BOOKS ABOUT NATIVE AMERICA FOR CHILDREN

TRIBAL NAMES ABENAKI | ATHABASKAN | BLACKFOOT | CHEYENNE |CHEROKEE| CHINOOK | CHIPPEWA | CHOCTAW| CHOINUMNE| CHUMASH | CREE | CROW | DENE | DAKOTA | | HIDATSA | HOHOKAM | HOPI | INUIT |IROQUOIS | KARUK | KIOWA | LAKOTA | MODOC | MUSKOGEE | NAVAJO | NOOTKA | OHLONE | OJIBWAY | ONEIDA | OTOE | PAIUTE |PASSAMOQUODDY | PAWNEE |POWHATAN | PUGET SOUND | PUEBLO |TLINGIT | TSHIMSHIAN | UTE | WAMPANOAG YUCHI||YUMA |YUPIK| |ZUNI

REGIONS (TRIBE NOT SPECIFIED) NORTHWEST | NORTHEAST | SOUTHWEST | SOUTHEAST PLAINS | ALASKA
To find information on the Tribe follow the Help for Teachers

ABENAKI

• The Arrow Over the Door
  Joseph Bruchac, James Watling (Illustrator). Historical fiction about the relationship between the Quakers and Abenakis during the US Revolutionary War. Ages 9-12.
• Dawn Land
  Joseph Bruchac A journey back in time to the last Ice Age and a young Abenaki man's coming of age. Ages 12+.
• Gluskabe and the Four Wishes
  retold by Joseph Bruchac, illustrated by Christine Nyburg Shrader. Gluskabe gives four Abenaki boys their wishes in a magic pouch. Ages 4-8
• Gluksabe Stories
  Joseph Bruchac (Traditional Abenaki tales about the origin of the world and man's place in it.) Ages 4-8
• Gluksabe and the Wind Eagle
  On-line story about the unpredicatability of wind. No pictures. Ages 4-8.

  
  

ATHABASKAN

• The Girl Who Swam With the Fish: An Athabascan Legend
  Michelle Renner, Christine Cox (Illustrator) A young girl who learns to live among the fish before returning to her own people. Ages 4-8.
• Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival
  Velma Wallis, Jim Grant (Illustrator) An Athabaskan Indian legend of two elderly women who survive abandonment by their tribe during an unusually harsh winter . Ages 12+.

BLACKFOOT

• Snow Maker's Tipi
  A Blackfoot legend about the origin of tipis (storm-maker and the First Man and Woman). Ages 4-8.
• Star Boy
  Paul Goble. How Star Boy (son of Morning Star) gave the Blackfoot tribe the Sun Dance. Ages 4-8.
• Old Man and the Beginning of the World
  On-line origin tale. One photograph. Ages 4-8.

CHEYENNE

• Death of the Iron Horse
  How the Cheyenne battled the railroad. Ages 4-8.
• The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses
  Paul Goble. A Cheyenne myth beautifully retold. Ages 4-8.
• On-line Stories
  Sometimes funny tales told in Cheyenne and English. Ages 4-8

CHEROKEE

• The First Strawberries: A Cherokee Story
  Joseph Bruchac, Anna Vojtech (Illustrator) A Cherokee creation story about the anger between a husband and wife. Ages 4-8.
  
• How Turtle's Back Was Cracked: A Traditional Cherokee Tale,
  retold by Gayle Ross, paintings by Murv Jacob. Turtle was punished by wolves for bragging. Ages 4-8.
• How Rabbit Tricked Otter and Other Cherokee Animal Stories
  Gayle Ross. Rabbit is the Cherokee Trickster-hero Ages 4-8.
• The Journal of Jesse Smoke: A Cherokee Boy, Trail of Tears, 1838
  Joseph Bruchac. The Cherokee forced march seen through the eyes of a young boy See also Trail of Tears. Ages 9-12.
• Pigs in Heaven
  Barbara Kingsolver. A story of the claims of the Cherokee tribe and a non-Cherokee adoptive parent by the author of the Poisonwood Bible. The book's title comes from the Cherokee legend that the Pleiades are six lazy boys turned into pigs when they complain to the spirits. The panicked pigs run around so fast that they rise into heaven. Some readers find the beginning too slow. Ages 12+
• Selu: Seeking the Corn-Mother's Wisdom
  Marilou Awiakta, Mary Adair (Illustrator), Wilma Pearl Mankiller. Part autobiography, part history, part reflection by a Cherokee. Ages 12+.
• The Story of the Milky Way: A Cherokee Tale
  Joseph Bruchac, Virginia Stroud. The Milky Way is a what is left of the cornmeal eaten by a giant spirit dog that the Cherokee chased out of their fields. Ages 4-8.
• Trail of Tears
  Joseph Bruchac, Diana Magnuson (Illustrator). The story of the forced march migration of Cherokees out of Georgia and into barren Oklahoma lands. Ages 9-12.
  The classic adult version is Helen Jehouda's Trail of Tears. For the years following their exile read William G. McLoughlin's drier After the Trail of Tears: The Cherokees' Struggle for Sovereignty,1839-1880. This version is Step 4 from the Step into Reading Program.

CHINOOK

• The Boy Who Lived With the Seals
  Rafe Martin, David Shannon. Chinook boy who lives among the seals. Ages 4-8

CHIPPEWA

• The Chippewa
  Alice Osinski. A good introduction to the people who usually call themselves the Anishinabe. Ages 4-8.

CHOCTAW

• Longwalker's Journey : A Novel of the Choctaw Trail of Tears
  Beatrice Orcutt Harrell, Tony Meers (Illustrator), Cindy Kane. Choctaw also faced a Trail of Tears, although the story is less well known.Ages 9-12
• How Thunder and Lighting Came To Be
  Beatrice Orcutt Harrell with collages by Susan L. Roth. Choctaw story of two foolish birds whose names come to mean thunder and lightning in Choctaw. Ages 4-8.(Out of print)
• The Whipping Boy
  Speer Morgan A mixed-blood Choctaw Indian who goes to work for a possible swindler of farm lands in the 1890s. Ages 12+.

CHOINUMNE

• Indian Summer A True Account of Traditional Life Among the Choinumne Indians of California's San Joaquin Valley
  Thomas Jefferson Mayfield, Malcolm Margolin (Introduction) The true story of a motherless young white boy whose father let him stay with the local Choinumne tribe when he traveled. These stays occurred between 1850 and 1860. Ages 9-12.

CHUMASH

• The Rainbow Bridge
  Audrey Wood, paintings by Robert Florczak. Chumash creation story-Central California. When the people's island home becomes overcrowded they must cross a bridge to the mainland. Some fall into the water and become dolphins. Ages 4-8.

CREE

• Grandfather Bear: A Story Told in Cree,
  Madeline Davis, Sr. Illustrated Donna Cameron. Translated Della Owens and Harriet Landry. British Columbia Cree believe that some of us are given nature spirit power. The young girl in this story lives for a year with her grandfather bear. Ages 6-10 (Out of print.)

CROW

• Crow Chief: A Plains Indian Story
  Paul Goble Picture book. The customs and failures of the buffalo hunt; why crows are black. Ages 3- 10.
• From the Heart of the Crow Country: The Crow Indians' Own Stories
  Joseph Medicine Crow, Herman J. Viola. Oral history and stories of the Crow tribe by one of its members. Ages 12+

DAKOTA / LAKOTA

• A Boy Becomes a Man at Wounded Knee
  Ted Wood, Wanbli Numpa. Eight-year-old Lakota Wanbli Numpa's diary of the one-hundredth anniversary of the Wounded Knee massacre. Ages 9-12.(Out of print.)
  
• Beyond the Ridge
  Paul Goble. Helps children deal with the death of a loved one. Ages 4-8.
  
• Brave Eagle's Account of the Fetterman Fight: 21 December, 1866
   Paul Goble (Illustrator). An imaginary 19 year old Lakota warrior Brave Eagle, becomes the medium for retelling the Lakota oral histories of Red Cloud's victory. The resulting Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 reserved the Dakotas, northern Nebraska, all of the sacred Black Hills and the Powder River country bordering the Wyoming Bighorns for the Lakota. Ages 9-12.
  
• Dakota Indians Coloring Book
  Drawings by Chet Kozlak, Dakota language and cultural info: Elsie M. Cavendar, Lorraine Cavendar-Gougé, and Mary C. Riley, Sisseton Band Dakota (Upper Sioux Reservation), and Evelyn M. Prescott, Mdewakanton Band Dakota (Lower Sioux Reservation ,map, historical introduction. Ages 4-8.
  
• Dancing Teepees: Poems of American Indian Youth
  Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, Stephen Gammell (Illustrator), Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve. A collection of traditional oral poetry from a woman who grew up on the Rosebud (Lakota) Reservation. Ages 4-8
  
• Iktomi and . . . (Lakota trickster tales) Paul Goble, All stories for ages 4-8
  Iktomi and the Coyote
  The trickster tricked.
  Iktomi and the Buffalo Skull (1991).
  Iktomi interrupts a powwow to hide a buffalo skull;
  Iktomi and The Boulder (1988).
  Why the plains are covered with small rocks;
  Iktomi and The Buzzard (1994).
  Iktomi tries to fool a buzzard into carrying him across a river.
  Iktomi and the Ducks (1990)
  Iktomi is unable protect his roast duck dinner from Coyote.
  Iktomi Loses His Eyes
  A bad guy persuades Iktomi to sell him his land. Sound familiar?
  Iktomi and the Berries (1989)
  Iktomi tries to trick other animals into getting food for him. (Out of print). All stories for ages 4-8.
• Lost Bird of Wounded Knee: Spirit of the Lakota
  Renee Sansom Flood Tale of an infant girl who survived the Wounded Knee Massacre, adopted by a white general for political reasons, sent to Indian boarding school, and dead at 29. Ages 12+.
  
  
• Red Hawk's Account of Custer's Last Battle; The Battle of the Little Bighorn, 25 June 1876
  Paul Goble. A wonderful early account of Custer's last battle based on oral Indian testimony subsequently vindicated in the grownup's version Archaeology, History, and Custer's Last Battle: The Little Big Horn Reexamined
  Richard Allan, Jr. Fox, W. Raymond Wood. Goble's version is for Ages 9-12. 
  
• The Soul of the Indian: An Interpretation
  Charles Alexander Eastman (aka Ohiyesa, a Santee Dakota). Free download version Trained at Harvard as a physician, he returns to Pine Ridge Reservation and tries to improve understanding between Natives and whites. Ages 12+
  
• Waterlily
  Ella Cara Deloria, Cara Deloria Ella, Agnes Picotte (Contributor), Raymond J. Demaillie (Photographer) The aunt of Vine Deloria, born in the late 1800s, tells the story of her life and relationships with other women of the Lakota tribe. Ages 12+.

DENE

• From the Land: Two Hundred Years of Dene Clothing
  Judy Thompson. History, function, and design variations of Canadian Dene clothing. Ages 9-12.

HIDATSA

• Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden: Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians
  Gilbert L. Wilson, Jeffery R. Hanson (Introduction) An account of Hidatsa vegetable varieties, planting techniques and recipes. Ages 12+.
• A Coloring Book of Hidatsa Indian Stories Based on the Life and Drawings of Edward Goodbird (1869-1938)
  Ages 4-8. (Out of print)
• Goodbird the Indian
  Gilbert L. Wilson, Edward Goodbird (1870-1938). The life of a Hidatsa native's adjustment to life on the reservation. Ages 4-8.
• Waheenee: An Indian Girl's Story
  Gilbert Livingstone Wilson. A Hidatsa woman born in 1839 recounted her life to an anthropologist in the early twentieth century. Ages 12+.

HOHOKAM

• The Same Sun Was in the Sky
  Denise Webb, illustrated Walter Porter a young boy imagines Hohokam children pounding pictures into the rocks, harvesting fruit from the saguaro cactus, and chasing a lizard.
  The National Forest Service preserves the archeological site. Ages 4-8.
• Runner in the Sun: A Story of Indian Maize
  Darcy Mc'Nickle The impact of drought on cultivation. Ages 4-8
  

HOPI 

• Coyote and Little Turtle: A Traditional Hopi Tale
  Hershel Talashoema, translated and edited by Emory Sekaquaptewa and Barbara Pepper, illustrated by Hopi children. Glossaries, grammar. Ages 6-10 (out of print.)
• Coyote and the Winnowing Birds: A Traditional Hopi Tale
  Eugene Sekaquaptewa, translated and edited by Emory Sekaquaptewa and Barbara Pepper, illustrated by Hopi children. Glossaries, pronunciation section. Ages 6-10 (out of print.)
•  Young Goat's Discovery
  Arline Warner Tinus. Hopi rock carvings are discovered by a young goat. Beautifully illustrated. Ages 4-8.

INUIT

• Sanatujut: Pride in Women's Work: Copper and Caribou Inuit Clothing Traditions
  Judy Hall, Sally Qimmiu'Naaq Webster, Jill E. Oakes. Describes the history, function, and design variations of Inuit clothing. Ages 9-12. (Out of print.)
• Songs Are Thoughts: Poems of the Inuit
  Neil Philip, illustrated by Maryclare Foa. (Based on Danish ethnologist Knud Rasmussen's collection.) Ten Inuit poems including a morning prayer, hunting a polar bear, and avoiding evil. Ages 4-8.

IROQUOIS

• Children of the Longhouse
  (Children's history of the Iroquois, including the history of lacrosse). Ages 4-8.
• Guests
  Michael Dorris. A young Iroquois boy runs away when faced with unwelcome guests. Ages 12+
  
• Lacrosse : The National Game of the Iroquois
  Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith,Lawrence Migdale (Illustrator). The early Iroquois played lacrosse to cure or prevent disease, and to raise people's hearts. Ages 9-12.
• Skywoman: Legends of the Iroquois
  Joanne Shenandoah, Douglas M. George, Ka-Hon-Hes (Illustrator), Joanne Shenandoah-Tekalihwa, John Kahionhes-Fadden, Douglas M. George-Kanentiio. The creation of the earth and the moon, why maple trees lose their leaves and other stories. Ages 9-12.
• Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message Chief Jake Swamp, illustrated by Erwin Printup, Jr. A traditional Iroquois daily morning prayer. Ages 4-8.
• Indian Summer
  Barbara Girion Adjustments a young girl must make while spending the summer on an Iroquois reservation.Ages 9-12. (Out of print)

KARUK

• Fire Race: A Karuk Coyote Tale
  retold by Jonathan London,illustrated by Sylvia Long. How a wily coyote enlisted the aid of other animals to get fire from the Yellow Jackets who were hoarding it. An on-line plot summary.Ages 4-8.

KIOWA

• Circle of Wonder: A Native American Christmas Story N Scott Momaday
• (Yes, the famous novelist.) Located on a reservation at Christmas time. Ages 9-12
• Doesn't Fall Off His Horse
  Virginia A. Stroud Stroud's Kiowa grandfather recounts how he got his name--during a pony raid on neighboring Comanches as a boy. Ages 9-12.
• .Kiowa Voices: Myths, Legends and Folktales
  Maurice Boyd Provides the history associated with these stories; Kiowa’s migration first to the Northern plains (with its horse-buffalo culture) and later movement southward and alliance with the Comanche. Ages 12+
• The Way to Rainy Mountain
  N. Scott Momaday Kiowa stories and Momaday's own family history. Ages 9-12.

MODOC

• A Yellow Raft in Blue Water
  Michael Dorris Three generations of Native American women in Montana. Ages 12+
• Guests
  Michael Dorris Native American boy grows up. Ages 9-12.

MUSKOGEE

• The Great Ball Game: A Muskogee Story
  Joseph Bruchac, Susan L. Roth (Illustrator) How the bat found its niche in the animal kingdom and why birds fly south in winter are explained in this Muskogee tale. Ages 4-8.

NAVAJO

• The Chief's Blanket Michael Chanin, Kim Howard (Illustrator) Historical fiction about a Navajo weaver in the 1880s and Navajo trade with Plains Indians.Ages 4-8.
• How the Stars Fell into the Sky: A Navajo Legend
  Jerrie Oughton, Lisa Desimini (Illustrator). Navajo Legend about how the First Women decided that there needed to be laws. The laws needed to be in a place everyone could see, the best place was in the sky written with the stars. Ages 4-8.
• Katie Henio, Navajo Sheepherder
  Peggy Thomson, Paul Conklin (Photographer)The traditional sheepherding occupation of young Navajos. Ages 9-12.(Out of print)
• The Navajo
  Alice Osinski introduces the U.S's, largest indigenous pastoralist communty. Ages 4-8.
• Navajo: Portrait of a Nation
  Joel Grimes (Photographer). Excellent collection of photographs of contemporary Navajos at work. Ages 12+ (Out of print.)
• Navajo Code Talkers
  Nathan Aaseng. The extraordinary story of how the Navajo language was adopted for use in the Pacific theater. For grownups see The Navajo Code Talkers (25th Anniversary Edition) by Doris A. Paul and the Japanese photographer Kanji Kawan's pictures in Warriors: Navajo Code Talkers Kanji Kawano, Kenji Kawano, Carl Gorman. Ages 9-12.
• The Shadow Brothers
  A. E. Cannon. A Navajo boy adopted by a non-Navajo family. The story of the boys' falling out. Ages 9-12. (Out of print.)
• The Success of the Navajo Arts and Crafts Enterprise: A Retail Success Story
  Lenora Begay Trahant, Monty Roessel (Photographer) a history of the Navajo Arts and Crafts Enterprise (NACE), a tribal cooperative founded in 1975 to encourage Navajo silversmiths, weavers, and other craftsmen. Ages 12+ Nineteenth century Navajo as seen by Edward Curtis

NOOTKA

• Woman of Her Tribe
  Margaret Robinson A young Nootka woman leaves her village to attend school in Vancouver only to be caught between native and white worlds. Ages 9-12.

OHLONE

• When The World Ended; How Hummingbird Got Fire; How People Were Made
  written and illustrated Linda Yamane. Three Rumisen Ohlone (a California tribe) stories: how the world was flooded, how hummingbird stole fire from the Badger people, and birds create people from clay. Ages 9-12.

• The Snake That Lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains & Other Ohlone Stories
  Linda Yamane. A snake residing in the large redwood trees plots to squeeze people to death, but is thwarted by the Ohlone. Ages 9-12
• Weaving a California Tradition (A Native American Basketmaker)
  Linda Yamane, Dugan Aguilar (Photographer)  Ages 9-12.

ONEIDA

Did You Hear the Wind Sing Your Name?: An Oneida Song of Spring
Sandra De Coteau Orie, illustrated by Christopher Canyon. Oneida legends about the coming of spring. Ages 4-8.

Legends
The pesky mosquito, the hermit thrush, and the no-face doll.Ages 4-8

OJIBWAY

• The Birchbark House
  Louise Erdrich. An Ojibway girl who survived a smallpox epidemic and is adopted into a family on Madeline Island in Lake Superior. Erdich comes from Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibway and is best known for her adult fiction such as Beet Queen, The Blue Jay's Dance: A Birth Year and Love Medicine Ages 9-12
• One Nation, Many Tribes
  Children's biographer Kathleen Krull follows two Ojibwa students attending a school that teaches traditional dancing and drumming as well as the usual subjects. Ages 9-12.
• Ojibway Indians Coloring Book
  Drawings by Chet Kozlak, translations James E. Clark, Mille Lacs Ojibway Reservation; the seasonal round of food gathering for Ojibway people in pre-contact time. Ages 4-8
• The Sacred Harvest : Ojibway Wild Rice Gathering (We Are Still Here: Native Americans Today)
  Gordon Regguinti, Dale Kakkak (Photographer), Michael Dorris How wild rice gathering occurs among the Ojibway of Minnesota. Ages 9-12.
• The Star Maiden
  Barbara Juster Esbensen, illustrated Helen K. Davie Ojibway legend about a star that falls to earth, but who is really a maiden who wants to join the Ojibway. Ages 4-8.

OTOE

• The Two-Legged Creature: An Otoe Story
  Anna Lee Walters, Carol Bowles (Illustrator) Story about the reason that dog and horse remain close, but man has not. Ages 9-12.
  

PAIUTE & UTE

• The Night the Grandfathers Danced,
  Linda Theresa Raczek,illustrated Katalin Olah Ehling. A Ute girl dances with the grandfathers. Ages 7 - 10 (Out of print.)
• Why the North Star Stands Still
  William R. Palmer. A collection of stories from the Coal Creek Band of Paiutes during the 1930s and 1940s. Also tells about Paiute astronomy. Ages 9-12.

PASSAMOQUODDY

• First People, First Corn
  Legend of how the Passamoquoddy found corn.Ages 4-8.

• Flying Canoe
  How a young boy sailed over the world in a canoe.Ages 4-8.
  

PAWNEE

• The Pawnee Nation
  Anna Lee Walters An introducion to the people Ages 4-8.

PIMA

• Pima Indian Legends
  Anna Moore Shaw. Includes the legend of Meteor and Morning Star, the Great Gila River Flood, Roadrunner and a trickster tale (coyote, of course.)
• The Legend of Eagleman is available on line. Ages 9-12.

POWHATAN

• Sees Behind Trees
  Michael Dorris. A young nearly blind boy is challenged by his uncle. Ages 9-12.

PUEBLO

• Children of Clay : A Family of Pueblo Potters (We Are Still Here
  Rina Swentzell, Bill Steen (Photographer), Michael Dorris. The tale follows an older Pueblo woman as she finds clay and creates pots. Ages 9-12.

• Earth Daughter: Alicia of Acoma Pueblo
  George Acona, George Ancona. The life of a young girl who learns to throw pots in a traditional pot-making Pueblo. Ages 9-12. (Out of print.)

• Pueblo Boy: Growing Up in Two Worlds
  Marcia Keegan. hows a Pueblo boy who grows up in both the modern and traditional worlds. Ages 9-12.
• Pueblo Girls: Growing Up in Two Worlds
  Marcia Keegan (Photographer) Two young girls who enjoy both traditional and modern acitivities. Ages 9-12.
• Pueblo Storyteller
  Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith. A 10 year old Cochiti Pueblo girl describes life in her village. Ages 9-12.
• Rain Dance People: The Pueblo Indians, Their Past and Present
  Richard Erdoes. Explains the importance of art and is critical of the missionaries. Ages 12+. (Out of print.)

PUGET SOUND LUTSHOOTSEED

• Haboo: Native American Stories from Puget Sound
  VI Hilbert (Editor), Ron Hilbert (Illustrator), Thom Hess Legends of the region, each about 3 pages long. Ages 4-8.
• Basket Lady Stories on-line
  Stories told by elementary school children. Ages 4-8.

• On Line Stories
  For ages 12+

TLINGIT

• The Tlingit
  Alice Osinski. Useful introduction to the northwest coast community. Ages 4-8.

TSHIMSHIAN

• Potlatch: A Tsimshian Celebration
  Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith, Lawrence Migdale (Illustrator) A 13 year old boy at the ceremonies on Annette Island, Alaska. Ages 9-12.

WAMPANOAG

• The Basket Maker and the Spinner
  Beatrice Siegel, William Sauts Bock. The lives two young married women in seventeenth-century New England: a Wampanoag tribal basket maker, and an English colonist spinner. Ages 9-12. (Out of print.)
• Native Heart: An American Indian Odyssey
  Gabriel White Deer Autumn Horn. An autobiographical account of a native child growing up in white foster families. Ages 12+.
• Squanto's Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving Joseph Bruchac, Greg Shed (Illustrator) I still do not understand why Squanto helped the Pilgrims, but this is the most sympathetic portrayal of Squanto for younger readers. Ages 9-12

YUCHI

• In the Beginning
  On-line Creation story Ages 9-12.

YUMA

• Grandmother's Christmas Story : A True Quechan Indian Story
  Richard Redhawk, Richard Red Hawk Ages 9-12

YUPIK

• Dance on a Sealskin
  Barbara Winslow, Teri Sloat (Illustrator).A girl's coming of age story in an Alaska Yupik community. Ages 9-12.

ZUNI

• The Beautiful and the Dangerous: Dialogues With the Zuni Indians
  Barbara Tedlock Zuni discuss a wide range of issues with anthropologist Tedlock.Ages 12