Yesterday was Indigenous Peoples Day. Below you’ll find a list of books that cover Indigenous history, people or fictional characters, as well as an interesting resource to find out which Indigenous lands you’re living on.
Powwow Summer
- Interest Level: Grade 8 – Grade 12 ·
- Reading Level: Grade 4
River is teased about her Indigenous heritage as a young girl, and she struggles with her identity. When she travels to spend the summer with her Indigenous father and grandmother, she finds out what it means to be an “urban Indian.” On her family’s nearby reserve, she learns about the lives of Indigenous people. River discovers a deep respect for and connection with the land and her cultural traditions. The highlight of her summer is attending the annual powwow with her new friends. After the powwow, River drinks too much and posts photos online that anger people, and she has her right to identify as an Indigenous person called into question.
Lorimer Recordbooks is a high/low nonfiction series that features the true stories of how an athlete or a team worked to change attitudes around them about real issues like racism and sexism.
Books featuring Indigenous and Native athletes include:
Lacrosse Warrior: The Life of Mohawk Lacrosse Champion Gaylord Powles
Carey Price: How a First Nations Kid Became a Superstar Goaltender
Jordin Tootoo: The Highs and Lows in the Journey of the First Inuk to Play in the NHL
Red Dove, Listen to the Wind
- Interest Level: Grade 4 – Grade 8 ·
- Reading Level: Grade 4
Abandoned by her white father, thirteen-year-old Red Dove faces another lean winter with her Lakota family on the Great Plains. Willful and proud, she is presented with a stark choice: leave her people to live in the white world, or stay and watch them starve. Red Dove begins a journey to find her place in the world and discovers that her greatest power comes from within herself.
Secrets of Navajo Code Talkers
From the Series Cryptology (Alternator Books ®)
- Interest Level: Grade 3 – Grade 6 ·
- Reading Level: Grade 4
In wartime, unbreakable codes help armies win battles. And what better code than an advanced language. The Navajo language was key to the success of the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II.
Read how Navajo Marines risked their lives to translate secret messages during World War II. Learn what makes the Navajo language ideal for encoding messages and the special vocabulary the code talkers used in battle. Finally, try your hand at translating messages yourself.
Classified
The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer
- Interest Level: Grade 2 – Grade 5 ·
- Reading Level: Grade 3
Mary Golda Ross designed classified airplanes and spacecraft as Lockheed Aircraft Corporation’s first female engineer. Find out how her passion for math and the Cherokee values she was raised with shaped her life and work.
Cherokee author Traci Sorell and Métis illustrator Natasha Donovan trace Ross’s journey from being the only girl in a high school math class to becoming a teacher to pursuing an engineering degree, joining the top-secret Skunk Works division of Lockheed, and being a mentor for Native Americans and young women interested in engineering. In addition, the narrative highlights Cherokee values including education, working cooperatively, remaining humble, and helping ensure equal opportunity and education for all.
“A stellar addition to the genre that will launch careers and inspire for generations, it deserves space alongside stories of other world leaders and innovators.”—starred, Kirkus Reviews
Sacagawea
- Interest Level: Grade 3 – Grade 6 ·
- Reading Level: Grade 3
Taking a rare look beyond the myths and legends surrounding Sacagawea’s life, this extraordinary illustrated history recounts the known facts about a remarkable woman and her contribution to one of America’s greatest journeys of exploration. Combining beautifully wrought oil paintings, a moving true story, and a unique larger format, Sacagawea will captivate readers of all ages. Kidnapped from her Shoshone tribe when she was just eleven or twelve, Sacagawea lived with her captors for four years before being given in marriage to a French Canadian fur trapper, Toussaint Charbonneau. With him, she served as interpreter, peacemaker, and guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition to the Northwest in 1805-1806. Braving hunger and fierce blizzards, Sacagawea traveled thousands of miles with a baby on her back. By the end of the legendary journey, Sacagawea’s steadfast courage and capable guidance had ensured her place in history.
The American Indian Rights Movement
From the Series Movements That Matter (Alternator Books ® )
- Interest Level: Grade 3 – Grade 6 ·
- Reading Level: Grade 4
What do you know about the American Indian rights movement? You may have heard about modern pipeline protests, but this resistance has its roots in the early years of the United States, when the government began stripping American Indians of their rights and forcing them off their lands onto reservations. What are the main concerns of the American Indian rights movement today? What challenges have activists faced throughout history? Find out about how important players like Sacheen Littlefeather and Russell Means paved the way for current activists and discover how activists are still fighting for better living conditions and environmental justice today.
North American Indian Nations
Explore the history, culture, and modern-day lifestyles of American Indians living in ten distinct geographic regions of North America. Readers will evaluate the similarities and differences between the Indian nations and make connections as to how geography affected their past and continues to influence their present. These books clarify how each Indian nation is unique, with their own identities and traditions, while examining how the groups interacted and related with each other.
Maria Tallchief
Native America’s Prima Ballerina
From the Series Beginner Biography (LOOK! Books ™)
- Interest Level: Kindergarten – Grade 2 ·
- Reading Level: Grade 2
Maria Tallchief was inspired to dance while watching Osage dancers as a child in Oklahoma. For tribal ceremonies only men were allowed to dance. But, Maria went on to become America’s first prima ballerina.
A Boy Named Beckoning
The True Story of Dr. Carlos Montezuma, Native American Hero
- Interest Level: Grade 3 – Grade 6 ·
- Reading Level: Grade 4
This story reveals the remarkable life of a Native American boy named Wassaja, or “Beckoning,” who was kidnapped from his Yavapai tribe and sold as a slave. Adopted by an Italian photographer in 1871 and renamed Carlos Montezuma, the young boy traveled throughout the Old West, bearing witness to the prejudice against and poor treatment of Native Americans. Carlos eventually became a doctor and leader for his people, calling out for their rights. Gina Capaldi’s exquisite paintings bring to life excerpts from Dr. Carlos Montezuma’s own letters describing his childhood experiences. The culminating portrait provides an inventive look back into history through the eyes of a Native American hero.
Red Bird Sings
The Story of Zitkala-Ša, Native American Author, Musician, and Activist
- Interest Level: Grade 3 – Grade 6 ·
- Reading Level: Grade 4
“I remember the day I lost my spirit.” So begins the story of Gertrude Simmons, also known as Zitkala-Ša, which means Red Bird. Born in 1876 on the Yankton Sioux reservation in South Dakota, Zitkala-Ša willingly left her home at age eight to go to a boarding school in Indiana. But she soon found herself caught between two worlds—white and Native American.
At school she missed her mother and her traditional life, but Zitkala-Ša found joy in music classes. “My wounded spirit soared like a bird as I practiced the piano and violin,” she wrote. Her talent grew, and when she graduated, she became a music teacher, composer, and performer.
Zitkala-Ša found she could also “sing” to help her people by writing stories and giving speeches. As an adult, she worked as an activist for Native American rights, seeking to build a bridge between cultures.
The coauthors tell Zitkala-Ša’s life by weaving together pieces from her own stories. The artist’s acrylic illustrations and collages of photos and primary source documents round out the vivid portrait of Zitkala-Ša, a frightened child whose spirit “would rise again, stronger and wiser for the wounds it had suffered.”
A Timeline History of Early American Indian Peoples
From the Series Timeline Trackers: America’s Beginnings
- Interest Level: Grade 5 – Grade 8 ·
- Reading Level: Grade 5
Hundreds, even thousands, of years before Europeans arrived in North America, American Indians had made their homes here. These many groups adapted to the varied lands and climates of what would later become the United States. Each group developed its own culture and history.
When settlers from Britain, France, Spain, and Russia arrived, the newcomers interacted with American Indians in different ways. Some engaged in trade, while others tried to enslave American Indian peoples or to take over their territories. Many conflicts arose as the different groups fought over land and resources. The colonization of their land changed the lives of American Indians forever.
Explore the history of the many American Indian peoples who predated the United States. Track the important events and turning points that shaped their cultures both before and after the arrival of European explorers, traders, and colonists.
We Are Grateful
Otsaliheliga
From the Series Live Oak Media eReadalong
- Interest Level: Grade 1 – Grade 2 ·
- Reading Level: Grade 2
This authentic, loving celebration of gratitude & community—written by a citizen of the Cherokee nation—follows celebrations and experiences through the seasons of a year, underscoring the traditions and ways of Cherokee life.
This interactive map from My Modern Met allows you to enter your address and learn which Indigenous lands you are living on. Here at Lerner, we have begun the process to identify and acknowledge the Indigenous lands on which we live and work every day and are looking for more ways to bring Indigenous and Native voices into our publishing program.