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LibbyTo explore digital books for Native American Heritage Month, visit this link. Enjoy these and thousands of additional titles in the free Libby mobile app. Or, use Libby in your web browser at libbyapp.com.
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Powwow Day
by Traci Sorell; illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight
What it's about: Jingle dancer River longs to join in the Grand Entry on powwow day, but illness has left her too weak to dance. While watching the other dancers, however, she gains a sense of healing connection that allows her to "feel the drum's heartbeat" again.
About the creators: Author Traci Sorell (Cherokee Nation) and illustrator Madelyn Goodnight (Chickasaw Nation) authentically portray the atmosphere and regalia of a powwow.
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Berry Song
by Michaela Goade
What it's about: In the misty forest on an Alaskan island, a young Tlingit girl and her grandmother gather berries — salmonberries, cloudberries, nagoonberries, and more — as they sing their gratitude back to the land.
Don't miss: The inside covers, featuring berry names in both Tlingit and English.
Author buzz: This lyrical, atmospheric story is the first solo book by Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goade, who is Tlingit herself (Raven moiety and Kiks.ádi clan).
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Finding My Dance
by Ria Thundercloud; illustrated by Kalila J. Fuller
Starring: Ria Thundercloud (Ho-Chunk Nation and Sandia Pueblo), who tells the inspirational true story of her lifelong journey as a professional dancer.
Want a taste? "No matter how far I went, I would always return to my homelands, to the sound of the drums."
Reviewers say: "A warmly illustrated memoir of dance and culture, this will have broad appeal" (School Library Journal).
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The Star That Always Stays
by Anna Rose Johnson
The setup: Just before the start of World War I, fourteen-year-old Norvia moves to the city, where she struggles between embracing her Ojibwe heritage and fitting in.
What sets it apart: This novel was inspired by the author's own family history.
Want a taste? "Our Indian blood," she said. "I don't feel it needs to be discussed with our new family." Elton let out a low, humorless laugh. "They can't tell just by looking at us?"
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A Snake Falls to Earth
by Darcie Little Badger
The premise: Nina is a 16-year-old Lipan Apache girl from Texas. Oli is a cottonmouth snake kid from the spirit world. Neither knows the other exists until a shared environmental catastrophe brings them together.
Book buzz: This novel was nominated for the 2021 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.
You might also like: Elatsoe, another genre-bending YA read by Darcie Little Badger that blends the magical with the modern.
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Hunting by Stars
by Cherie Dimaline
What it's about: In a dystopian world, a plague prevents most of the population from dreaming. Indigenous people are hunted for their bone marrow, which is rumored to be the cure.
Series alert: This is the follow-up to the acclaimed The Marrow Thieves.
Want a taste? "Sometimes you risk everything for a life worth living, even if you're not the one who'll be alive to live it."
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Walking in Two Worlds
by Wab Kinew
Introducing: "Bugz" Holiday, who is "walking in two worlds"—real and virtual. In the real world, Bugz deals with the challenges of teen life, but in the virtual world of the Floraverse, she is an elite gamer.
For fans of: Online gaming, VR, and Ready Player One.
Reviewers say: "A fun, brilliantly executed blend of gamer geekdom, social issues and Indigenous culture" (Shelf Awareness).
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Notable Native People: 50 Indigenous Leaders, Dreamers, and Changemakers from Past and Present
by Adrienne Keene; illustrated by Ciara Sana
What it is: A celebration of the lives of Indigenous athletes, artists, scientists, and more.
Profiles include: Wilma Mankiller, the first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation; Jim Thorpe, Olympic gold medalist and multi-sport athlete; Edmonia Lewis, a nineteenth-century sculptor who became famous worldwide.
About the author: Adrienne Keene co-hosts All My Relations, a podcast that explores modern Indigenous life.
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New Native Kitchen: Celebrating Modern Recipes of the American Indian
by Freddie Bitsoie
What it is: The former executive chef at Mitsitam Native Foods Café at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian brings us a celebration of Indigenous cuisine, showcasing the variety of flavor and culinary history on offer from coast to coast and providing modern interpretations of 100 recipes that have long fed this country.
Recipes include: Cherrystone Clam Soup from the Northeastern Wampanoag; Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin from the Pueblo peoples.
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Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation
by Michael Powell
What it's about: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael Powell follows a Navajo basketball squad through a championship-seeking season, showing how its members struggle with the everyday challenges of high school, adolescence, family, and the great and unique obstacles facing Native Americans living on reservations.
Reviewers say: "As exciting as a full-court press and a thoughtful study of young athletes in a world little known to outsiders."--Kirkus
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Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman’s Search for Justice in Indian Country
by Sierra Crane Murdoch
**2021 Pulitzer Prize Finalist, General Nonfiction**
What it is: Investigative reporter Murdoch (The Atlantic, VICE) debuts with this story of a murder on an Indian reservation and the unforgettable Arikara woman who becomes obsessed with solving it.
Reviewers say: "Required reading for all fans of true crime, particularly those interested in the intersections of poverty and environmental justice, along with Native studies."--Library Journal
For fans of: Michelle McNamara's I'll Be Gone in the Dark; David Grann's Killers of the Flower Moon.
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We Are the Middle of Forever: Indigenous Voices From Turtle Island on the Changing Earth
by Dahr Jamail
What it is: A powerful, intimate collection of conversations with Indigenous Americans on the climate crisis and the Earth's future.
Reviewers say: "Readers will be impressed by both the depth and breadth of the interviews as well as the contributors’ evocative, vivid storytelling and palpable emotion. A refreshingly unique and incredibly informative collection of vital Indigenous wisdom."--Kirkus
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Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America
by Pekka Hämäläinen
What it is: Finnish historian at Oxford Hämäläinen (Lakota America) delivers a sweeping and persuasive corrective to the notion that “history itself is a linear process that moves irreversibly toward Indigenous destruction.” He focuses instead on the “overwhelming and persistent Indigenous power” that lasted in North America from 10000 BCE until the end of the 19th century.
Reviewers say: "An essential work of Indigenous studies that calls for rethinking North American history generally."--Kirkus
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Covered With Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America
by Nicole Eustace
**Winner, 2022 Pulitzer Prize for History**
What it is: NYU history professor Eustace's complex tale of a now-forgotten crime that shaped Native-White relations in the British Colonies of North America and revealed the contrast between Indigenous and British senses of justice.
Reviewers say: "A fine contribution to the literature of Colonial America, where peace was far harder to achieve than war."--Kirkus
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We Are the Land: A History of Native California
by Damon B. Akins and William J. Bauer, Jr.
What it is: A thoughtful study of California as seen through the eyes of the Indigenous people who shaped it, beginning with the centrality of the Native presence from before European colonization through statehood to the persistence and activism of California Indians in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Reviewers say: "A welcome contribution to Native studies and the rich literature of California's first peoples."--Kirkus
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Shutter
by Ramona Emerson
What it's about: A forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque police force who sees the ghosts of crime victims is caught in the crosshairs of one of Albuquerque's most dangerous cartels when a furious ghost sets her on a path of vengeance.
Verdict: "The arid New Mexico landscape and Emerson's stark prose add layers of bone-chilling believability to the story. Fans of thrillers with supernatural elements will enjoy this great first novel."--LJ Express
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Fevered Star
by Rebecca Roanhorse
What it's about: Living avatars Serapio and Naranpa fight to stay human in the face of changes that will transform the great city of Tova as tense alliances form and far-away enemies gather, in the second novel of the Between Earth and Sky series following Black Sun.
Verdict: "Roanhorse's pre-Columbian-inspired Meridian is an amazingly complex world of magic, gods, and power plays .... Readers will be anticipating the next book as soon as they turn the last page."--Library Journal
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The Break
by Katherena Vermette
What it is: Vermette's award-winning debut novel about a multigenerational Métis-Anishnaabe family dealing with the fallout of a shocking crime in Winnipeg’s North End.
Verdict: "Vermette portrays a wide array of strong, complicated, absolutely believable women, and through them and their hardships offers readers sharp views of race and class issues. This is slice-of-life storytelling at its finest."--Publishers Weekly
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Calling for a Blanket Dance
by Oscar Hokeah
Ancestor stories: Indigenous youth Ever Geimausaddle reckons with his heritage on a journey of self-discovery. Narrated by generations of his relatives, the result is both personal and panoramic.
Read it for: A powerful portrait of inherited trauma and resilience.
Try these next: Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine or The Removed by Brandon Hobson.
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Night of the Living Rez
by Morgan Talty
What it is: Talty's riveting debut collection about what it means to be Penobscot in the twenty-first century and what it means to live, to survive, and to persevere after tragedy.
What they're saying: “There is so much brutal, raw, and beautiful power in these stories. Reading this book, I literally laughed and cried." --Tommy Orange
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Probably Ruby
by Lisa Bird-Wilson
What it is: Spanning time and multiple points of view, a new voice in Indigenous fiction introduces us to Ruby, a bold, complex and unapologetic woman who, adopted by white parents, goes in search of her identity as her life spins wildly out of control.
What they're saying: "A passionate exploration of identity and belonging and a celebration of our universal desire to love and be loved.”--Imbolo Mbue, author of Behold the Dreamers
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Songs My Brothers Taught Me
What it's about: When his absent father dies, Johnny leaves his sister and mother at their home on Pine Ridge Reservation and travels to Los Angeles.
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Blood Quantum
What it's about: The residents of an isolated Mi'kmaq community discover they're immune to a zombie plague but people in surrounding areas begin to flee to their reserve.
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Wild Indian
What it's about: Decades after covering up the murder of his classmate, an Ojibwe man has moved on, changing his name, finding a respectable job and a beautiful wife, when suddenly he crosses paths with a man who shares his violent secret and seeks vengeance.
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Dark Winds Season 1
What it's about: The year is 1971 on a remote outpost of the Navajo Nation near Monument Valley. Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn of the Tribal Police is besieged by a series of seemingly unrelated crimes. The closer he digs to the truth, the more he exposes the wounds of his past.
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Trudell
What it's about: A chronicle of legendary Native American poet/activist John Trudell's travels, spoken word performances and politics.
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500 Nations
What it's about: A history of Native American peoples of North America, their leaders, customs, political systems, and lifestyles using accounts of events and dramatization.
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Native America
What it's about: The series reaches back 15,000 years to reveal massive cities aligned to the stars, unique systems of science and spirituality, and 100 million people connected by social networks spanning two continents.
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Fresno County Public Library 2420 Mariposa St. Fresno, California 93721 559-600-READ (7323)www.fresnolibrary.org |
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