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Recommended Reads: Books about Native Americans
A selection of stories and poetry about Native Americans to inspire learning about Native peoples and cultures
Lately, I have been reading a number of stories and poems written about Native American people, sparking my interest in learning more about Indigenous experiences and cultures!
I learned much in my research. For instance, I discovered that Native Americans describe their own cultures and the places they come from in a variety of ways. The words “tribe” and “nation” are often used interchangeably but hold different meanings for many Native people. Often, tribes have more than one name because when Europeans arrived in the Americas, they used inaccurate pronunciations of tribal names or renamed tribes with European names. Many tribal groups are known officially by names that include “nation.” Every community has a distinct perspective on how they describe themselves and not all individuals from one community may agree on terminology.
I hope that this selection of stories and poetry will inspire you to learn more about Indigenous Peoples the same way it has for me!
Digital book (DB), braille (BR), and large print (LT) copies of these titles are available from Perkins Library or the Worcester Talking Book Library. Please contact Perkins Library to order any of these books.
Prepared by Linda Rossman, Librarian, Perkins Library
Almanac of the Dead: A Novel
by Leslie Marmon Silko
DB 35184, available as BARD download
Tucson, Arizona, is at the center of this epic novel—a complex story about the Europeans who have exploited the land since their arrival 500 years ago. In the midst of a large cast of characters is Seese, a woman whose life is symbolic of the struggle between the declining culture of the conquerors and the impending uprising of the conquered. Descriptions of sex, strong language, and violence. 1991.
The Ancient Child
by N. Scott Momaday
DB 31195, available as BARD download
Grey, a young medicine women, has visionary conversations with Billy the Kid. Set, a Native American artist in his forties, is suffering from such stress that his spirit seems to be merging with that of the legendary bear of the Kiowa Indians. Returning to the land of the ancestors, Set meets Grey, and his world is turned upside down. She both revitalizes and transforms him. Violence, strong language, and explicit descriptions of sex. 1989.
Download The Ancient Child, DB 31195
An American Sunrise: Poems
by Joy Harjo
DB 101306, BR 22723, available as BARD download
Collection of fifty-seven poems by the twenty-third US poet laureate. Themes explored include colonialism-induced generational trauma, aging, creative expression, activism, and the beauty of nature. In “By the Way,” Harjo reflects on the impact of Adrienne Rich on her own work. In An American Sunrise, Harjo finds blessings in the abundance of her homeland and confronts the site where her people, and other indigenous families, essentially disappeared. From her memory of her mother’s death, to her beginnings in the native rights movement, to the fresh road with her beloved, Harjo’s personal life intertwines with tribal histories to create a space for renewed beginnings. Her poems sing of beauty and survival, illuminating a spirituality that connects her to her ancestors and thrums with the quiet anger of living in the ruins of injustice. Commercial audiobook. 2019.
The Blessing Way
by Tony Hillerman
DB 49586, BR 1357, available as BARD download
A novel about an anthropologist who goes to a Navajo reservation to do research on witchcraft and gets involved in murder, intrigue, and magic. 1970.
The Children of the Morning Light: Wampanoag Tales
as told by Maintonquat (Medicine Story)
DB 41130, available as BARD download
Members of the Wampanoag Native American tribe in Massachusetts are also known as Children of the Morning Light. The author, a tribal elder, tells his tribe’s creation stories, which feature Maushop, grandson of the moon. Maushop made the land, plants, animals, and people. His jealous twin brother made poisonous plants and animals. Maushop became the helper and teacher of the people. For grades 3-6. Folklore.
Download Children of the Morning Light, DB 41130
Dead Soul
by James D. Doss
DB 62196, available as BARD download
Ute elder Oscar Sweetwater asks former policeman Charlie Moon to investigate the unsolved murder of fellow tribesman Billy Smoke, killed during an attack that left Billy’s boss, Colorado senator Patch Davidson, severely injured. Meanwhile, Charlie’s shaman aunt encounters a young woman in trouble and urges Charlie to help her. 2003.
From Where the Sun Now Stands
by Will Henry
DB 70559, available as BARD download
A young Nez Perce warrior, Chief Joseph’s nephew, chronicles the treaty violations that forced his people on a trek from Oregon to Montana. The tribe’s doomed campaign for freedom culminates in Chief Joseph’s vow to “fight no more forever” in his 1877 surrender speech. Some violence and some strong language. Spur Award. 1960.
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story
by Kevin Noble Maillard
DB 98387, available as BARD download
A family comes together to enjoy fry bread, a post-colonial food that is a shared tradition for Native American families all across the continent. Includes a recipe and an extensive author’s note. Sibert Medal. As children help a Native American grandmother make fry bread, delves into the history, social ways, foodways, and politics of America’s 573 recognized Indian tribes. For preschool-grade 2. 2019. American Indian Youth Literature Award, Best Picture Book, 2020. Robert F. Sibert Award, 2020.
Going Through Ghosts: A Novel
by Mary Sojourner
DB 75189, available as BARD download
Fifty-five-year-old cocktail waitress Maggie helps young, transient Native American Sarah obtain a job at a rundown casino in Creosote, Nevada. Sarah is dead but her soul has returned to resolve some spiritual issues. Spur Award finalist. 2010.
The Heartsong of Charging Elk: A Novel
by James Welch
DB 53056, available as BARD download
France, 1890s. While traveling abroad with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, the ailing Charging Elk, an Oglala Indian, is left behind in a Marseille hospital. Speaking neither French nor English, the penniless Native American faces daunting difficulties in a foreign culture. Some explicit descriptions of sex and some strong language. 2000.
The Hiawatha: A Novel
by David Treuer
DB 112834, available as BARD download
Recently widowed, and encouraged by government relocation schemes to move Native Americans off their reservations, Betty takes her four young children from their Ojibwe roots to make a new life in Minneapolis. As Betty struggles to keep her family and her dignity intact, her younger son Lester finds romance on the soon-to-be-demolished train, The Hiawatha, while his older brother Simon secretly protects his mother by taking a dangerous job as a construction worker, scaling the heights of the skyscrapers that, once completed, will never welcome him. Twenty years later, Simon is released from prison for a horrible crime of passion. His return to Minneapolis sets in motion the dramatic, inevitable conclusion to one family’s ceaseless fight to survive.” 2013.
How We Become Human: New and Selected Poems
by Joy Harjo
DB 96674, BR 22778, available as BARD download
Collection of poems written between 1975 and 2001 by the twenty-third United States poet laureate that draw on the tradition of praising the land and the spirit. “A Postcolonial Tale” examines the strength necessary to emerge from the pain of generational trauma inflicted by colonialism. 2002.
Island of the Blue Dolphins
by Scott O’Dell
DB 62761, JL 28, available as BARD download
When her Native American tribe leaves a California coastal island, Karana remains behind with her younger brother. After his death, she survives for eighteen years finding comfort, beauty, and at times joy in her solitude. For grades 6-9. Newbery Medal. 1960.
Moon of Bitter Cold
by Frederick J. Chiaventone
DB 86994, available as BARD download
Even as the Civil War ends, violence is on a rise in the west between the United States and the Plains Indians. A Lakota Sioux leader unites thousands of warriors from the Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Crow to fight the encroaching settlers. Some violence and some strong language. 2002.
People of the Whale: A Novel
by Linda Hogan
DB 68273, available as BARD download
Pacific Northwest. Native American Thomas and his longtime sweetheart Ruth have just married when Thomas enlists and is wrenched from his community. Changed profoundly by the Vietnam War, Thomas stays away, only returning to participate in an ill-fated whale hunt years later. Some violence and some strong language. 2008.
The Plague of Doves
by Louise Erdrich
DB 66886, available as BARD download
The long-ago murder of a white family and subsequent mob lynching of innocent Native Americans still haunt the town of Pluto, North Dakota, and the nearby Ojibwe reservation. Evelina, her grandfather Mooshum, Judge Coutts, and Doctor Lochran, whose lives intertwine, are unknowingly affected by the past. Some violence. Bestseller. 2008.
The River We Remember
by William Kent Krueger
DB 116354, available as BARD download
On Memorial Day, as the people of Jewel, Minnesota, gather to remember and honor the sacrifice of so many sons in the wars of the past, the half-clothed body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. Investigation of the murder falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who has recently returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife. As suspicions and accusations mount and the town teeters on the edge of more violence, Dern struggles not only to find the truth of Quinn’s murder but also put to rest the demons from his own past. 2023.
The Round House
by Louise Erdrich
DB 75641, available as BARD download
North Dakota, 1988. Thirteen-year-old Joe Coutts’s mother Geraldine, a tribal enrollment specialist, is brutally raped at the Ojibwe Round House. Joe and his father, a judge, each search for Geraldine’s attacker to bring him to justice. Strong language, some violence, and some descriptions of sex. National Book Award. Bestseller. 2012.
Touching Spirit Bear
by Ben Mikaelsen
DB 53095, BR 13676, BRC 71, available as BARD download
To avoid prison after viciously attacking a classmate, fifteen-year-old Cole agrees to a Native American tradition for healing—one year alone on a remote Alaskan island. There Cole confronts a huge white Spirit Bear that changes his life. Some violence. For junior and senior high readers. 2001.
Wandering Stars
by Tommy Orange
DB 119674, LT 35026, available as BARD download
Colorado, 1864. Star, a young survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre, is brought to the Fort Marion Prison Castle, where he is forced to learn English and practice Christianity by Richard Henry Pratt, an evangelical prison guard who will go on to found the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, an institution dedicated to the eradication of Native history, culture, and identity. A generation later, Star’s son, Charles, is sent to the school, where he is brutalized by the man who was once his father’s jailer. Under Pratt’s harsh treatment, Charles clings to moments he shares with a young fellow student, Opal Viola, as the two envision a future away from the institutional violence that follows their bloodlines. 2024.
The Water and the Blood
by Nancy E. Turner
DB 93914, available as BARD download
East Texas, 1941. Frosty is navigating her senior year of high school, wishing to leave her small town, when war breaks out. She eventually moves to California where she meets Gordon, a Native American soldier. But secrets resurface when she returns to Texas. Some violence. 2001.
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