Resource Category: Literature Guides

Powwow Day is a children’s book by Traci Sorell, an award-winning author and enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation known for her books celebrating Native American culture. The book is beautifully illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight, a Chickasaw artist and Rhode Island School of Design graduate who brings a vivid sense of Indigenous heritage to her artwork. In Powwow Day, Traci Sorell highlights a specific form of powwow dance and regalia, the jingle dress dance, recognized and known for its healing properties. River, a young girl recovering from illness, longs to participate in the healing jingle dress dance at the powwow celebration but must sit out as she recovers her strength. Watching and listening to her sister, cousins, and friends dance jingle—feather fans waving and metal cones clinking—fills River’s heart with hope. The jingle dance brings health and balance to participants and observers, and specifically to River in her own story of healing. This sacred dance, originating from Ojibwe traditions during the 1918 flu pandemic, combines song, movement, and the spiritual energy of the dress’s jingles to help heal.

Mascot by Charles Waters and Traci Sorell is a compelling novel in verse for middle schoolers and upper elementary students that takes on the debate over whether a school’s team name and mascot, The Braves, is a proud tradition or a harmful stereotype.

The book approaches the controversy around Indigenous school mascots from a broad range of perspectives, while making clear that they perpetuate harm and must be changed. Set in Rye, Virginia, the story follows six eighth-graders, each with different backgrounds and beliefs, as they navigate clashing opinions, changing relationships, and the challenge of speaking up in a divided community. As the students grapple with the issue, their rich and complex identities reveal how personal history, culture, class, and experience shape how they see justice, tradition, and change.

Waters, a children’s poet and coauthor of African Town and Can I Touch Your Hair?, and Sorell, an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation and award-winning author of We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga and Powwow Day, bring depth, authenticity, and multiple perspectives to this timely story. Widely acclaimed, Mascot has earned honors including the 2024 American Indian Youth Literature Award (Middle Grade Honor), the Oklahoma Book Award for Young Adult, the Charlotte Huck Honor Award, and the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award (Chapter Book Honor).

Bowwow Powwow by Brenda Child, professor of American Studies at the University of Minnesota, who received The American Indian Book Award in 2014, and illustrated by award-winning painter and digital media artist Gordon Jourdain, follows Windy Girl and her spirited dog, Itchy Boy, as they attend a summer powwow with an uncle who shares stories about tradition. At the gathering, Windy Girl enjoys delicious traditional foods, listens to the singers, and watches the colorful dancers move to the steady beat of the drum. Later that night, beneath the northern lights, Windy falls asleep to the rhythm of the drums and dreams of a magical powwow. In her dream, the elders, singers, and dancers appear as dogs, honoring the Ojibwe ways of remembering—teaching her to dance for those who cannot, to give thanks, and to honor veterans. Through both the real powwow and her dream, Windy comes to understand how it is possible to weave together the past and the present through cultural celebrations with her community.

The book is presented in both English and Ojibwe, with a companion retelling in Ojibwe by Gordon Jourdain, a teacher at the Misaabekong Ojibwe Language Immersion Program in Duluth. This dual-language format emphasizes the deep connection between language and culture, giving readers the opportunity to experience and learn from both.

Being Home by Traci Sorell, a two-time Sibert Medal and Orbis Pictus honoree for her nonfiction work, was illustrated by Michaela Goade, aCaldecott Medalist and #1 New York Times Bestselling illustrator of Kirkus Prize Finalist We Are Water Protectors,. Being Home is the story of a young Cherokee girl’s experience leaving behind bustling city life. Told through the girl’s perspective, the narrative follows her as she says goodbye to a different life in the busy city and begins the drive to her family’s ancestral homeland, looking forward to life in new surroundings—family gatherings, cultural traditions, and the slower rhythms of Cherokee life. By the journey’s end, the girl embraces her new home, filled with opportunities to reconnect with the land, relatives, and the deep sense of belonging that comes from knowing where you come from.

Adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith, Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults retains the wisdom and beauty of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s original work, Braiding Sweetgrass, published November 1, 2022. The book introduces readers to Indigenous ways of knowing, illustrating how plants, animals, and ecosystems serve as important teachers and guides. By sharing personal stories, scientific insights, and Indigenous worldviews, Kimmerer and Smith invite young readers to reflect on their relationship with the natural world and consider how gratitude, reciprocity, and stewardship can foster deeper connections with all living things.

Meet Jo Jo Makoons, a fun and imaginative seven-year-old girl from the Ojibwe tribe, in Dawn Quigley’s engaging book series. Jo Jo’s lively adventures take place on a fictional reservation, Pembina Ojibwe, where she sees the world in her own special way. She often surprises her family and teacher with her unique perspective and creative ideas.

Jo Jo loves her best friend, Mimi, who is a cat, but she worries about her friendship with Fern, a friend from school. She’s not sure if Fern still wants to be friends because she thinks Fern is making fun of her and therefore doesn’t like her. So Jo Jo wonders if she should try to make more friends. Even with these concerns, Jo Jo’s journey is full of laughter and warmth as she learns some early lessons about the complexity of friendships while also learning more about herself.

This book highlights the voices and stories of Native people, offering young readers a chance to step into Jo Jo’s vibrant world and see the strength and maturation of Indigenous youth who use their talents and intellect to find a path forward. It also emphasizes the importance and richness of Indigenous cultures today.

My Heart Fills with Happiness by Monique Gray Smith is a beautifully crafted children’s board book that has been recognized with prestigious awards, including the British Columbia Book Prize for Children’s Literature and the 2017 Christie Harris BC Book Award for Children’s Literature. Monique Gray Smith is a Canadian author of Cree, Lakota, and Scottish descent. The vibrant illustrations are created by Julie Flett, a Cree-Métis author and illustrator. This heartwarming book is a celebration of Indigenous experience and joy, encouraging everyone to reflect on moments that bring happiness in life. It’s a wonderful way to teach all children that they are seen and valued by all those around them. 

Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story is an acclaimed book that won both the 2020 Robert F. Sibert Medal, recognizing the top informational book for children, and an American Indian Youth Literature award from the American Indian Library Association. This beautiful story celebrates Native joy and pride, and focuses on the ways that a contemporary food – fry bread – builds meaning and connection in family and community lives. The story invites readers to explore how food nourishes not just bodies, but other important qualities and values, such as understanding of time, art, place, and flavor. The book’s artwork includes diverse characters who, just like other families, enjoy quality time together and engage in a fun, meaningful activity together.

Additionally, the Author’s Note offers a wealth of important information about the diversity among Native Americans. It discusses the historical context of removal and displacement, and outlines the complexities of federally recognized tribes, including the processes of termination and recognition.

The author also includes a fry bread recipe as an invitation for all families to create their own fry bread family stories.

“Treaty Words: For As Long As The Rivers Flow” by Aimée Craft and illustrated by Luke Swinson, explores the relationship between a grandfather (Mishomis) and his granddaughter, teaching her about the significance of relationships, respect, and reciprocity, along with the first Anishinaabe treaty. This treaty is presented not just as an agreement among humans, but as a commitment to the Earth and natural law, encompassing all of Creation. The story emphasizes that treaties are enduring, meant to last “for as long as the sun shines, the grass grows, and the rivers flow,” highlighting their lasting reality and the shared responsibilities they entail.

“We Are Water Protectors” is a book by Carole Lindstrom and Michaela Goade, which introduces children to environmental issues caused by resource extraction, particularly focusing on water protection through the lens of Indigenous-led climate movements. The book emphasizes the sacredness of water and the importance of collective action and intergenerational cooperation in environmental stewardship.