This page is always a work in progress! New titles are added as I read new books, watch new films, and learn from authors, scholars, students, and communities working to bring anti-racist, anti-colonial, and abolitionist practices to K-12 and teacher education spaces.
Favorite Indigenous Children’s Books (Alphabetical by author)
** I highly recommend teachers visit Dr. Debbie Reese’s blog for additional books and information! Dr. Reese’s work is a must read for teachers working to incorporate Indigenous literature into their classrooms.
When Clay Sings by Byrd Baylor
Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code Talker’s Story by Joseph Bruchac
Crazy Horse’s Vision by Joseph Bruchac
The Girl Who Helped Thunder and Other Native American Folktales retold by James Bruchac & Joseph Bruchac Ph.D.
The Hunter’s Promise: An Abenaki Tale by Joseph Bruchac
Thirteen Moons on Turtle’s Back: A Native American Year of Moons by Joseph Bruchac and Jonathan London
Shin-chi’s Canoe by Nicola I. Campbell
Shi-shi-etko by Nicola I. Campbell
Bowwow Powwow by Brenda J. Child
A Salish Coyote Story: Beaver Steals Fire by Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
I Am Not a Number by Jenny Kay Dupuis and Kathy Kacer
Whale Snow by Debby Dahl Edwardson
Mission to Space by John Herrington
“Cholhkanat Lowak Ishminti”: Spider Brings Fire by Linda Hogan
When I was Eight by Christy Jordan-Fenton & Margaret Pokiak-Fenton
A True Story: Fatty Legs by Christy Jordan-Fenton & Margaret Pokiak-Fenton
Not My Girl by Christy Jordan-Fenton & Margaret Pokiak-Fenton
A Coyote Columbus Story by Thomas King and William Kent Monkman
Walking on Earth & Touching the Sky: Poetry and Prose by Lakota Youth at Red Cloud Indian School
The Navajo Code Talkers by J. Patrick Lewis and Gary Kelley
In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph Marshall III
Annie and the Old One by Miska Miles
Tasunka: A Lakota Horse Legend told by Donald F. Montileaux
Greet the Dawn: The Lakota Way by S.D. Nelson
Sitting Bull: Lakota Warrior and Defender of His People by S.D. Nelson
The Star People: A Lakota Story by S.D. Nelson
The People Shall Continue by Simon J. Ortiz
How the Stars Fell into the Sky: A Navajo Legend by Jerrie Oughton
Hiawatha and the Peacemaker by Robbie Robertson
Rock & Roll Highway: The Robbie Robertson Story by Sebastian Robertson
The Water Walker by Joanne Robertson
You Hold Me Up by Monique Gray Smith
Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom by Tim Tingle
Young Water Protectors…A Story About Standing Rock by Aslan Tudor
Rainbow Crow retold by Nancy Van Laan
SkySisters by Jan Bourdeau Waboose
Informational Indigenous Studies Books for Teachers & Students (Alphabetical by author)
#NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women edited by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale
Power and Place: Indian Education in America by Vine Deloria, Jr. and Daniel R. Wildcat
Playing Indian by Philip Deloria
Indians in Unexpected Places by Philip Deloria
“All the Real Indians Died Off” And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Red Pedagogy by Sandy Grande
100+ Native American Women who Changed the World by KB Schaller
Native Defenders of the Environment by Vincent Schilling
Native Elders Sharing their Wisdom by Kim Sigatus and Lyle Ernst
Native Writers: Voices of Power by Kim Sigafus and Lyle Ernst
Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask by Anton Treuer
Toward What Justice by Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang (Eds)
Favorite Websites
Building relationships, Recommendations from the National Indian Education Association
Teachers Guide from Dawnland, a documentary on the theft of land and children
Education site for Native Knowledge 360 from National Museum of the American Indian
“Tribal Nations and the United States: An Introduction” from the National Congress of American Indians
U.N. Women: Indigenous Women’s Rights and Activism
Recommended Indigenous Films
Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance by Alanis Obomsawin
Older than America by Georgina Lightening
Reel Injun by Neil Diamond
Smoke Signals and Skins by Chris Eyre
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner by Zacharias Kunuk
We Were Children by Tim Wolochatiuk
