Native American

Heritage Month

Soft Scribble Heart

Infotext books

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People

Going beyond the story of America as a country "discovered" by a few brave men in the "New World," Indigenous human rights advocate Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz reveals the roles that settler colonialism and policies of American Indian genocide played in forming our national identity.


The original academic text is fully adapted by renowned curriculum experts Debbie Reese and Jean Mendoza, for middle-grade and young adult readers to include discussion topics, archival images, original maps, recommendations for further reading, and other materials to encourage students, teachers, and general readers to think critically about their own place in history.

Call Number E76 8 M46 2019

National Geographic Kids Encyclopedia of American Indian History and Culture

More than 160 tribes are featured in this outstanding new encyclopedia, which presents a comprehensive overview of the history of North America's Native peoples. From the Apache to the Zuni, readers will learn about each tribe's history, traditions, and culture, including the impact of European expansion across the land and how tribes live today. Features include maps of ancestral lands; timelines of important dates and events; fact boxes for each tribe; bios of influential American Indians such as Sitting Bull; sidebars on daily life, homes, food, clothing, jewelry, and games; Did You Know facts with photographs; and traditional Native stories. The design is compelling and colorful, packed with full-color photographs.

Call Number E77 4 O37 2019

We Are Still Here!: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know

This companion book to We Are Grateful- Otsaliheliga offers a comprehensive look at Native American history, present and future. It covers topics like forced assimilation, Native civil rights, economic development, and cultural persistence, among others. It presents a precise and lyrical writing style that delves into the ongoing relevance of Native American people and their experiences.

Call Number E77 4 S625 2021

Notable Native People

Celebrate the lives, stories, and contributions of Indigenous artists, activists, scientists, athletes, and other changemakers in this beautifully illustrated collection. From luminaries of the past, like nineteenth-century sculptor Edmonia Lewis-the first Black and Native American female artist to achieve international fame-to contemporary figures like linguist jessie little doe baird, who revived the Wampanoag language, Notable Native People highlights the vital impact Indigenous dreamers and leaders have made on the world.

Call Number E89 K44 2021

Finding My Dance

At four years old, Ria Thundercloud was brought into the powwow circle, ready to dance in the special jingle dress her mother made for her. As she grew up, she danced with her brothers all over Indian country. Then Ria learned more styles--tap, jazz, ballet--but still loved the expressiveness of Indigenous dance. And despite feeling different as one of the only Native American kids in her school, she always knew she could turn to dance to cheer herself up.

Call Number E98 D2 T58 2022

The Real Story Behind U.S. Treaties with Native Americans

Learning to ask critical questions is an important part of uncovering the truth. This is just one lesson readers will take away from this book, which presents the history of U.S. treaties with Native Americans in a sensitive and enlightening way. From treaties created in colonial times, through the Civil War, and to those that guide relations today, readers will learn the real story behind landmark events in U.S. history, as well as their historical impact and legacy. By being encouraged to consult varied sources and examine concepts through multiple perspectives, readers will learn the importance of determining for oneself the truth in our country's history.

Call Number E98 T77 M25 2020

#NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women

Whether looking back to a troubled past or welcoming a hopeful future, the powerful voices of Indigenous women across North America resound in this book. In the same style as the best-selling Dreaming in Indian, #NotYourPrincess presents an eclectic collection of poems, essays, interviews, and art that combine to express the experience of being a Native woman. Stories of abuse, humiliation, and stereotyping are countered by the voices of passionate women making themselves heard and demanding change. Sometimes angry, often reflective, but always strong, the women in this book will give teen readers insight into the lives of women who, for so long, have been virtually invisible.

Call Number E98 W8 N68 2017

The Hunter’s Promise: An Abenaki Tale

"Promise to remember me," was all the beautiful woman had ever said to the hunter. She had appeared from nowhere one day, when he had been lonely during the long winter hunting trip. Isolated in the vast wilderness of the northeast, he would only return to his village in the spring. Except that this year he would not be alone, because she had appeared. The hunter had quickly fallen in love with the mysterious woman, and together they had become their own little family. But when spring arrived and it was time to return to the village, she disappeared just as suddenly as she had arrived. Would he ever see his love again? The hunter didn’t know, but he was sure he would keep his promise and never forget her. That is, until one day the chief’s daughter cast a spell on him.

Call Number E99 A13 B782 2015

We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga

The Cherokee community is grateful for blessings and challenges that each season brings. This is modern Native American life as told by an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation.


The word otsaliheliga (oh-jah-LEE-hay-lee-gah) is used by members of the Cherokee Nation to express gratitude. Beginning in the fall with the new year and ending in summer, follow a full Cherokee year of celebrations and experiences. Written by a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, this look at one group of Native Americans is appended with a glossary and the complete Cherokee syllabary, originally created by Sequoyah.

Call Number E99 C5 S657 2018

The Creator's Game: A Story of Baaga’adowe/Lacrosse

Travis Skinaway struggles with playing lacrosse and feels like he doesn't fit in with his team. However, after his grandfather appears in a dream and explains that lacrosse is a spiritual quest, Travis gains a newfound appreciation for the game. With his grandfather's guidance, Travis learns about the different styles of play, equipment, and traditions among tribes. He gains confidence and carries the weight of tradition onto the field, ultimately celebrating skills handed down through generations.

Call Number E99 C6 C844 2013

Not My Girl

Margaret can't wait to see her family, but her homecoming is not what she expected. Based on the true story of Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, and complemented by evocative illustrations, Not My Girl makes the original, award-winning memoir, A Stranger at Home, accessible to younger children. It is also a sequel to the picture book When I Was Eight. A poignant story of a determined young girl's struggle to belong, it will both move and inspire readers everywhere.

Call Number E99 E7 P575 2014

Fighter in Velvet Gloves: Alaska Civil Rights Hero Elizabeth Peratrovich

"No Natives or Dogs Allowed," blared the storefront sign at Elizabeth Peratrovich, then a young Alaska Native Tlingit. The sting of those words would stay with her all her life. Years later, after becoming a seasoned fighter for equality, she would deliver her own powerful message: one that helped change Alaska and the nation forever. In 1945, Peratrovich stood before the Alaska Territorial Legislative Session and gave a powerful speech about her childhood and her experiences being treated as a second-class citizen. Her heartfelt testimony led to the passing of the landmark Alaska Anti-Discrimination Act, America's first civil rights legislation. Today, Alaska celebrates Elizabeth Peratrovich Day every February 16, and she will be honored on the gold one-dollar coin in 2020.

Call Number E99 T6 B66 2019

Sky Wolf's Call

How do knowledge systems get passed down over generations? Through the knowledge inherited from their Elders and ancestors, Indigenous Peoples throughout North America have observed, practiced, experimented, and interacted with plants, animals, the sky, and the waters over millennia. Knowledge keepers have shared their wisdom with younger people through oral history, stories, ceremonies, and records that took many forms.

Call Number GN476 Y35 2022

The Sea-Ringed World: Sacred Stories of the Americas

A collection of stories from nations and cultures across our two continents--the Sea-Ringed World, as the Aztecs called it--from the Andes all the way up to Alaska.


Fifteen thousand years before Europeans stepped foot in the Americas, people had already spread from tip to tip and coast to coast. Like all humans, these Native Americans sought to understand their place in the universe, the nature of their relationship with the divine, and the origin of the world into which their ancestors had emerged. The answers lay in their sacred stories.

Call Number GR100 G37313 2021

Indigenous Peoples' Day

Indigenous Peoples' Day is about celebrating! The second Monday in October is a day to honor Native American people, their histories, and cultures. People mark the day with food, dancing, and songs. Readers will discover how a shared holiday can have multiple traditions and be celebrated in all sorts of ways.

Call Number GT4995 I53 P45 2022

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team

A great American sport and Native American history come together in this true story for middle grade readers about how Jim Thorpe and Pop Warner created the legendary Carlisle Indians football team, from New York Times bestselling author and Newbery Award recipient Steve Sheinkin.

Call Number GV697 T5 U53 2019

Dreaming in Indian: Contemporary Native American Voices

Whether discussing the transformative power of art or music, the lasting trauma of residential schools, growing up poor, or achieving success, the contributors to this remarkable anthology all have something in common: a rich Native heritage that has informed who they are.

Call Number N6549 5 A54 D74

We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices

What do we tell our children when the world seems bleak, and prejudice and racism run rampant? With 96 lavishly designed pages of original art and prose, fifty diverse creators lend voice to young activists.


Featuring poems, letters, personal essays, art, and other works from such industry leaders as Jacqueline Woodson, Jason Reynolds, Kwame Alexander, Andrea Pippins, Sharon Draper, Rita Williams-Garcia, Ellen Oh, and artists Ekua Holmes, Rafael Lopez, James Ransome, Javaka Steptoe, and more, this anthology empowers the nation's youth to listen, learn, and build a better tomorrow.

Call Number PS647 A35 W4 2018

Imaginary Borders

In this personal, moving essay, environmental activist and hip-hop artist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez uses his art and his activism to show that climate change is a human issue that can't be ignored.


Pocket Change Collective is a series of small books with big ideas from today's leading activists and artists. In this installment, Earth Guardians Youth Director and hip-hop artist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez shows us how his music feeds his environmental activism and vice versa. Martinez visualizes a future that allows us to direct our anger, fear, and passion toward creating change. Because, at the end of the day, we all have a part to play.

Call Number QC903 15 M32 2020

Picture Books

Thunder Boy Jr.

Thunder Boy Jr. wants a normal name...one that's all his own. Dad is known as big Thunder, but little thunder doesn't want to share a name. He wants a name that celebrates something cool he's done like Touch the Clouds, Not Afraid of Ten Thousand Teeth, or Full of Wonder.


But just when Little Thunder thinks all hope is lost, dad picks the best name...Lightning! Their love will be loud and bright, and together they will light up the sky.

Call Number PZ7 A382 TH 2016

I Am Not a Number

When eight-year-old Irene is removed from her First Nations family to live in a residential school she is confused, frightened, and terribly homesick. She tries to remember who she is and where she came from, despite the efforts of the nuns who are in charge at the school and who tell her that she is not to use her own name but instead use the number they have assigned to her. When she goes home for summer holidays, Irene's parents decide never to send her and her brothers away again. But where will they hide? And what will happen when her parents disobey the law? Based on the life of co-author Jenny Kay Dupuis' grandmother, I Am Not a Number is a hugely necessary book that brings a terrible part of Canada's history to light in a way that children can learn from and relate to.

Call Number PZ7 D928 IAM 2016

Birdsong

When Katherena and her mother move to a small town, Katherena feels lonely and out of place. But when she meets an elderly woman artist who lives next door, named Agnes--her world starts to change.

Katherena and Agnes share the same passions for arts and crafts, birds, and nature. But as the seasons change, can Katherna navigate the failing health of her new friend?

Call Number PZ7 F588 BH 2019

Wild berries = Pikaci-m īnisa

Wild Berries is the beautiful tale of a young boy who spends a summer day picking wild blueberries with his grandmother. The Metis and Cree are indigenous peoples based across Canada and North America with a rich history and culture. Exploring the important tradition of berry-picking for Metis and Cree people, it also honors a unique, endangered language. Includes a recipe for a delicious blueberry pie.

Call Number PZ7 F6357 WI 2013

Berry Song

On an island at the edge of a wide, wild sea, a girl and her grandmother gather gifts from the earth. Salmon from the stream, herring eggs from the ocean, and in the forest, a world of berries.

Salmonberry, Cloudberry, Blueberry, Nagoonberry. / Huckleberry, Snowberry, Strawberry, Crowberry.

Through the seasons, they sing to the land as the land sings to them. Brimming with joy and gratitude, in every step of their journey, they forge a deeper kinship with both the earth and the generations that came before, joining in the song that connects us all. Michaela Goade's luminous rendering of water and forest, berries and jams glows with her love of the land and offers an invitation to readers to deepen their own relationship with the earth.

Call Number PZ7 G534 BE 2022

My heart fills with happiness = Ni sâkaskineh mîyawâten niteh ohcih

The sun on your face. The smell of warm bannock baking in the oven. Holding the hand of someone you love. What fills your heart with happiness? This beautiful book, with illustrations from celebrated artist Julie Flett, serves as a reminder for little ones and adults alike to reflect on and cherish the moments in life that bring us joy.

Call Number PZ7 G7799 MY 2018

You Hold Me Up

Encourage children to show love and support for each other and to consider each other's well-being in their everyday actions. Consultant, international speaker and award-winning author Monique Gray Smith wrote You Hold Me Upto prompt a dialogue among young people, their care providers and educators about reconciliation and the importance of the connections children make with others. With vibrant illustrations from celebrated artist Danielle Daniel, this is a foundational book about building relationships, fostering empathy and encouraging respect between peers, starting with our littlest citizens.

Call Number PZ7 G7799 YOU 2017

We Are Water Protectors

Inspired by the many Indigenous-led movements across North America, We Are Water Protectors issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth's water from harm and corruption -- a bold and lyrical picture book written by Carole Lindstrom and vibrantly illustrated by Michaela Goade.


When a black snake threatens to destroy the Earth and poison her people's water, one young water protector takes a stand to defend Earth's most sacred resource.

Call Number PZ7 L9682 ENC 2019

Encounter

A powerful imagining by two Native creators of a first encounter between two very different people that celebrates our ability to acknowledge difference and find common ground--with art by New York Times bestselling illustrator and Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goade

Call Number PZ7 L6623 WE 2020

Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story

Fry bread is food. / It is warm and delicious, piled high on a plate. / Fry bread is time. / It brings families together for meals and new memories. / Fry bread is nation. / It is shared by many, from coast to coast and beyond. / Fry bread is us. / It is a celebration of old and new, traditional and modern, similarity and difference.

Call Number PZ7 M277 FR 2019

When We Were Alone

When a young girl helps tend to her grandmother's garden, she begins to notice things that make her curious. Why does her grandmother have long, braided hair and beautifully colored clothing? Why does she speak another language and spend so much time with her family? As she asks her grandmother about these things, she is told about life in a residential school a long time ago, where all of these things were taken away. When We Were Alone is a story about a difficult time in history, and, ultimately, one of empowerment and strength.

Call Number PZ7 R545 WHE 2016

At the Mountain's Base

A family, separated by duty and distance, waits for a loved one to return home in this lyrical picture book celebrating the bonds of a Cherokee family and the bravery of history-making women pilots.


At the mountain's base sits a cabin under an old hickory tree. And in that cabin lives a family -- loving, weaving, cooking, and singing. The strength in their song sustains them through trials on the ground and in the sky, as they wait for their loved one, a pilot, to return from war.

Call Number PZ7 S6777 AT 2019

Powwow Day

In this uplifting, contemporary Native American story, River is recovering from illness and can't dance at the powwow this year. Will she ever dance again?


River wants so badly to dance at powwow day as she does every year. In this uplifting and contemporary picture book perfect for beginning readers, follow River's journey from feeling isolated after an illness to learning the healing power of community.

Call Number PZ7 S717 PO 2022

I Sang You Down From the Stars

This unique baby book sings with Native cultural detail, while striking a universal chord in its celebration of the blossoming of love that comes with expecting and welcoming a new baby--with art by New York Times bestselling illustrator and Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goade


As she waits for the arrival of her new baby, a mother-to-be gathers gifts to create a sacred bundle. A white feather, cedar and sage, a stone from the river . . . Each addition to the bundle will offer the new baby strength and connection to tradition, family, and community. As they grow together, mother and baby will each have gifts to offer each other.

Call Number PZ7 S7554 IAH 2021

Fall in Line, Holden!

At a very strict school in Indigenous Nation, everyone but Holden stays in line until they reach the door at the end of the school day.

Call Number PZ8 3 V3343 Fal 2017

Chapter books

Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids

Native families from Nations across the continent gather at the Dance for Mother Earth Powwow in Ann Arbor, Michigan.


In a high school gym full of color and song, people dance, sell beadwork and books, and celebrate friendship and heritage. Young protagonists will meet relatives from faraway, mysterious strangers, and sometimes one another (plus one scrappy rez dog). They are the heroes of their own stories.

Call Number PZ5 A5192 2021

Waterless Mountain

Younger Brother, a Navaho Indian boy, undergoes eight years of training in the ancient religion of his people and the practical knowledge of material existence.

Call Number PZ7 A715 Wat 2014

The Second Chance of Benjamin Waterfalls

Benjamin Waterfalls, a troubled youth with a penchant for stealing and selling, is sent to a boot camp at the Ojibwe reservation where his father lives. However, the camp is not what he expects, and his rehabilitation is in the hands of the tribal leader's masked daughter. Benny must find answers to his questions in order to turn his life around and embrace his second chance.

Call Number PZ7 B51185 SE 2022

Two Roads

In 1932, Cal and his Pop ride the rails as "knights of the road" during the Great Depression. When Pop has to go to Washington, DC, he tells Cal he is Creek Indian and sends him to a government boarding school in Oklahoma. Despite harsh conditions, Cal finds strength in his heritage and friendships with other Creek boys.

Call Number PZ7 B82816 TW 2019

I Can Make This Promise

All her life, Edie has known that her mom was adopted by a white couple. So, no matter how curious she might be about her Native American heritage, Edie is sure her family doesn't have any answers.


Until the day when she and her friends discover a box hidden in the attic--a box full of letters signed "Love, Edith," and photos of a woman who looks just like her.

Suddenly, Edie has a flurry of new questions about this woman who shares her name. Could she belong to the Native family that Edie never knew about? But if her mom and dad have kept this secret from her all her life, how can she trust them to tell her the truth now?

Call Number PZ7 D392 IAF 2019

The Sea in Winter

It's been a hard year for Maisie Cannon, ever since she hurt her leg and could not keep up with her ballet training and auditions.


Her blended family is loving and supportive, but Maisie knows that they just can't understand how hopeless she feels. With everything she's dealing with, Maisie is not excited for their family midwinter road trip along the coast, near the Makah community where her mother grew up.

But soon, Maisie's anxieties and dark moods start to hurt as much as the pain in her knee. How can she keep pretending to be strong when on the inside she feels as roiling and cold as the ocean?

Call Number PZ7 D392 SE 2021

If I Ever Get Out of Here

Lewis "Shoe" Blake is used to the joys and difficulties of life on the Tuscarora Indian reservation in 1975: the joking, the Fireball games, the snow blowing through his roof. What he's not used to is white people being nice to him -- people like George Haddonfield, whose family recently moved to town with the Air Force. As the boys connect through their mutual passion for music, especially the Beatles, Lewis has to lie more and more to hide the reality of his family's poverty from George. He also has to deal with the vicious Evan Reininger, who makes Lewis the special target of his wrath. But when everyone else is on Evan's side, how can he be defeated? And if George finds out the truth about Lewis's home -- will he still be his friend?

Call Number PZ7 D392 SE 2021

Show Me a Sign

Mary Lambert has always felt safe and protected on her beloved island of Martha's Vineyard. Her great-great-grandfather was an early English settler and the first deaf islander. Now, over a hundred years later, many people there -- including Mary -- are deaf, and nearly everyone can communicate in sign language. Mary has never felt isolated. She is proud of her lineage.


But recent events have delivered winds of change. Mary's brother died, leaving her family shattered. Tensions over land disputes are mounting between English settlers and the Wampanoag people. And a cunning young scientist has arrived, hoping to discover the origin of the island's prevalent deafness. His maniacal drive to find answers soon renders Mary a "live specimen" in a cruel experiment. Her struggle to save herself is at the core of this penetrating and poignant novel that probes our perceptions of ability and disability.

Call Number PZ7 L59114 SH 2020

In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse

Jimmy McClean is a Lakota boy, though you wouldn't guess it by his name. His mother is Lakota, and his father is half white and half Lakota. Over summer break, Jimmy embarks on a journey with his grandfather Nyles High Eagle. While on the road, his grandfather tells him the story of Crazy Horse, one of the most important figures in Lakota, and American, history.


With Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse was the last of the Lakota to surrender his people to the US Army. Through his grandfather's tales about the famous warrior, Jimmy learns about his Lakota heritage and, ultimately, himself.

Call Number PZ7 M3728 IN 2015

The Ghost Collector

Shelly and her grandmother catch ghosts. In their hair.


Just like all the women in their family, they can see souls who haven't transitioned yet; it's their job to help the ghosts along their journey. When Shelly's mom dies suddenly, Shelly's relationship to ghosts--and death--changes. Instead of helping spirits move on, Shelly starts hoarding them. But no matter how many ghost cats, dogs, or people she hides in her room, Shelly can't ignore the one ghost that's missing. Why hasn't her mom's ghost come home yet?

Call Number PZ7 M63981 GH 2019

Apple in the Middle

Apple Starkington, a person of white and Native American descent, faces rejection from both worlds. Her name, chosen by her dying mother, has a double meaning that reflects her identity crisis. After being kicked out by her father, she reluctantly visits her Native American relatives on a reservation in North Dakota, where she confronts cultural differences and a vengeful man who hated her mother for marrying a white man. Through the experience, she challenges stereotypes and learns to find her place in a world divided by color.

Call Number PZ7 Q45 AP 2020

Race to the Sun

In the novel "Race to the Sun," seventh-grader Nizhoni Begay discovers she has the ability to detect monsters and must use her powers to rescue her father from her dad's suspicious new boss. With the help of her brother and friend, they embark on a dangerous rescue mission that requires passing a series of trials with the help of Diné Holy People. To defeat the ancient monsters, Nizhoni must become the hero she was meant to be.

Call Number PZ7 R57773 RAC 2020

How I Became A Ghost — A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story

A Choctaw boy tells the story of his tribe's removal from its Mississippi homeland, and how its exodus to the American West led him to become a ghost -- one able to help those left behind.

Call Number PZ7 T489 HC 2013

Rez Dogs

Malian loves spending time with her grandparents at their home on a Wabanaki reservation-she's there for a visit when, suddenly, all travel shuts down. There's a new virus making people sick, and Malian will have to stay with her grandparents for the duration.


Everyone is worried about the pandemic, but Malian knows how to keep her family safe- She protects her grandparents, and they protect her. She doesn't go out to play with friends, she helps her grandparents use video chat, and she listens to and learns from their stories. And when Malsum, one of the dogs living on the rez, shows up at their door, Malian's family knows that he'll protect them too.

Call Number PZ7 5 B82816 REZ 2021

Young Adult Books

Firekeeper's Daughter

Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi's hockey team.


Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug.


Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, drawing on her knowledge of chemistry and Ojibwe traditional medicine to track down the source. But the search for truth is more complicated than Daunis imagined, exposing secrets and old scars. At the same time, she grows concerned with an investigation that seems more focused on punishing the offenders than protecting the victims.

Call Number PZ7 B6784 FIR 2021

The Marrow Thieves

Just when you think you have nothing left to lose, they come for your dreams.


Humanity has nearly destroyed its world through global warming, but now an even greater evil lurks. The Indigenous people of North America are being hunted and harvested for their bone marrow, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost: the ability to dream. In this dark world, Frenchie and his companions struggle to survive as they make their way up north to the old lands. For now, survival means staying hidden - but what they don't know is that one of them holds the secret to defeating the marrow thieves.

Call Number PZ7 D5954 MAR 2017

Hunting by Stars

Years ago, when plagues and natural disasters killed millions of people, much of the world stopped dreaming. Without dreams, people are haunted, sick, mad, unable to rebuild. The government soon finds that the Indigenous people of North America have retained their dreams, an ability rumored to be housed in the very marrow of their bones. Soon, residential schools pop up--or are reopened--across the land to bring in the dreamers and harvest their dreams.


Seventeen-year-old French lost his family to these schools and has spent the years since heading north with his newfound family: a group of other dreamers, who, like him, are trying to build and thrive as a community. But then French wakes up in a pitch-black room, locked in and alone for the first time in years, and he knows immediately where he is--and what it will take to escape.

Call Number PZ7 D5954 HU 2021

The Summer of Bitter and Sweet

Lou has enough confusion in front of her this summer. She'll be working in her family's ice-cream shack with her newly ex-boyfriend--whose kisses never made her feel desire, only discomfort--and her former best friend, King, who is back in their Canadian prairie town after disappearing three years ago without a word. But when she gets a letter from her biological father--a man she hoped would stay behind bars for the rest of his life--Lou immediately knows that she cannot meet him, no matter how much he insists.


While King's friendship makes Lou feel safer and warmer than she would have thought possible, when her family's business comes under threat, she soon realizes that she can't ignore her father forever.

Call Number PZ7 F474 SUM 2022

Apple: (Skin to the Core)

The term "Apple" is a slur in Native communities across the country. It's for someone supposedly "red on the outside, white on the inside."


In Apple (Skin to the Core), Eric Gansworth tells his story, the story of his family--of Onondaga among Tuscaroras--of Native folks everywhere. From the horrible legacy of the government boarding schools, to a boy watching his siblings leave and return and leave again, to a young man fighting to be an artist who balances multiple worlds.


Eric shatters that slur and reclaims it in verse and prose and imagery that truly lives up to the word heartbreaking.

Call Number PZ7 G1532 APP 2020

Give Me Some Truth

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. Small matters like the lack of an actual band, or his brother getting shot by the racist owner of a local restaurant. Maggi Bokoni has just moved back to the reservation with her family. She's dying to stop making the same traditional artwork her family sells to tourists (conceptual stuff is cooler), stop feeling out of place in her new (old) home, and stop being treated like a child. She might like to fall in love for the first time too. Carson and Maggi -- along with their friend Lewis -- will navigate loud protests, even louder music, and first love in this stirring novel about coming together in a world defined by difference.

Call Number PZ7 G1532 GI 2018

Elatsoe

Elatsoe--Ellie for short--lives in an alternate contemporary America shaped by the ancestral magics and knowledge of its Indigenous and immigrant groups. She can raise the spirits of dead animals--most importantly, her ghost dog Kirby. When her beloved cousin dies, all signs point to a car crash, but his ghost tells her otherwise: He was murdered.


Who killed him and how did he die? With the help of her family, her best friend Jay, and the memory great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother, Elatsoe, must track down the killer and unravel the mystery of this creepy town and it's dark past. But will the nefarious townsfolk and a mysterious Doctor stop her before she gets started?

Call Number PZ7 L588 EL 2020

A Snake Falls to Earth

Nina is a Lipan girl in our world. She's always felt there was something more out there. She still believes in the old stories.


Oli is a cottonmouth kid, from the land of spirits and monsters. Like all cottonmouths, he's been cast from home. He's found a new one on the banks of the bottomless lake.


Nina and Oli have no idea the other exists. But a catastrophic event on Earth, and a strange sickness that befalls Oli's best friend, will drive their worlds together in ways they haven't been in centuries.

Call Number PZ7 L588 EL 2020

Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time

Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time is a collection of indigenous science fiction and urban fantasy focusing on LGBT and two-spirit characters. These stories range from a transgender woman undergoing an experimental medication that enables her to live the lives of her maternal ancestors to young lovers separated through decades and meeting in the future. These are stories of machines and magic, love and self-love.

Call Number PZ7 N4897 LOV 2016

Hearts Unbroken

When Louise Wolfe's first real boyfriend mocks and disrespects Native people in front of her, she breaks things off and dumps him over e-mail. It's her senior year, anyway, and she'd rather spend her time with her family and friends and working on the school newspaper. The editors pair her up with Joey Kairouz, the ambitious new photojournalist, and in no time the paper's staff find themselves with a major story to cover: the school musical director's inclusive approach to casting The Wizard of Oz has been provoking backlash in their mostly white, middle-class Kansas town. From the newly formed Parents Against Revisionist Theater to anonymous threats, long-held prejudices are being laid bare and hostilities are spreading against teachers, parents, and students -- especially the cast members at the center of the controversy, including Lou's little brother, who's playing the Tin Man. As tensions mount at school, so does a romance between Lou and Joey -- but as she's learned, "dating while Native" can be difficult. In trying to protect her own heart, will Lou break Joey's?

Call Number PZ7 S64464 He 2018

Graphic Novels

This Place: 150 Years Retold

Explore the past 150 years through the eyes of Indigenous creators in this groundbreaking graphic novel anthology. Beautifully illustrated, these stories are an emotional and enlightening journey through Indigenous wonderworks, psychic battles, and time travel. See how Indigenous peoples have survived a post-apocalyptic world since Contact.


Each story includes a timeline of related historical events and a personal note from the author. Find cited sources and a select bibliography for further reading in the back of the book. The accompanying teacher guide includes curriculum charts and 12 lesson plans to help educators use the book with their students.

Call Number PZ7 7 E455 THI 2019

Fire Starters

Fire Starters tackles restorative justice on a contemporary reserve in Northwestern Ontario.


When two white teenagers accidentally set fire to a gas station, their Indigenous classmates are wrongly accused. The truth slowly comes to light as contrasting systems of justice are explored--both the traditional ways of the community and Canadian law enforcement.

Call Number PZ7 7 S758 FIR 2016