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CECH Library New Native American Children's Literature

NEW Native American Non-Fiction Books

by Rachel Hoople on 2025-01-31T09:00:00-05:00 | 0 Comments

 

Cover ArtThe Frog Mother by Hetxw'ms Gyetxw Brett D. Huson; Natasha Donovan (Illustrator)
Call Number: j597.892 HUS
ISBN: 9781553799016
Publication Date: 2021
To the Gitxsan of Northwestern British Columbia, Nox Ga'naaw is a storyteller, speaking truths of the universe. After Nox Ga'naaw, the frog mother, releases her eggs among the aquatic plants of a pond, the tiny tadpoles are left to fend for themselves. As they hatch, grow legs, and transform into their adult selves, they must avoid the mouths of hungry predators. Will the young frogs survive to spawn their own eggs, continuing a cycle 200 million years in the making? Book four of the Mothers of Xsan series follows the life cycle of the columbia spotted frog. Learn about why this species is of special significance to the Gitxsan and how Nox Ga'naaw and her offspring are essential to the balance that is life.
 
Cover ArtThe Sockeye Mother by Hetxw'ms Gyetxw Brett D. Huson; Natasha Donovan (Illustrator)
Call Number: j597.56 HUS
ISBN: 9781553797395
Publication Date: 2018
To the Gitxsan people of Northwestern British Columbia, the sockeye salmon is more than just a source of food. Over its life cycle, it nourishes the very land and forests that the Skeena River runs through and where the Gitxsan make their home. The Sockeye Mother explores how the animals, water, soil, and seasons are all intertwined.
 
Cover ArtWhat Your Ribbon Skirt Means to Me by Alexis Bunten; Nicole Neidhardt (Illustrator)
Call Number: j305.897 BUN
ISBN: 9780316430036
Publication Date: 2023
This beautiful, informative, Indigenous picture book offers both an homage to Secretary Deb Haaland's achievements, and a celebration of urban Indigenous community through the eyes of a little girl.  Pia rushes over to the Indigenous community center after school. It's where she goes every day to play outside with friends and work on her homework. But today--March 18, 2021--is special: Auntie Autumn gathers all the children around their television to witness Secretary Deb Haaland in her ribbon skirt at the White House as she becomes the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary. 
 
Cover ArtKeeping Promises by Betty Reid; Ben Winton
Call Number: j323.1197073 REI
ISBN: 9781583690345
Publication Date: 2004
Keeping Promises concisely and simply answers questions about law enforcement, Indian gaming, reservation boundaries, and other subjects. Most important, it helps us understand how Indians define themselves, their tribes, and their sovereignty. 
 
Cover ArtIndigenous Ingenuity by Deidre Havrelock; Edward Kay
Call Number: j500.89 HAV
ISBN: 9780316413336
Publication Date: 2023
Corn. Chocolate. Fishing hooks. Boats that float. Insulated double-walled construction. Recorded history and folklore. Life-saving disinfectant. Forest fire management. Our lives would be unrecognizable without these, and countless other, scientific discoveries and technological inventions from Indigenous North Americans. Spanning topics from transportation to civil engineering, hunting technologies, astronomy, brain surgery, architecture, and agriculture, Indigenous Ingenuity is a wide-ranging STEM offering that answers the call for Indigenous nonfiction by reappropriating hidden history.
 
Cover ArtThe Secret Pocket by Peggy Janicki
Call Number: j371.82997 JAN
ISBN: 9781459833722
Publication Date: 2023
The true story of how Indigenous girls at a residential school sewed secret pockets into their dresses to hide food and survive. Mary was four years old when she was first taken away to the Lejac Indian Residential School. It was far away from her home and family. Always hungry and cold, there was little comfort for young Mary. Speaking Dakelh was forbidden and the nuns and priest were always watching, ready to punish. Mary and the other girls had a genius idea: drawing on the knowledge from their mothers, aunts and grandmothers who were all master sewers, the girls would sew hidden pockets in their clothes to hide food. They secretly gathered materials and sewed at nighttime, then used their pockets to hide apples, carrots and pieces of bread to share with the younger girls. Based on the author's mother's experience at residential school, The Secret Pocket is a story of survival and resilience in the face of genocide and cruelty. But it's also a celebration of quiet resistance to the injustice of residential schools and how the sewing skills passed down through generations of Indigenous women gave these girls a future, stitch by stitch.
 
Cover ArtThe First Woman Cherokee Chief: Wilma Pearl Mankiller by Patricia Morris Buckley; Aphelandra Messer (Illustrator)
Call Number: B MAN Board book
ISBN: 9780593568514
Publication Date: 2023
Find out all about Wilma Pearl Mankiller, the first woman Cherokee chief whose image appears on the U.S. quarter, in this Step 3 Biography Reader. In 1985, Wilma Pearl Mankiller became the first woman Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. She had to convince her people that the chief should be the best person for the job, man or woman. Before the English came to what is now the United States, Cherokee women and men shared the leadership of the tribe. This created balance. But the English colonists told the Native People that men should be in charge. It stayed that way for many years, until Wilma Pearl Mankiller made history. She used the concept of gaduji, of everyone helping each other, to make the Cherokee Nation strong. Step 3 Readers feature engaging characters in easy-to-follow plots and popular topics--for children who are ready to read on their own.
 
Cover ArtThis Indian Kid: a Native American Memoir (Scholastic Focus) by Eddie Chuculate
Call Number: B CHU
ISBN: 9781338802085
Publication Date: 2023
Award-winning author Eddie Chuculate recounts his experience growing up in rural Oklahoma, from boyhood to young manhood, in an evocative and vivid voice. Scholastic Focus is the premier home of thoroughly researched, beautifully written, and thoughtfully designed works of narrative nonfiction aimed at middle-grade and young adult readers. These books help readers learn about the world in which they live and develop their critical thinking skills so that they may become dynamic citizens who are able to analyze and understand our past, participate in essential discussions about our present, and work to grow and build our future. "Granny was full-blooded Creek, but the Bureau of Indian Affairs insisted she was fifteen-sixteenths. She showed her card to me. I'd sit at the kitchen table and stare at her when she was eating, wondering how you can be a sixteenth of anything." Growing up impoverished and shuttled between different households, it seemed life was bound to take a certain path for Eddie Chuculate. Despite the challenges he faced, his upbringing was rich with love and bountiful lessons from his Creek and Cherokee heritage, deep-rooted traditions he embraced even as he learned to live within the culture of white, small-town America that dominated his migratory childhood.

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