmon Silko
(Laguna Pueblo)
A young Laguna Pueblo veteran, Tayo, is struggling to adjust back into Post-World War II America. Traditional Laguna Pueblo legends parallel Tayo’s journey of overcoming alienation and isolation.
Ceremony
By N. Scott Momaday
(Kiowa)
After serving in World War II, Abel returns to Walatowa, the small town in New Mexico where he grew up. As he readjusts he begins a romantic affair with a white woman.
House Made of Dawn
By Louise Erdrich
(Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians)
Lyrical account of three generations of a Chippewa Indian family. In 14 chapters, seven different narrators relate particulars of the American Indian experience.
Love Medicine
By Janet Campbell Hale
(Ktunaxa and Cree)
A collection of essays on American Indian reservation life, being a woman, and family. Interweaving her own experiences with striking portraits of her relatives and ancestors.
Bloodlines: Odyssey of a Native Daughter
By Joy Harjo
(Muscogee)
This collection gathers poems from throughout Joy Harjo’s twenty-eight-year career, beginning in 1973 marked by the takeover at Wounded Knee and the rejuvenation of indigenous cultures in the world.
How We Became Human
By Robin Wall Kimmerer
(Citizen Potawatomi Nation)
A nonfiction piece acknowledging that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. It offers the role of Indigenous knowledge as an alternative or complementary approach to Western mainstream scientific methodologies.
Braiding Sweetgrass
Discussion Questions
House Made of Dawn
House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa)
After serving in World War II, Abel returns to Walatowa, the small town in New Mexico where he grew up. As he readjusts he begins a romantic affair with a white woman.
Love Medicine
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians)
Lyrical account of three generations of a Chippewa Indian family. In 14 chapters, seven different narrators relate particulars of the American Indian experience.
How We Became Human
How We Became Human by Joy Harjo (Muscogee)
This collection gathers poems from throughout Joy Harjo’s twenty-eight-year career, beginning in 1973 marked by the takeover at Wounded Knee and the rejuvenation of indigenous cultures in the world.
Braiding Sweetgrass
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Citizen Potawatomi Nation)
A nonfiction piece acknowledging that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. It offers the role of Indigenous knowledge as an alternative or complementary approach to Western mainstream scientific methodologies.
Native-Owned Bookstores
Libelula Books and Co. (San Diego, CA)
Red Planet Comics (Albuquerque, NM)
Nā Mea Hawaiʻi (Honolulu, HI)
Native Books (Honolulu, HI)
Books & Burrow (Pittsburg, KS)
Birchbark Books (Minneapolis, MN)
Bird Cage Book Store (Rapid City, SD)
Red Salmon Arts/ Casa de Resistencia Books (Austin, TX)
Additional Resources
Read a review of Killers of the Flower Moon by Matthew L.M. Fletcher, an Indian Law Professor at the Michigan Law and Chief Justice of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and the Poarch Band of Creek Indians here.