2026 AIYLA Awards and Honors

Updated January 27, 2026
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Chooch helped
Rogers, Andrea L.
Paper Book
Every big sister knows the feeling: little brothers get away with EVERYTHING! Meet Sissy, who's had it up to here with her two-year-old brother Chooch. No matter what chaos he creates in their loving Cherokee family--and trust us, there's a lot--their parents just smile and say...
Buffalo dreamer
Duncan, Violet
Paper Book
Summer and her family always spend relaxed summers in Alberta, Canada, on the reservation where her mom's family lives. But this year is turning out to be an eye-opening one. First, Summer has begun to have vivid dreams in which she's running away from one of the many real-life residential schools...
Red Bird danced
Quigley, Dawn
Paper Book
With lyrical verse and powerful emotion, Dawn Quigley (Ojibwe) tells the story of urban Native kids who find strength in connection with those who came before and in the hope that lets them take flight. Ariel and Tomah have lived in the city's intertribal housing complex all...
The ribbon skirt : a graphic novel
Mukwa, Cameron
Paper Book
A joyful coming-of-age middle-grade graphic novel by debut Indigenous creator Cameron Mukwa about the journey of a two-spirit kid who wants to create a ribbon skirt for the upcoming powwow.Ten-year-old Anang wants to make a ribbon skirt, a piece of clothing typically worn by girls in the...
Sheine Lende : a prequel to Elatsoe
Little Badger, Darcie
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...
Sisters in the Wind
Boulley, Angeline.
Paper Book
The unfinished
Isaacs, Cheryl
Paper Book
In her stunning debut, Cheryl Isaacs (Mohawk) pulls the reader into an unsettling tale of monsters, mystery, and secrets that refuse to stay submerged. When small-town athlete Avery's morning run leads her to a strange pond in the middle of the forest, she awakens a horror the townspeople...
Where wolves don't die
Treuer, Anton
Paper Book
Tightly woven Indigenous YA thriller that explores masculinity and love between generations of family Ezra Cloud hates living in Northeast Minneapolis. His father is a professor of their language, Ojibwe, at a local college, so they have to be there. But Ezra hates the dirty,...

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