Book Recommendations for National Native American Heritage Month

November is National American Indian Heritage Month, which makes it the perfect time to pick up books by and about Native American and Indigenous people. It's not only a chance to celebrate diverse cultures, traditions, and contributions, but also to bring awareness to the challenges they faced throughout history. We've gathered a list below featuring fiction, non-fiction, children's books, and poetry that we hope you check out.

Updated December 1, 2023
Southeastern Ohio Regional LibraryChillicothe & Ross County Public Library
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Braiding sweetgrass
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
A New York Times Bestseller A Washington Post Bestseller Named a "Best Essay Collection of the Decade" by Literary Hub As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member...
Night of the living rez
Talty, Morgan
NATIONAL BESTSELLER Winner of the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection New England Book Award Winner, Fiction A Finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Fiction, The Story Prize, B&N Discover Book Prize A New York...
The lost journals of Sacajewea
Earling, Debra Magpie
Winner of the Montana Book Award From the award-winning author of Perma Red comes a devastatingly beautiful novel that challenges prevailing historical narratives of Sacajewea. "In my seventh winter,...
A council of dolls : a novel
Power, Susan
A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD NOMINEE The long-awaited, profoundly moving, and unforgettable new novel from PEN Award-winning Native American author Mona Susan Power, spanning three generations of Yanktonai Dakota women from the 19th century to the present day. From the...
We are water protectors
Lindstrom, Carole
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,...
Give me some truth : a novel with paintings
Gansworth, Eric L.
NPR Best Books of the Year * Boston Globe Best Books of the Year * School Library Journal Best Books of the Year * Chicago Public Library Best Books of the YearA powerful new book from Eric Gansworth, author of If I Ever Get Out of Here, that speaks the truth on race, relationships, and rock from...
Chester Nez and the unbreakable code : a Navajo code talker's story
Bruchac, Joseph
A Junior Library Guild Selection April 2018 2018 Cybils Award Finalist, Elementary Non-Fiction BRLA 2018 Southwest Book Award 2019 Southwest Books of the Year: Kid Pick 2020 Grand Canyon Award, Nonfiction Nominee 2020-2021...
The berry pickers : a novel
Peters, Amanda
NATIONAL BESTSELLER 2023 Barnes & Noble Discover Prize Winner Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction A four-year-old Mi'kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a mystery that will haunt the survivors, unravel a family,...
Fry bread : a Native American family story
Maillard, Kevin Noble
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...
Warrior Girl Unearthed
Boulley, Angeline
An Instant New York Times bestseller! A #1 Indies Bestseller!A Publisher's Lunch Best YA of 2023! An Amazon Best Book of the Year!Winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award!A Horn Book Fanfare Title! A BookPage Best...
Searching for Savanna : The Murder of One Native American Woman and the Violence Against the Many
Gable, Mona
A gripping and illuminating investigation into the disappearance of Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind when she was eight months pregnant, highlighting the shocking epidemic of violence against Native American women in America and the societal ramifications of government inaction. In...
Never whistle at night : an Indigenous dark fiction anthology
Hawk, Shane
NATIONAL BESTSELLER .BRAM STOKER AWARD NOMINEE FOR SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN AN ANTHOLOGY A bold, clever, and sublimely sinister collection that dares to ask the question- "Are you ready to be un-settled?" "Never failed to surprise, delight, and shock." -Nick...
Postcolonial love poem
Diaz, Natalie
WINNER OF THE 2021 PULITZER PRIZE IN POETRY FINALIST FOR THE 2020 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR POETRY Natalie Diaz's highly anticipated follow-up to When My Brother Was an Aztec, winner of an American Book Award Postcolonial Love Poem is an...
Seed to plate, soil to sky : modern plant-based recipes using Native American ingredients
Frank, Lois Ellen
This enriching cookbook celebrates eight important plants Native Americans introduced to the rest of the world: corn, beans, squash, chile, tomato, potato, vanilla, and cacao--with more than 100 recipes. When these eight Native American plants crossed the ocean after 1492, the world's...
Birding while Indian : a mixed-blood memoir
Gannon, Thomas C.
"A fascinating search for personal and cultural identity." --Kirkus Thomas C. Gannon's Birding While Indian spans more than fifty years of childhood walks and adult road trips to deliver, via a compendium of birds recorded and revered,...
The rediscovery of America : native peoples and the unmaking of U.S. history
Blackhawk, Ned
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   Named...
A snake falls to Earth
Little Badger, Darcie
Newbery Honor Winner National Indie Bestseller National Book Award Longlist Minneapolis Star Tribune Best of the Year Publishers Weekly Best of the Year Kirkus Best the Year Apple Best of the...
There there
Orange, Tommy
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...
The seed keeper : a novel
Wilson, Diane
A haunting novel spanning several generations, The Seed Keeper follows a Dakhóta family's struggle to preserve their way of life, and their sacrifices to protect what matters most. Rosalie Iron Wing has grown up in the woods with her father, Ray, a former science teacher who tells her...
Sisters of the lost nation
Medina, Nick
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...

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