Kids Booklists

Native American Novels

    Arwer, Laura. Waterless Mountain. 1931. J Award

      Younger Brother, a young Navajo experiences growing up in the first half of the 20th century, when the old ways were still practiced by the entire community. This classic won the Newbery for its simple style and sympathetic point of view.



    Bruchac, Joseph. Whisper in the Dark. 2005. J Fiction

      An ancient and terrifying Narragansett native-American legend begins to come true for a teenage descendant of the tribe. If you like this contemporary suspense, also check out Bruchac's The Dark Pond and Skeleton Man. This author also writes historical fiction, including The Winter People and Code Talker.



    Danticat, Edwidge. Anacaona: Golden Flower. 2005. J Series

      Anacaona is a Maguana warrior and the wife of a chief. Her story begins in 1490 and includes her resistance to the first white men to arrive in the West Indies, ravenous for gold. Part of the Royal Diaries series.



    Erdrich, Louise. The Birchbark House. 1999. J Fiction

      Omakayas, a seven-year-old Native American girl of the Ojibwa tribe, lives through the joys of summer and the perils of winter on an island in Lake Superior in 1847. The sequel is The Game of Silence.




    George, Jean Craighead. Julie of the Wolves. 1972. J Award

      While running away from home and an unwanted marriage, a thirteen-year-old Eskimo girl becomes lost on the North Slope of Alaska and is befriended by a wolf pack.





    Hill, Kirkpatrick. The Year of Miss Agnes. 2000 J First Chapter

      Ten-year-old Fred (short for Frederika) narrates the story of school and village life among the Athapascans in Alaska during 1948 when Miss Agnes arrived as the new teacher.





    Karr, Kathleen. Worlds Apart. 2005. J Fiction

      In 1670, soon after arriving in the Carolinas with a group of colonists from England, fifteen-year-old Christopher West befriends a young Sewee Indian, Asha-po, and learns some hard lessons about survival, slavery, and friendship.



    Ketchum, Liza. Where the Great Hawk Flies. 2005. J Fiction

      Years after a violent New England raid by the Redcoats and their Revolutionary War Indian allies, two families, one that suffered during that raid and one with an Indian mother and Patriot father, become neighbors and must deal with past trauma and prejudices before they can help each other in the present. Based on the author's family history. Includes historical notes and notes on the Pequot Indians.



    O'Dell, Scott. Island of the Blue Dolphins. 1960. J Award Fiction

      If you like survival stories, this is for you. Left alone on a beautiful but isolated island off the coast of California, a young Indian girl spends eighteen years, not only merely surviving through her enormous courage and self-reliance, but also finding a measure of happiness in her solitary life. Winner of the 1961 Newbery Medal.



    Pearsall, Shelley. Crooked River. 2005. J Fiction

      When twelve-year old Rebecca Carter's father brings a Ojibwe man accused of murder into their 1812 Ohio settlement town, Rebecca, witnessing the town's reaction to the Indian, struggles with the idea that an innocent man may be convicted and sentenced to death.



    Rinaldi, Ann. My Heart is on the Ground: the Diary of Nannie Little Rose, a Sioux girl. 1999. J Series

      In the diary account of her life at a government-run Pennsylvania boarding school in 1880, a twelve-year-old Sioux Indian girl reveals the hardships of leaving her tribal ways, and searching for a way she can help her people in a White world. Part of the Dear America series.



    Shaw, Janet. The Silent Stranger: A Kaya mystery. 2005 J Series

      In 1765, the arrival of an injured stranger from another tribe, traveling alone and apparently unable to speak, arouses suspicion in Kaya's Nez Percé village. Includes glossary and historical notes on the Nez Percé Indians. An American Girl Mystery. See also other Kaya books in the American Girls series.



    Speare, Elizabeth. Sign of the Beaver. 1983. J Fiction

      Left alone to guard the family's wilderness home in eighteenth-century Maine, a boy is hard-pressed to survive until local Indians teach him their skills.