These are recommended picture books, fiction, non-fiction, and graphic novels for children for Native American Heritage Month.
Arrow to the Sun: A Pueblo Indian Tale
K – Gr. 4. An adaptation of the Pueblo Indian myth which explains how the spirit of the Lord of the Sun was brought to the world of men. Caldecott Award winner, 1975.
The birchbark house
Gr. 2-5. Omakayas, a seven-year-old Native American girl of the Ojibwa tribe, lives through the joys of summer and the perils of winter on an island in Lake Superior in 1847.
Blue Jay Girl
Gr. 2 – 5. In long-ago California in the area populated by the various tribes of the Yokuts group, a young Yaudanchi girl who is troubled because of her impetuous nature turns to the tribe's shaman for advice on how to be less like a blue jay and more like a quail. Includes a glossary and facts about the Indians of the Tule River Indian Reservation.
Buffalo Bird Girl: A Hidatsa Story
K – Gr. 3. Traces the childhood, friendships and dangers experienced by Buffalo Bird Woman, a Hidatsa Indian born in 1839, whose community along the Missouri River in the Dakotas transitioned from hunting to agriculture.
The Christmas coat : memories of my Sioux childhood
Gr. K – 3. Virginia and her brother are never allowed to pick first from the donation boxes at church because their father is the priest, and she is heartbroken when another girl gets the beautiful coat that she covets. Based on the author's memories of life on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota.
Chukfi Rabbit's Big, Bad Bellyache: A Trickster Tale
K – Gr. 3. Bear, Turtle, Fox, and Beaver agree to build Ms. Possum a new house, but Chukfi Rabbit says he is too busy to help until he hears there will be a Chocktaw feast afterwards and helps himself to a treat while the work is being done.
Cowboy up! : ride the Navajo rodeo
Gr. 1 – 5. Text and photographs present a close-up view at a Navajo rodeo.
Crazy Horse's vision
Gr. K – 3. A story based on the life of the dedicated young Lakota boy who grew up to be one of the bravest defenders of his people.
Ghost Hawk
Gr. 4 & up. At the end of a winter-long journey into manhood, Little Hawk returns to find his village decimated by a white man's plague and soon, despite a fresh start, Little Hawk dies violently but his spirit remains trapped, seeing how his world changes.
How I Became a Ghost: A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story
Gr. 5 & up. A Choctaw boy tells the story of his tribe's removal from the only land its people had ever known, and how their journey to Oklahoma led him to become a ghost--one with the ability to help those he left behind.
Jingle Dancer
Gr. K – 3. Jenna, a member of the Muscogee, or Creek, Nation, borrows jingles from the dresses of several friends and relatives so that she can perform the jingle dance at the powwow. Includes a note about the jingle dance tradition and its regalia.
Trickster: Native American tales: a graphic collection
Gr. 5 & up. More than twenty Native American tales, cleverly adapted into comic form.
Weaving a California tradition : a Native American basketmaker
Gr. 3 – 6. Follows an eleven-year-old Western Mono Indian, as she and her relatives prepare materials needed for basketweaving, make the baskets, and attend the California Indian Basketweavers Association's annual gathering.
Wounded Knee : an Indian history of the American West [by] Dee Brown ; adapted for young readers by Amy Ehrlich from Dee Brown's Bury my heart at Wounded Knee.
Gr. 4 & Up. Traces the white man's conquest of the Indians of the American West, emphasizing the causes, events, and effects of the major Indian Wars leading to the symbolic end of Indian freedom at Wounded Knee.