November is Native American Heritage Month, so what better time to check out books chosen for the 2020 American Indian Library Association Youth Literature Awards? This award "honors the very best writing and illustrations by Native Americans and Indigenous peoples of North America."
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When Uncle and Windy Girl attend a powwow, Windy watches the dancers and listens to the singers. She eats tasty food and joins family and friends around the campfire. Later, Windy falls asleep under the stars. Uncle's stories inspire visions in her head: a bowwow powwow, where all the dancers are dogs. In these magical scenes, Windy sees veterans in a Grand Entry, and a visiting drum group, and traditional dancers, grass dancers, and jingle-dress dancers--all with telltale ears and paws and tails. All celebrating in song and dance. All attesting to the wonder of the powwow. |
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A celebration of the long-cherished Seminole Nation tradition of sharing fry bread during family meals combines evocative verses with vibrant artwork by the award-winning illustrator of La Princesa and the Pea. |
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A celebration of art, nature and connecting across generations traces the experiences of a young girl who moves to a small town, where her friendship with an elderly fellow crafter is shaped by the seasons and her awareness of her friend’s failing health. By the creator of Wild Berries. |
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Separated from a loved one by distance and duty, a family waits for a soldier’s return in a lyrical celebration of the bonds of Cherokee culture and the bravery of history-making female pilots. By the author of We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga. |
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Follows a full year of Cherokee celebrations and experiences, describing how the Cherokee Nation expresses thanks and reflects on struggles all year long. |
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When Regina's Umpqua tribe is legally terminated and her family must relocate from Oregon to Los Angeles, she goes on a quest to understand her identity as an Indian despite being so far from home. |
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In a story based on the author’s real-life experiences, a girl uncovers a secret that connects her to her Native American heritage, throwing everything she believes about her family into question. |
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Details the importance of the grizzly to the Gitxsan people of Northwestern British Columbia and explores how animals, water, soil, and seasons are all intertwined |
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Louise Wolfe breaks up with her first boyfriend after he makes a racist remark about her Native American heritage, and begins covering the multicultural casting of the new school play and the racial hostilities it has exposed. |
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Honor: Best Young Adult Indigenous teens Miikwan and Dez are best friends that navigate living in the city together, but when Dez's grandmother gets sick, Dez runs away instead of going to a group home, leaving Miikwan and the community to try and find her. |
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Apple's name, chosen by her Indian mother on her deathbed, has a double meaning: treasured apple of my eye, but also the negative connotation a person who is red, or Indian, on the outside, but white on the inside. After her wealthy father gives her the boot one summer, Apple reluctantly agrees to visit her Native American relatives on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in northern North Dakota for the first time. Apple learns to deal with the culture shock of Indian customs and the Native Michif language, while she tries to find a connection to her dead mother. She also has to deal with a vengeful Indian man who loved her mother in high school but now hates Apple because her mom married a white man. Bouncing in the middle of two cultures, Apple meets her Indian relatives, shatters Indian stereotypes, and learns what it means to find her place in a world divided by color. |
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An indigenous peoples' history of the United States for young people by Debbie Reese Honor: Best Young Adult 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. |
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Reawakening our ancestors' lines : revitalizing Inuit traditional tattooing by Angela Hovak Johnston Honor: Best Young Adult For thousands of years, Inuit practised the traditional art of tattooing. Created the ancient way, with bone needles and caribou sinew soaked in seal oil, sod, or soot, these tattoos were an important tradition for many Inuit women, symbols etched on their skin that connected them to their families and communities. But with the rise of missionaries and residential schools in the North, the tradition of tattooing was almost lost. In 2005, when Angela Hovak Johnston heard that the last Inuk woman tattooed in the old way had died, she set out to tattoo herself in tribute to this ancient custom and learn how to tattoo others. What was at first a personal quest became a project to bring the art of traditional tattooing back to Inuit women across Nunavut, starting with Johnston's home community of Kugluktuk. Collected in this beautiful book are moving photos and stories from more than two dozen women who participated in Johnston's project. Together, these women have united to bring to life an ancient tradition, reawakening their ancestors' lines and sharing this knowledge with future generations. |