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