Indigenous books

Ages 3–8

Genevieve Simermeyer

A photo portrait of Christopher, a young Mohawk (Akwesasne) boy, from the NMAI “Meet Native America” series.

Ages 3–8

Gabrielle Tayac

A photo portrait of Naiche, a young Apache boy, from the NMAI “Meet Native America” series.

Ages 8–12

National Museum of the American Indian

Poems by Native youth paired with historical photographs from the National Museum of the American Indian.

Ages 3–8

Greg Rodgers

A Choctaw trickster story: lazy Chukfi Rabbit tries to skip the work of making butter and pays for it. Leslie Stall Widener illustrates.

Ages 3–8

Donald Uluadluak

Jake’s puppy Kamik is chaos on four legs. Grandpa remembers how sled dogs learn. Inhabit Media.

Ages 0–3

Debby Slier

Photographs of Native babies in cradleboards, with a few words per page. Star Bright Books.

Ages 0–3

Pauline Duncan

A Southeast Alaska counting book: herring meet the animals that eat them. David Lang illustrates. Sealaska Heritage / Baby Raven Reads.

Ages 0–3

Paul Windsor

A Haisla/Heiltsuk greeting to the morning world, with Northwest Coast formline. Native Northwest.

Ages 3–8

Rose Ann Tahe and Nancy Bo Flood

A Navajo family tries everything to win a baby’s first laugh — and the honor of hosting the First Laugh Ceremony. Jonathon Nelson illustrates.

Ages 3–8

Traci Sorell

A Cherokee family moves through the seasons saying otsaliheliga — we are grateful. Frané Lessac’s gouache. Sibert Honor.

Ages 3–8

Sebastian Robertson

Robbie Robertson’s son tells how a Mohawk kid from Toronto became The Band’s guitarist. Picture-book biography.

Ages 3–8

Tim Tingle

Martha Tom of the Choctaw nation meets Little Mo, an enslaved boy across the river. A story of friendship and a crossing. Jeanne Rorex Bridges illustrates.

Ages 3–8

Simon J. Ortiz

An epic of Native nations — creation, invasion, survival, and continuance — in Ortiz’s voice. Sharol Graves illustrates. Lee & Low.

Ages 3–8

Tim Tingle

Tingle’s family story: a grandmother’s injury, a word the kids use for trouble, and a move toward healing. Karen Clarkson illustrates.

Ages 3–8

Kekauleleanaʻole Kawaiʻaeʻa

The Hawaiian story of Naeʻole racing to protect the infant Kamehameha. Kamehameha Publishing.

Ages 0–3

Anita Poleahla

A kernel of Hopi corn tells how it is planted, harvested, and used. Hopi and English. Emmett Navakuku illustrates. Salina Bookshelf.

Ages 0–3

Julie Flett

Cree color words with Flett’s animals. Native Northwest board book.

Ages 3–8

Daniel W. Vandever

At a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school, Holden would rather imagine than march in a straight line. Navajo. Salina Bookshelf.

Ages 3–8

John Herrington

Chickasaw astronaut John Herrington’s path from Oklahoma to the International Space Station, in his own words. White Dog Press.

Ages 0–3

Margaret Manuel

A First Nations child sees family, land, and self. Theytus Books board book.

Ages 0–3

Melaney Gleeson-Lyall

Coast Salish author, Northwest Coast animal art. A bedtime board book from Native Northwest.

Adult

Tommy Orange

Twelve urban Native voices converge on the Big Oakland Powwow. Jacquie, Dene, fourteen-year-old Orvil, and others are connected in ways they do not yet know — a chorus about city life, inheritance, and a day that will not stay in the past.

Adult

Amanda Peters

In 1962 a Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia comes to Maine to pick blueberries. Four-year-old Ruthie vanishes from the fields. Her brother Joe is the last to see her. Decades later, a girl named Norma in an affluent white family begins to suspect her memories are not imagination.