Must Reads by Indigenous Authors

Updated October 14, 2024
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Wandering stars
Orange, Tommy
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The Pulitzer Prize-finalist and author of the breakout bestseller There There ("Pure soaring beauty."The New York Times Book Review) delivers a masterful follow-up to his already classic first novel. Extending his constellation of narratives into...
Kapaemahu
Wong-Kalu, Hinaleimoana
Paper Book
An Indigenous legend about how four extraordinary individuals of dual male and female spirit, or Mahu, brought healing arts from Tahiti to Hawaii, based on the Academy Award-contending short film. A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of the Century In the 15th...
The truth according to Ember
Nava, Danica
Paper Book
Ember Lee Cardinal has not always been a liar - well, not for anything that counted at least. But her job search is not going well and when her resume is rejected for the thirty-seventh time, she takes matters into her own hands. She gets 'creative' listing her qualifications and answers the...
Indian burial ground
Medina, Nick
Paper Book
All Noemi Broussard wanted was a fresh start. With a new boyfriend who actually treats her right and a plan to move from the reservation she grew up on - just like her beloved Uncle Louie before her - things are finally looking up for Noemi. Until the news of her boyfriend's apparent suicide brings...
The heartbeat of Wounded Knee : native America from 1890 to the present
Treuer, David
Paper Book
Beginning with the tribes' devastating loss of land and the forced assimilation of their children at government-run boarding schools, he shows how the period of greatest adversity also helped to incubate a unifying Native identity. He traces how conscription in the US military and the pull of urban...
Probably Ruby : a novel
Bird-Wilson, Lisa
Paper Book
An Indigenous woman adopted by white parents goes in search of her identity in this unforgettable debut novel about family, race, and history. Finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award * "Engaging . . . Ruby never disappoints with her big heart and outrageous sense of...
Bad Cree : a novel
Johns, Jessica
Paper Book
In this gripping, horror-laced debut, a young Cree woman's dreams lead her on a perilous journey of self-discovery that ultimately forces her to confront the toll of a legacy of violence on her family, her community and the land they call home. "A mystery and a horror story about...
At the mountain's base
Sorell, Traci
Paper Book
A family, separated by duty and distance, waits for a loved one to return home in this lyrical picture book celebrating the bonds of a Cherokee family and the bravery of history-making women pilots. At the mountain's base sits a cabin under an old hickory tree. And in that cabin...
There there
Orange, Tommy
Paper Book
PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A wondrous and shattering award-winning novel that follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize. A contemporary classic, this...
Remember
Harjo, Joy
Paper Book
THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER .AN AMERICAN INDIAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION HONOR BOOK.A BOSTON GLOBE-HORN BOOK HONOR AWARD . NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY School Library Journal . Publishers Weekly . The Horn Book .NPR . The Bulletin . Kirkus Reviews
The only good Indians /
Jones, Stephen Graham,
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones comes a "masterpiece" (Locus Magazine) of a novel about revenge, cultural identity, and the cost of breaking from tradition. This is a remarkable horror story that "will give you nightmares-...
The only good Indians /
Jones, Stephen Graham,
Paper Book
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones comes a "masterpiece" (Locus Magazine) of a novel about revenge, cultural identity, and the cost of breaking from tradition. This is a remarkable horror story that "will give you nightmares-...
The heartbeat of Wounded Knee :
Treuer, David.
Paper Book
Beginning with the tribes' devastating loss of land and the forced assimilation of their children at government-run boarding schools, he shows how the period of greatest adversity also helped to incubate a unifying Native identity. He traces how conscription in the US military and the pull of urban...
The rediscovery of America : native peoples and the unmaking of U.S. history
Blackhawk, Ned
Paper Book
National Bestseller Winner of the 2023 National Book Award in Nonfiction * Finalist for the 2023 Los Angeles Times Book Award in History * Winner of 2024 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Nonfiction * Winner of the 2024 Mark Lynton History Prize ...
If I ever get out of here : a novel with paintings
Gansworth, Eric L.
Paper Book
"A heart-healing, mocs-on-the-ground story of music, family and friendship." -- Cynthia Leitich Smith, author of Tantalize and Rain is Not My Indian Name.Lewis "Shoe" Blake is used to the joys and difficulties of life on the Tuscarora Indian reservation in 1975: the joking, the...
Firekeeper's daughter
Boulley, Angeline
Paper Book
An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller! A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick! A Printz Medal AND Morris Award Winner! Soon to be adapted at Netflix for TV with President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground.
Colonization and the Wampanoag story
Coombs, Linda
Paper Book
Until now, you've only heard one side of the story: the "discovery" of America told by Christopher Columbus, the Pilgrims, and the Colonists. Here's the true story of America from the Indigenous perspective. When you think about the beginning of the American story, what...
Hearts unbroken
Smith, Cynthia Leitich
Paper Book
Winner of an American Indian Youth Literature Award New York Times best-selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith turns to realistic fiction with the thoughtful story of a Native teen navigating the complicated, confusing waters of high school -- and first love. ...
Sisters of the lost nation /
Medina, Nick.
Paper Book
Anna Horn is always looking over her shoulder. For the bullies who torment her, for the entitled visitors at the reservation's casino and for the nameless, disembodied entity that stalks her every step - an ancient tribal myth come to life, one that's intent on devouring her whole. With strange and...
Sisters of the lost nation
Medina, Nick
Paper Book
Anna Horn is always looking over her shoulder. For the bullies who torment her, for the entitled visitors at the reservation's casino and for the nameless, disembodied entity that stalks her every step - an ancient tribal myth come to life, one that's intent on devouring her whole. With strange and...
Firekeeper's daughter /
Boulley, Angeline.
Paper Book
An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller! A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick! A Printz Medal AND Morris Award Winner! Soon to be adapted at Netflix for TV with President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground.
Empire of wild : a novel
Dimaline, Cherie
Paper Book
"Deftly written, gripping and informative. Empire of Wild is a rip-roaring read!"--Margaret Atwood, From Instagram "Empire of Wild is doing everything I love in a contemporary novel and more. It is tough, funny, beautiful, honest and propulsive--all the while telling a...
Wandering stars /
Orange, Tommy,
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The Pulitzer Prize-finalist and author of the breakout bestseller There There ("Pure soaring beauty."The New York Times Book Review) delivers a masterful follow-up to his already classic first novel. Extending his constellation of narratives into...

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