Native Americans Writing Today (And a Nod to the Past, Too)

by Brandon Marie Miller

Activity: Investigate History and Storytelling, Lone Dog's Winter Count, A Nakota Pictograph of 1851-1852.

To celebrate Native American Heritage month I'm sharing the names of just a few of the Native American authors writing for young people today. Add their books to your to-read stack and please use the link below to check out more authors and books.

Louise Erdrich (Ojibway). Her award-winning novels for adults and young people include the middle grade trilogy The Birchbark House (winner of the National Book Award), The Game of Silence and The Porcupine Year.


Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee). Her books include, Jingle Dancer a story for younger readers, the novel Rain is Not My Indian Name, and the YA Ferrel and Tantalize series that combine elements of sci-fi, fantasy, mystery and suspense.

Tim Tingle (Choctaw) has won several American Indian Youth Literature Awards for historical novels House of Purple Cedar and How I became A Ghost, a story about the Choctaw Trail of Tears. His book No Name is set in the present-day Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. His numerous books include The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Reservation Blues and Thunder Boy Jr.-- his first picture book.

S. D. Nelson (Lakota) is a writer and illustrator. His books include  Black Elk's Vision, A Lakota Story, Buffalo Bird Girl, A Hidatsa Story, and Greet the Dawn, The Lakota Way.

Among Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki) many books is Crazy Horse's Vision (illustrated by S.D. Nelson), Children of the Longhouse, and Keepers of the Earth, Native American Stories and Environmental Activities for Kids.

To discover many more books by and about Native People check out:
https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/p/best-books.html

 Activity:
Take a close look at Lone Dog's Winter Count-- the Nakota Peoples' pictograph calendar.What stories and history are kept alive on this buffalo hide, covering the winter of 1851-1852? From the National Museum of the American Indian.
http://nmai.si.edu/sites/1/files/pdf/education/poster_lone_dog_final.pdf