Shelby Goes to the Dentist written by Kristina Hyatt (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians) and illustrated by Preston Bark (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians)

This book is great to read with children before visiting the dentist. It helps children and their caregivers know what to expect before their visit. This can help reduce dental anxiety. This book also teaches about the importance of dental hygiene.

Powwow Day written by Traci Sorrell (Cherokee Nation) and illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight (Chickasaw Nation)

River wants so badly to dance at powwow day as she does every year. In this uplifting and contemporary picture book perfect for beginning readers, follow River’s journey from feeling isolated after an illness to learning the healing power of community.

The Land of Great Turtles written by Brad Wagnon (Cherokee Nation) and illustrated by Alex Stephenson

The Land of the Great Turtles is a Cherokee origin story that introduces the reader to Cherokee beliefs and values. Written in both Cherokee and English, the book will familiarizes readers with the Cherokee syllabary and language.

Remember written by Joy Harjo (Muscogee Creek Nation) and illustrated by Michaela Goade (Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska)

This timeless poem written by US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo invites young readers to pause and reflect on the wonder of the world around them, and to remember the importance of their place in it. This timeless poem paired with magnificent paintings makes for a picture book that is a true celebration of life.

The Secrets and Mysteries of the Cherokee Little People written by Lynn Lossiah (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians)

This book tells about the Yun wi Tsunsdi (the Little People of the Cherokee), the small mystical beings that played a vital part in traditional Cherokee life and culture. From myths, legends, historical sources, and stories of personal experiences comes this exhaustive account of the Little People.

Mary and the Trail of Tears written by Andrea L. Rogers (Cherokee Nation)

Twelve-year-old Mary and her Cherokee family are forced out of their home in Georgia by U.S. soldiers in May 1838. From the beginning of the forced move, Mary and her family are separated from her father. Facing horrors such as internment, violence, disease, and harsh weather, Mary perseveres and helps keep her family and friends together until they can reach the new Cherokee nation in Indian Territory.

Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee Creek Nation)

This collection of intersecting stories by both new and veteran Native writers bursts with hope, joy, resilience, the strength of community, and Native pride. In a high school gym full of color and song, people dance, sell beadwork and books, and celebrate friendship and heritage. Young protagonists will meet relatives from faraway, mysterious strangers, and sometimes one another (plus one scrappy rez dog). They are the heroes of their own stories.

Mascot written by Traci Sorrell (Cherokee Nation) and Charles Waters

In Rye, Virginia, just outside Washington, DC, people work hard, kids go to school, and football is big on Friday nights. An eighth-grade English teacher creates an assignment for her class to debate whether Rye’s mascot should stay or change. Now six middle schoolers–-all with different backgrounds and beliefs–-get involved in the contentious issue that already has the suburb turned upside down with everyone choosing sides and arguments getting ugly.

I Can Make This Promise written by Christine Day (Upper Skagit Indian Tribe)

In her debut middle grade novel—inspired by her family’s history—Christine Day tells the story of a girl who uncovers her family’s secrets—and finds her own Native American identity.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask: Young Readers Edition written by Anton Treuer, a Leech Lake and White Earth Ojibwe Descendant

An essential book of questions and answers for Native and non-Native young readers alike. Ranging from “Why is there such a fuss about nonnative people wearing Indian costumes for Halloween?” to “Why is it called a ‘traditional Indian fry bread taco’?” to “What’s it like for natives who don’t look native?” to “Why are Indians so often imagined rather than understood?”, this book answers questions for young readers, in a style consistently thoughtful, personal, and engaging.

Fire Keeper’s Daughter written by Angeline Boulley (Chippewa)

Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team.

Elatsoe written by Darcie Little Badger (Lipan Apache)

Ellie for short—lives in an alternate contemporary America shaped by the ancestral magics and knowledge of its Indigenous and immigrant groups. She can raise the spirits of dead animals—most importantly, her ghost dog Kirby. When her beloved cousin dies, all signs point to a car crash, but his ghost tells her otherwise: He was murdered.

Rez Ball written by Byron Graves (Ojibwe)

These days, Tre Brun is happiest when he is playing basketball on the Red Lake Reservation high school team—even though he can’t help but be constantly gut-punched with memories of his big brother, Jaxon, who died in an accident. When Jaxon’s former teammates on the varsity team offer to take Tre under their wing, he sees this as his shot to represent his Ojibwe rez all the way to their first state championship.

The Cherokee Perspective edited by Laurence French (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians) and Jim Hornbuckle (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians)

In 1973, Cherokee students at the Qualla Boundary started a student organization with the intention of improving the educational prospects among Native Americans attending non-Indian colleges and universities. Under the direction of Laurence French and Charles Jim Hornbuckle, the students interviewed Cherokee elders and received help from the American Indian Historical Society to gain an accurate history and assessment of the tribe, which has a long, misunderstood history.

People of Kituwah: The Old Ways of the Eastern Cherokee written by John D. Loftin & Benjamin E. Frey (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians)

People of Kituwah is a comprehensive account of the spiritual worldview and lifeways of the Eastern Cherokee people, from the creation of the world to today. Building on vast primary and secondary materials, native and non-native, this book provides a window into not only what the Cherokees perceive and understand—their notions of space and time, marriage and love, death and the afterlife, healing and traditional medicine, and rites and ceremonies—but also how their religious life evolved both before and after the calamitous coming of colonialism.

By The Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land written by Rebecca Nagle (Cherokee Nation)

Here Rebecca Nagle recounts the generations-long fight for tribal land and sovereignty in eastern Oklahoma. By chronicling both the contemporary legal battle and historic acts of Indigenous resistance, By the Fire We Carry stands as a landmark work of American history. The story it tells exposes both the wrongs that our nation has committed and the Native-led battle for justice that has shaped our country.

Memoirs of Robert Youngdeer: Marine, Chief, and Proud American written by Robert S. Youngdeer (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians)

Youngdeer describes growing up in Cherokee, attending boarding school, joining the Marines, and being wounded in World War II, for which he received the Purple Heart. He became an Army Paratrooper and then worked as an Indian Policeman on reservations with the Lakota, Choctaw, Apache, Anishinaabe, Inuit, and more. From 1983-1987 he served as Principal Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

Mankiller: A Chief and Her People written by Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee Nation) and Michael Wallis

In this spiritual, moving autobiography, Wilma Mankiller, former Chief of the Cherokee Nation and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, tells of her own history while also honoring and recounting the history of the Cherokees. Mankiller’s life unfolds against the backdrop of the dawning of the American Indian civil rights struggle, and her book becomes a quest to reclaim and preserve the great Native American values that form the foundation of our nation.

Call Me Indian written by Fred Sasakamoose (Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation)

Trailblazer. Residential school Survivor. First Treaty Indigenous player in the NHL. All these descriptions are true—but none of them tell the whole story. This isn’t just a hockey story; Sasakamoose’s groundbreaking memoir sheds piercing light on Canadian history and Indigenous politics and follows this extraordinary man’s journey to reclaim pride in an identity and a heritage that had previously been used against him.

An American Sunrise: Poems written by Joy Harjo (Muscogee Nation)

A stunning new volume from the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States, informed by her tribal history and connection to the land.

Postcolonial Love Poem written by Natalie Diaz (Mojave, Gila River Indians)

In this new lyrical landscape, the bodies of indigenous, Latinx, black, and brown women are simultaneously the body politic and the body ecstatic. In claiming this autonomy of desire, language is pushed to its dark edges, the astonishing dunefields and forests where pleasure and love are both grief and joy, violence and sensuality.

A History of My Brief Body: Essays written by Billy Ray Belcourt (Driftpile Cree Nation)

With the lyricism and emotional power of his award-winning poetry, Belcourt cracks apart his history and shares it with us one fragment at a time.