American Indians / Indigenous Peoples / Native Nations

Elementary 

This list is by Debbie Reese of American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL). AICL provides critical perspectives and analysis of indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books, the school curriculum, popular culture, and society. Visit the AICL website and subscribe to the AICL blog for many more recommendations (including a list of best books), critical reviews, and current news.  We also encourage you to read:

• Native Writers Sign Letter Submitted for US House Committee Hearing
• Tips for Teachers: Developing Instructional Materials about American Indians
• Creating a Library Atmosphere that Welcomes American Indians
• Milestones: Indigenous Peoples and Children's Literature
• Critical Indigenous Literacies: Selecting and Using Children’s Books about Indigenous Peoples
• Native American Literature in Your Classroom
• Worksheet for Selecting Native American Children’s Literature
• Heartdrum Educator Guide
• "Debbie, can you recommend some books about Thanksgiving?"

Most of the books on these lists are linked for more information or purchase to Bookshop (an indie bookstore platform) and / or Powells.com (an independent, unionized bookstore). A small percentage from book sales through these links goes to Teaching for Change.

Titles with reviews on this site are noted with an asterisk (*).

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Elementary

Ajijaak - Crane*

By Cecilia Rose LaPointe

Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids

Edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith

At the Mountain's Base *

By Traci Sorell, Weshoyot Alvitre (Illustrator)

Awâsis and the World-Famous Bannock*

By Dallas Hunt, Amanda Strong (Illustrator)

Beaver Steals Fire: A Salish Coyote Story

By Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes

Berry Song

By Michaela Goade

 

Birdsong *

By Julie Flett

 

Buffalo Bird Girl: A Hidatsa Story

By S. D. Nelson

 

Buffalo Song

By Joseph Bruchac, Bill Farnsworth

Chukfi Rabbit's Big, Bad Bellyache: A Trickster Tale

By Greg Rodgers

 

Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer *

By Traci Sorell and Natasha Donovan (Illustrator)

 

Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom *

By Tim Tingle, Jeanne Rorex Bridges (Illustrator)

A Day with Yayah *

By Nicola I. Campbell and Julie Flett (Illustrator)

Dragonfly Kites*

By Tomson Highway, Julie Flett (Illustrator)

Fall in Line, Holden!*

Written and Illustrated By Daniel W. Vandever

The First Blade of Sweetgrass

By Suzanne Greenlaw, Gabriel Frey, and Nancy Baker (Illustrator)

Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story*

By Kevin Noble Maillard, Juana Martinez Neal

Good Luck Cat

By Joy Harjo

 

The Good Rainbow Road: A Native American Tale in Keres and English

By Simon J. Ortiz, Michael Lacapa (Illustrator)

 

Hungry Johnny

By Cheryl Kay Minnema, Wesley Ballinger (Illustrator)

I Am Not a Number*

By Jenny Kay Dupuis and Kathy Kacer

I Sang You Down from the Stars*

By Tasha Spillett-Sumner and  Michaela Goade (Illustrator)

In My Anaana's Amautik*

By Nadia Sammurtok and  Lenny Lishchenko (Illustrator)

Indian Shoes

By Cynthia Leitich Smith, Jim Madsen (Illustrator)

Jingle Dancer

By Cynthia L Smith

 

Johnny's Pheasant*

By Cheryl Minnema

Jo Jo Makoons: The Used-To-Be Best Friend

By Dawn Quigley and Tara Audibert (Illustrator)

Kapaemahu

By Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, and Daniel Sousa (Illustrator)

Look, Grandma! Ni, Elisi!

By Art Coulson and Madelyn Goodnight (Illustrator)

Mothers of Xsan series

By Hetxw'ms Gyetxw (Brett D. Huson)

Muskrat Will Be Swimming

By Cheryl Savageau, Robert Hynes (Illustrator)

Nimoshom and His Bus

By Penny M. Thomas, Karen Hibbard (Illustrator)

nipehon / I Wait*

By Caitlin Nicholson, Leona Morin-Nelson (Translator)

On the Trapline*

By David A. Robertson and Julie Flett (Illustrator)

The People Shall Continue

By Simon Ortiz

 

The Range Eternal *

By Louise Erdrich,  Lou Fancher, (Illustrator), and Steve Johnson (Illustrator)

 

Rock & Roll Highway: The Robbie Robertson Story

By Sebastian Robertson, Adam Gustavson (Illustrator)

 

Saltypie a Choctaw Journey from Darkness Into Light

By Tim Tingle, Karen Clarkson

 

Sharice's Big Voice: A Native Kid Becomes a Congresswoman *

By Sharice Davids, Nancy K. Mays, and Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley (Illustrator)

Shin-Chi's Canoe

By Nicola I. Campbell, Kim Lafave (Illustrator)

Shi-Shi-Etko

By Nicola I. Campbell, Kim Lafave (Illustrator)

 

Skysisters

By Jan Bourdeau Waboose, Brian Deines (Illustrator)

Stand Like A Cedar

By Nicola I. Campbell and Carrielynn Victor (Illustrator)

Still This Love Goes On *

By Buffy Sainte-Marie and Julie Flett (Illustrator)

Sweetest Kulu

By Celina Kalluk, Alexandria Neonakis (Illustrator)

Tanna's Owl

By Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley,  Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley, and Yong Ling Kang (Illustrator)

Tasunka: A Lakota Horse Legend

By Donald F. Montileaux, Agnes Gay (Translator)

 

Thanks to the Animals

By Allen Sockabasin, Rebekah Raye (Illustrator)

This Land Is My Land*

By George Littlechild

The Train

By Jodie Callaghan and Georgia Lesley (Illustrator)

Walking on Earth & Touching the Sky

By Timothy P. McLaughlin (Editor), S. D. Nelson (Illustrator), Joseph Marshall (Foreword by)

The Water Walker*

By Joanne Robertson

We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga*

By Traci Sorell, Frane Lessac (Illustrator)

We Are Still Here! Native American Truths Everyone Should Know

By Traci Sorell and Frane Lessac (Illustrator)

We Are Water

Protectors *

By Carole Lindstrom, Michaela Goade (Illustrator)

What's the Most Beautiful Thing You Know about Horses? *

By Richard Van Camp and George Littlechild (Illustrator)

When The Rain Sings Poems By Young Native Americans

By Lee Francis

When I Was Eight*

By Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton

When The Shadbush Blooms

By Carla Messinger

When We Were Alone

By David Alexander Robertson, Julie Flett (Illustrator)

Young Native Activist: Growing Up in Native American Rights Movements

By Aslan Tudor

Young Water Protectors: A Story About Standing Rock *

By Aslan Tudor and Kelly Tudor

Zonia's Rain Forest 

By Juana Martinez-Neal

Source: https://socialjusticebooks.org/booklists/american-indians/

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In this lesson, students will appreciate the abundance of an autumn garden, through observation and a scavenger hunt. They will consider the “honorable harvest,” how to respectfully and thoughtfully harvest from plants, and they will put these principles into practice by harvesting and preparing a simple tasting of ripe fruits and vegetables from the garden.

 

Lesson Plan

Explores the foods, the customs, and the stories that evolved from the planting of corn, beans, and squash—the Three Sisters—which is a tradition of several Native American tribes from the northeastern region of North America.