Indigenous Authors - Recommended reading for teens

Updated August 14, 2024
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Winnipeg Public Library Winnipeg Public Library
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Indigenous Authors - Recommended reading for teens

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1

The second chance of Benjamin Waterfalls
Bird, James
Paper Book
A middle-grade novel by James Bird about a boy sent to his Ojibwe family to straighten out his life. Benjamin Waterfalls comes from a broken home, and the quickest fix he's found for his life is to fill that emptiness with stuff he steals and then sells. But he's been caught...

2

Harvest house
Smith, Cynthia Leitich
Paper Book
NSK Neustadt Laureate and New York Times best-selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith delivers a thrilling cross-genre follow-up to the acclaimed Hearts Unbroken. Deftly leading readers to the literary crossroads of contemporary realism and haunting mystery, Cynthia...

3

#NotYourPrincess : voices of Native American women
Leatherdale, Mary Beth
Paper Book
Whether looking back to a troubled past or welcoming a hopeful future, the powerful voices of Indigenous women across North America resound in this book.  In the same style as the best-selling Dreaming in Indian, #NotYourPrincess presents an eclectic collection of poems, essays...
Also available in eBook format.

4

Funeral songs for dying girls
Dimaline, Cherie
Paper Book
After inadvertently starting rumors of a haunted cemetery, a teen befriends a ghost in this brand-new young adult novel exploring grief and belonging by the critically acclaimed and bestselling author of The Marrow Thieves series. Winifred has lived in the apartment above the...
Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

5

The marrow thieves
Dimaline, Cherie
Other
Winner of the 2017 Governor General's Literary Award (Young People's Literature - Text) Winner of the 2017 Kirkus PrizeWinner of the 2018 Sunburst Award Winner of the 2018 Amy Mathers Teen Book Award Winner of the 2018 Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit...

Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats, as well as a Book Club Kit.

6

Pilleurs de rêves
Dimaline, Cherie
Paper Book

Avec Pilleurs de reves, Cherie Dimaline cree un monde dystopique aussi lugubre qu'inquietant, qui ne nous est pourtant pas completement etranger. Elle parvient a tisser des liens troublants entre cet univers fictif et le monde dans lequel nous vivons, presentant une allegorie puissante du colonialisme en Amerique du Nord.

Aussi disponible en format numerique.

7

Those Pink Mountain nights
Ferguson, Jenny
Paper Book
In her remarkable second novel following her Governor General's Award-winning debut, The Summer of Bitter and Sweet, Jen Ferguson writes about the hurt of a life stuck in past tense, the hum of connections that cannot be severed, and one week in a small, snowy town that changes everything. <...

8

My good man
Gansworth, Eric
Paper Book
BEST OF THE YEAR Kirkus * Boston Globe A literary tour-de-force sure to turn the coming-of-age genre on its head from Printz honoree Eric Gansworth Brian, a 20-something reporter on the Niagara Cascade's City...

9

Rez ball
Graves, Byron
Paper Book
This compelling debut novel by new talent Byron Graves tells the relatable, high-stakes story of a young athlete determined to play like the hero his Ojibwe community needs him to be. These days, Tre Brun is happiest when he is playing basketball on the Red Lake Reservation high school...

Also available in eBook format.

10

Hopeless in Hope
John-Kehewin, Wanda
Paper Book
★ Among CCBC's Best Books for Kids & Teens list, a starred selection of exceptional caliber We live in a hopeless old house on an almost-deserted dead-end street in a middle-of-nowhere town named Hope. This is the oldest part of Hope; eventually it will all be torn...
Also available in eBook format.

11

Borders
King, Thomas
Paper Book
A stunning graphic-noveladaptation based on the work of one of Canada's most revered and bestsellingauthors On a trip to visit his older sister, who has moved away from the familyhome on the reserve to Salt Lake City, a young boy and his mother are posed asimple question with a not-so...
Also available in eBook format.

12

Sheine Lende : A Prequel to Elatsoe
Badger, Darcie Little/ Cai, Rovina (ILT)
Paper Book
"Like Elatsoe, Sheine Lende is much more chill than your typical YA fantasy or YA mystery. The stakes are high, but it never feels stressful. There is little on-the-page violence, and even when things get heavy or dangerous, the reader always feels...

13

Strangers
Robertson, David
Paper Book
A talking coyote, mysterious illnesses, and girl trouble. Coming home can be murder... When Cole Harper gets a mysterious message from an old friend begging him to come home, he has no idea what he's getting into. Compelled to return to Wounded Sky First Nation, Cole finds his...
Also available in eBook format.

14

Reckoner Rises. 2, Version control
Robertson, David
Paper Book
After finding out Mihko reinstated the Reckoner Initiative in Breakdown, Cole and Eva confronted Mihko head-on. But when Eva stumbles across a secret laboratory, she finds her worst nightmares come to life. After a vicious battle with Mihko's newest test subject leaves Cole close...
Also available in eBook format.

15

Apple in the middle
Quigley, Dawn
Paper Book
Apple Starkington turned her back on her Native American heritage the moment she was called a racial slur for someone of white and Indian descent, not that she really even knew how to be an Indian in the first place. Too bad the white world doesn't accept her either. And so begins her quirky habits...

16

Four faces of the moon
Strong, Amanda
Paper Book
"Four Faces of the Moon is a visually stunning story of Métis life, love and belonging. A rich, beautiful and immersive reading experience that shouldn't be missed." --Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, author of Noopiming: The Cure For White Ladies "This is magnificent storytelling. This is...

17

As I Enfold You in Petals
Van Camp, Richard.
Paper Book
Newly sober, Curtis searches for healing in the ancient cultural practices of his Tłıcho Dene grandfather. But will the Little People answer his call? Curtis has returned to Fort Smith, six weeks sober. He doesn't have any sober friends, his mom's still drinking, and his best...
Also available in eBook format.

18

A girl called Echo. Vol. 4, Road allowance era
Vermette, Katherena
Paper Book
A great read and teaching tool for National Indigenous History Month! In Road Allowance Era, Echo's story picks up again when she travels back in time to 1885. The government has not fulfilled its promise of land for the Métis, and many flee to the Northwest. As part of the fallout...

Also available in eBook format.

19

Elle s'appelle Echo T.4
Vermette, Katherena.
Paper Book

Echo Desjardins, Metisse de 13 ans, habite Winnipeg, au Manitoba. Lors d'un cours sur l'histoire des Autochtones au debut du 19e siecle, Echo se transporte dans le passee, jusqu'a devenir temoin privilégie de sa propre histoire, l'histoire meconnue des Metis du Canada.

20

The power of style : how fashion and beauty are being used to reclaim cultures
Allaire, Christian
Paper Book
Style is not just the clothes on our backs--it is self-expression, representation, and transformation. As a fashion-obsessed Ojibwe teen, Christian Allaire rarely saw anyone that looked like him in the magazines or movies he sought out for inspiration. Now the Fashion and Style Writer for...
Also available in eBook format.

21

I will see you again
Boivin, Lisa
Paper Book
When the author learns of the death of her brother overseas, she embarks on a journey to bring him home. Through memories and dreams of all they shared together and through her Dene traditions, she finds comfort and strength. The lyrical art and story leave readers with a universal message...
Also available in eBook format.

22

Warrior girl unearthed
Boulley, Angeline
Paper Book
An Instant New York Times bestseller! A #1 Indies Bestseller! Six Starred Reviews! #1 New York Times bestselling author of Firekeeper's Daughter Angeline Boulley takes us back to Sugar Island in this high-stakes thriller about the power of discovering your stolen...
Also available in Audiobook, eBook and eAudiobook formats.

23

The Scarf and the Butterfly : A Graphic Memoir of Hope and Healing
Ittusardjuat, Monica/ Lynge, Coco Apunnguaq (ILT)/ Plumbe, Scott (ILT)
Paper Book
"'There's an opening above me, but it's far, and I have to stack up rocks to jump up, and it's almost impossible to get out.' That's when I realized that I was stripped of my identity, and there was nothing of my culture left in me. It was like I wasn't in my body anymore. It was bare and...

24

The woman in the woods and other North American stories
McDonald, Kel
Paper Book
"Enjoyable for reading aloud or sharing around a campfire." -- KIRKUS "Be careful of what you accept from spirits." Loup Garrou, trickster rabbits, and spirits with names that can't be spoken -- the plains and forests of North America...

25

Braiding sweetgrass for young adults : indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Paper Book
I could hand you a braid of sweetgrass as thick and shining as the braid that hung down my grandmother's back. But it is not mine to give, nor yours to take. Wiingaashk belongs to herself. I offer, in her place, a braid of stories meant to heal our relationship with the world. As a...
Also available in eBook format.

26

Surviving the city. Vol. 2, From the roots up
Spillett-Sumner, Tasha
Paper Book
Dez's grandmother has passed away. Grieving, and with nowhere else to go, they're living in a group home. On top of everything else, Dez is navigating a new relationship and coming into their identity as a Two-Spirit person. Miikwan is crushing on the school's new kid Riel, but doesn't...
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