Native American Children's Books

Books by and about Native Americans to help expand children's knowledge of a perhaps new-to-them group.
Updated September 19, 2022
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The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses
Paul Goble
"There was a girl in the village who loved horses... She led the horses to drink at the river. She spoke softly and they followed. People noticed that she understood horses in a special way." And so begins the story of a young Native American girl devoted to the care of her tribe's...
Everybody Needs a Rock
Byrd Baylor
Everybody needs a rock -- at least that's the way this particular rock hound feels about it in presenting her own highly individualistic rules for finding just the right rock for you.
Arrow to the Sun: A Pueblo Indian Tale
Gerald McDermott
With vibrant colors and bold geometric forms, Gerald McDermott brilliantly captures the stylized look of Pueblo Indian art in this Caldecott Award-winning retelling of an ancient legend. A young boy searches for his father, but before he can claim his heritage he must first prove his worthiness by...
The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush
Tomie dePaola
In spring, the hills and meadows of Texas and Wyoming are ablaze with the reds, oranges, and yellows of the Indian Paintbrush. How this striking plant received its name is told in an old Indian legend. Many years ago, when the People traveled the Plains, a young Indian boy had a Dream-Vision in...
We Are Water Protectors
Carole Lindstrom
From author Carole Lindstrom and illustrator Michaela Goade comes a New York Times bestselling and Caldecott Medal winning picture book that honors Indigenous-led movements across the world. Powerfully written and gorgeously illustrated, We Are Water Protectors,...
You Hold Me Up
Monique Gray Smith
Encourage children to show love and support for each other and to consider each other's well-being in their everyday actions. Consultant, international speaker and award-winning author Monique Gray Smith wrote You Hold Me Upto prompt a dialogue among young people, their care providers and...
A Day with Yayah
Nicola I. Campbell
A cheerful story from a renowned Canadian children's book author and an award-winning illustrator "Radiant picture book" -Quill & Quire Set in the Nicola Valley, British Columbia, in Canada's westernmost province, a First Nations family goes on an...
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story
Kevin Noble Maillard
Winner of the 2020 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal A 2020 American Indian Youth Literature Picture Book Honor Winner "A wonderful and sweet book . . . Lovely stuff." --The New York Times Book Review Told in lively and powerful...
We Sang You Home
Richard Van Camp
A celebration of the bond between parent and child, this is the perfect song to share with your little ones. In this sweet and lyrical picture book from the creators of the bestselling Little You, gentle rhythmic text captures the wonder new parents feel as they welcome baby into the...
Bowwow Powwow
Brenda J. Child
Windy Girl is blessed with a vivid imagination. From Uncle she gathers stories of long-ago traditions, about dances and sharing and gratitude. Windy can tell such stories herself-about her dog, Itchy Boy, and the way he dances to request a treat and how he wriggles with joy in response to, well,...
My Heart Fills with Happiness
Monique Gray Smith
★ "A quiet loveliness, sense of gratitude, and--yes--happiness emanate from this tender celebration of simple pleasures."--Publishers Weekly, starred review The sun on your face. The smell of warm bannock baking in the oven. Holding the hand of someone you love. What fills your heart...
We All Play
Julie Flett
A BEST CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR: New York Times, Washington Post, New York Public Library, Kirkus Reviews, Globe and Mail, Horn Book, and Boston Globe STARRED Reviews in Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, The Horn...
We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga
Traci Sorell
2019 Sibert Honor Book 2019 Orbis Pictus Honor Book NPR's Guide To 2018's Great Reads 2018 BookLaunchAward (SCBWI) Kirkus ReviewsBest Books of 2018 School Library JournalBest Books of 2018 2018 JLG selection 2019 Reading...
Wild Berries
Julie Flett
Wild Berries is the beautiful tale of a young boy who spends a summer day picking wild blueberries with his grandmother. The Metis and Cree are indigenous peoples based across Canada and North America with a rich history and culture. Exploring the important tradition of berry-picking for Metis and...
Thunder Boy Jr.
Sherman Alexie
From New York Times bestselling author Sherman Alexie and Caldecott Honor winning Yuyi Morales comes a striking and beautifully illustrated picture book celebrating the special relationship between father and son. Thunder Boy Jr. wants a normal name...one that's all his...
Thanks to the Animals
Allen J. Sockabasin
Little Zoo Sap and his family are moving from their summer home on the coast to the deep woods for the winter, traveling on a big bobsled pulled by big horses through the snow. When Zoo Sap falls off of the sled unnoticed, the forest animals hear his cries. First to come are the beaver, who...
When the Shadbush Blooms
Carla Messinger
A young Lenape Indian girl observes and reflects on the small, important ways her family today, and her ancestors generations before, celebrate the cycle of seasons. Today when a Lenape Indian girl ventures to the stream to fish for shad, she knows that another girl did the...
The Water Walker
Joanne Robertson
The story of a determined Ojibwe Grandmother (Nokomis) Josephine-ba Mandamin and her great love for Nibi (water). Nokomis walks to raise awareness of our need to protect Nibi for future generations, and for all life on the planet. She, along with other women, men, and youth, have walked around all...
Jingle Dancer
Cynthia Leitich Smith
New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith's lyrical text is paired with the warm, evocative watercolors of Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu in this affirming story of a contemporary Native American girl who turns to her family and community. The cone-shaped jingles sewn...
Saltypie: A Choctaw Journey from Darkness into Light
Tim Tingle
Bee stings on the backside! That was just the beginning. Tim was about to enter a world of the past, with bullying boys, stones and Indian spirits of long ago. But they were real spirits, real stones, very real memories... In this powerful family saga, author Tim Tingle tells...
Rez Dogs
Joseph Bruchac
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-...
At the Mountain's Base
Traci Sorell
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...
Sweetest Kulu
Celina Kalluk
"Dream a little, Kulu, this world now sings a most beautiful song of you." This beautiful bedtime poem, written by acclaimed Inuit throat singer Celina Kalluk, describes the gifts given to a newborn baby by all the animals of the Arctic. Lyrically and tenderly told by a...
Hungry Johnny
Cheryl Kay Minnema
"I like to eat, eat, eat," choruses young Johnny as he watches Grandma at work in the kitchen. Wild rice, fried potatoes, fruit salad, frosted sweet rolls--what a feast! Johnny can hardly contain his excitement. In no time, he'll be digging in with everyone else, filling his belly with all this...
Nimoshom and His Bus
Penny M Thomas
In this warm and joyful picture book highly recommended by Debbie Reese, children learn Cree from Nimoshom, their school bus driver. Based on the author's memories of her grandfather, Nimoshom is not your average bus driver. He loves to drive the school bus, tell silly stories, and share...

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