Children's Book Suggestions | Native American Heritage Month

This list shares some of our favorite chapter books for readers in Grades 2-8.

For younger readers, see our Native American Heritage Month Scavenger Hunt book list.

Traditional Indigenous stories are shelved in Children's Nonfiction under the number 299.7

Information about federally registered tribes both historically and in the present day is shelved in Children's Nonfiction under the number 973.0497


Updated October 21, 2023
LINCC (Libraries in Clackamas County) Oregon City Public Library
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Rez dogs
Bruchac, Joseph
Paper Book
Renowned author Joseph Bruchac tells a powerful story of a girl who learns more about her Penacook heritage while sheltering in place with her grandparents during the coronavirus pandemic. Malian loves spending time with her grandparents at their home on a Wabanaki reservation...

This award-winning novel in verse about a young girl's experiences living with her grandparents in 2020 is also on the 2023 OBOB list. (Wabanaki, Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Race to the sun
Roanhorse, Rebecca
Paper Book
Lately Nizhoni has been able to detect monsters, like Mr. Charles, her dad's new boss at the oil and gas company. He's also alarmingly interested in Nizhoni and her brother, Mac, their Navajo heritage, and the legend of the Hero Twins. Nizhoni knows he's a threat, but her father won't believe her....

A Rick Riordan presents fantasy adventure story starring a contemporary middle school student and characters from traditional Navajo stories. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

The storyteller
Hobson, Brandon
Paper Book
From National Book Award finalist Brandon Hobson, a kaleidoscopic middle-grade adventure that mixes the anxieties, friendships, and wonders of a Cherokee boy's life with Cherokee history and lore. Ziggy has ANXIETY. Partly this is because of the way his mind works, and how overwhelmed he...

A tween boy's search for his mother is aided by animals and other beings from Cherokee lore, highlighting the epidemic of missing women in Native American communities. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Living ghosts & mischievous monsters : chilling American Indian stories
Jones, Dan C.
Paper Book
Perfect for fans of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark! A shiver-inducing collection of short stories to read under the covers, from a breadth of American Indian nations. Dark figures in the night. An owl's cry on the wind. Monsters watching from the edge of the wood. Some of...

A compendium of traditional and modern spooky stories and urban legends that fans of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark will love. (Children's Nonfiction Age 8-12)

Eagle drums
Hopson, Nasug raq Rainey
Paper Book
A magical realistic middle grade debut about the origin story of the Iñupiaq Messenger Feast, a Native Alaskan tradition.As his family prepares for winter, a young, skilled hunter must travel up the mountain to collect obsidian for knapping--the same mountain where his two older brothers died.When...

Hatchet fans will love the outdoor adventures in this retelling of a traditional Inupiaq story. (Children's Nonfiction Age 8-12)

Voices of the people
Bruchac, Joseph
Paper Book
DEVELOPMENT: Voices of the People Trade Book (Hardcover)

Award-winning Abenaki author Bruchac uses short poems to share the accomplishments of 34 Indigenous leaders from North American history. (Children's Nonfiction Age 9-12)

Of all tribes : American Indians and Alcatraz
Bruchac, Joseph
Paper Book
In Of All Tribes, Abenaki children's book icon Joseph Bruchac tells the stirring history of the 1969 occupation of Alcatraz by Native Americans, which established a precedent for Indian activism. "Alcatraz is not an island. It's an idea." --activist Richard Oakes...

A story of a famous Civil Rights-era protest movement led by Indigenous North Americans, the 1969 occupation of Alcatraz. (Children's Nonfiction Age 10-14)

Sisters of the Neversea
Smith, Cynthia Leitich
Paper Book
Five starred reviews! In this beautifully reimagined story by NSK Neustadt Laureate and New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee Creek), Native American Lily and English Wendy embark on a high-flying journey of magic, adventure, and courage to a fairy-tale...

Beloved author and HeartDrum editor Smith takes on Peter Pan, telling a modern version of the story from an Indigenous girl's point of view. (Muscogee Creek, Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

The birchbark house
Erdrich, Louise
Paper Book
"[In this] story of a young Ojibwa girl, Omakayas, living on an island in Lake Superior around 1847, Louise Erdrich is reversing the narrative perspective used in most children's stories about nineteenth-century Native Americans. Instead of looking out at 'them' as dangers or curiosities, Erdrich,...

A classic from a National Book Award winning novelist, this is a great choice for fans of Little House on the Prairie who are interested in learning more about upper Midwest life in the nineteenth century. (Ojibwe, Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)


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