American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL)

ABOUT AICL'S YEAR IN REVIEW: 2025

2025-12-04T10:49:00.002-06:00

AICL'S YEAR IN REVIEW: 2025

For several reasons, Jean and I are not able to do our yearly list of best books. We expect to do a 2026 list that will include books we read in 2025.

We usually begin our list by pointing to significant moments. While we aren't presenting a list this year, I do want to share a few of those significant moments.

In November, Canadian media published news items about Thomas King's claim to being Cherokee (you can also find articles in the New York Times and the Washington Post). Do a search on his name and you'll find many articles, essays, and opinions to read. I recommend you study them. For decades, King has been writing books, stories, and essays as if he is Cherokee. The news that King is not Cherokee was devastating to many who had been friends and colleagues and felt betrayed by the trust they had placed in him. For those who had been skeptical of his claims, there was relief that it was now public knowledge. There was anger, too. In June, I wrote that I no longer recommend his children's books. In addition to the news stories, make time to read Cherokee Dispossession Through Claimant Self-Declaration: Cherokee Heritage Claims in the 2020 U.S. Census by Daniel Heath Justice if you or someone you know claims to be Cherokee. It is especially important that editors and agents who are working with someone who claims to be Cherokee read the article. Do you work with someone who says they're Cherokee? Heath's article may provide you with a way to ask the questions you need to ask. And I urge you to order and study -- perhaps with a group of friends -- The Cherokee: People, Culture, and History by Twila M. Barnes. It is a picture book in a new series of non-fiction published by Capstone.

In October, I did a comparison of Amazon's list of best-selling books in 2010 and 2025 and was delighted by what I saw. If you've bought books by Native writers, you are part of the change! The comparison showed me the tremendous growth we've seen! It also showed me that we have a lot of work to do as people who read, review, and recommend children's books. The 2025 list includes books that miseducate children. At some point I hope to do a post that describes what I saw.

The year began with a very, very cool announcement. At the American Library Association's 2025 Youth Media Award ceremony, I was sky high when I heard Rob Bittner read the name of the winner of the Caldecott Award. The book? Chooch Helped. Written by Andrea L. Rogers and illustrated by Rebecca Lee Kunz, it stole my heart when I read it and I was so very pleased to know that a book by a Cherokee author and a Cherokee illustrator would be in every library. Here's a screen cap of the announcement slide:

Last significant moment that I will note before hitting publish on this post is about the American Indian Library Association and winners of its 2024 Youth Literature Award. AICL was pleased to publish the speeches given by authors and illustrators who were able to attend the awards ceremony in Phoenix. I hope you'll take some time to read their remarks. And of course, I hope their books are in your home, classroom, school, and public library.

3 Native Authors in 2010 to 56 in 2025

2025-10-22T16:16:00.005-05:00

In November of 2010 I did a blog post that consisted of the top 100 best selling books at Amazon in the "Children's Native American Books" category. At that time, three Native authors appeared on the list (several books by Joseph Bruchac are on the 2010 list but given recent research, I no longer recommend his books). The three authors had four different books on the list:

#1 and #35 was Sherman Alexie, for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (I didn't include info on why it was on there twice but my guess is that the two listings reflect hardback/paperback, or e-copy).
#63 was The Porcupine Year by Louise Erdrich.
#84 was The Game of Silence by Louise Erdrich.
#98 was Guests by Michael Dorris.

Today, October 22 of 2025 -- almost 15 years later, there's a huge difference!

#2 is Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Maillard
#3 is We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom
#5 is Keepunumuk: Weeachumun's Thanksgiving Story by Danielle Greendeer, Anthony Perry, and Alexis Brown.
#8 is Native American Stories for Kids by Tom Pecore Weso
#10 is An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People adapted by Debbie Reese
#11 is We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell
#15 is The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich (audiobook)
#16 is Bud Finds Her Gift by Robin Wall Kimmerer
#17 is Chooch Helped by Andrea L. Rogers
#28 is Powwow Day by Traci Sorell
#25 is Colonization and the Wampanoag Story by Linda Coombs
#26 is Birdsong by Julie Flett
#28 is Remember by Joy Harjo
#36 is We Are Still Here by Traci Sorell
#37 is Moon Song by Michaela Goade
#38 is Jingle Dancer by Cynthia Leitich Smith
#29 is This Land by Ashley Fairbanks
#43 is The Seminoles by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve
#45 is I Can Make this Promise by Christine Day
#48 is Bowwow Powwow by Brenda J. Child
#49 is Healer of the Water Monster by Brian Young
#52 is Berry Song by Michaela Goade
#53 is Eagle Drums by Nasugraq Rainey Hopson
#57 is My Powerful Hair by Carole Lindstrom
#60 is Buffalo Dreamer by Violet Duncan
#61 is We All Play by Julie Flett
#63 is Wings of an Eagle by Billy Mills
#68 is Hiawatha and the Peacemaker by Robbie Robertson
#73 is In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph Marshall III
#75 is Finding My Dance by Ria Thundercloud
#77 is Stealing Little Moon by Dan SaSuWeh Jones
#78 is If You Lived During the Plimoth Thanksgiving by Chris Newell
#79 is Thunder Boy Jr by Sherman Alexie
#82 is The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry by Anna Rose Johnson
#84 is Ancestor Approved edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith
#86 is A Kid's Guide to Native American History by Yvonne Wakim Dennis
#87 is We Still Belong by Christine Day
#88 is Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis
#90 is Who Was Wilma Mankiller by Andrea Page
#93 is I Sang You Down from the Stars by Tasha Spillett
#94 is Grandmother Moon by Wunneanatsu Lamb-Cason
#96 is The Sea in Winter by Christine Day
#98 is Why We Dance: A Story of Hope and Healing by Deidre Havrelock
#99 is The First Glade of Sweetgrass by Suzanne Greenlaw

That is over 40 books in 2025 that are by Native writers! My quick look at the list tells me there's over 30 new voices contributing to the body of children's books by Native writers.

Wait! Here's something interesting! I set my computer aside for a few hours and when I came back the list had already changed. This time, Laurel Goodluck's outstanding Rock Your Mocs is at #47 and Tim Tingle's How I Became a Ghost is at #53. Simon Ortiz's The People Shall Continue is at #57. I see Two Tribes by Emily Bowen Cohen at #62 and Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior by Carole Lindstrom at #63. Brandon Hobson's The Storyteller is at 69, and Kaitlan B. Curtice's Winter's Gifts is at 71. And A Letter for Bob by Kim Rogers is at #75. Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning by Chief Jake Swamp is at #80 and The Gift of the Great Buffalo by Carole Lindstrom is at #83. Sees Behind Trees by Michael Dorris is at 86, and Brian Young's Heroes of the Water Monster is at #89. Maria DesJarlait's I am Not a Costume is at 91.

If I add the ones that have turned up on the list a few hours later, I count 56 different books. Fifty six different books! The difference in the list from early morning to mid-afternoon makes it hard to offer precise numbers but the change from 2010 is stunning! From 3 to over 50! I'm delighted! And I hasten to add that there's several books missing from the list. Angeline Boulley's three young adult novels aren't there. Eric Gansworth's wonderful middle-grade books aren't there either. I wonder if there's a middle-grade or YA list they're on? Dawn Quigley's terrific early reader series about Jo Jo aren't there either. Marcie Rendon's picture book might be too new yet to show up on this list.

The point of this post: For years Native people and non-Native folks interested in Native voices have worked hard to promote these books. This informal assessment tells me it is working! Let's keep doing all we can to get books by Native writers into the hands of children.

Highly Recommended: MIYA WEARS ORANGE

2025-09-29T14:43:00.000-05:00

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Miya Wears Orange

Written by Wanda John-Kehewin (Cree-Metis, Kehewin Cree Nation)

Illustrations by Erika Rodriguez Medina

Published in 2025

Publisher: Highwater Press

Reviewer: Jean Mendoza

Review Status: Highly Recommended

Debbie and I have talked with many non-Native educators who know the importance of teaching about hard aspects of Indigenous peoples' history. Good teachers want to do it "right." We try to impress on them that conversations about those difficult topics may land differently with Native children than with others. We kept this fact in mind when adapting An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People, carefully choosing how we presented some of the most painful situations in history.

Miya Wears Orange begins when Miya's well-intentioned non-Indigenous teacher reads aloud from a story about the Canadian residential schools. The teacher does not seem to anticipate how the story might effect Miya.

Miya is the only Indigenous child in her class. The lesson makes her deeply uncomfortable; it is about injustice and tragedy that affected children like her, and families like hers. But she isn't able to put that into words. Wanda John-Kehewin does a very good job of expressing how a child might feel and behave, when unexpectedly exposed to distressing information related to their identity. Having worked with young children in classrooms and therapeutic settings, I'm impressed by the layers of understanding evident in the portrayal of Miya's experience. The emotional content rings true. (I felt the same way about the social-emotional content of her teen novel, Hopeless in Hope.)

Eventually, Miya is able to tell her mother what's bothering her. Her mother listens and answers her questions. She gives Miya time to come to terms with what the new information means. Miya finds her way. (Incidentally, the illustrations depicting mother-child interactions are very warm and give a strong sense of how secure their relationship is.)

The teacher may not have understood Miya's heritage. Or she may have assumed that Miya's family had already introduced her to the history of the residential schools. But that was a mistaken assumption, and Miya was left in the moment to struggle with the emotional weight of the new knowledge. Perhaps the teacher could have alerted families of Native kids so they could be prepared for their children's responses, or so they could lay some groundwork for the children.

I'd love to see this book shared with educators and librarians as an example of why they must proceed with care and caution when they discuss boarding schools/residential schools with children -- especially Indigenous children. That goes for high schoolers as well as elementary grade kids. And of course, we think the book belongs in the hands of children, too.

Highly Recommended: WE CAN'T WAIT TO HOLD YOU

2025-09-26T07:40:00.000-05:00

We Can't Wait to Hold You

Written by Richard Van Camp, Tłı̨chǫ Dene from Fort Smith, NWT

Published in 2026

Publisher: Orca Book Publishers

Reviewer: Debbie Reese

Review Status: Highly Recommended

****

What a treat! For years, I've adored the board books Richard Van Camp writes. Some are illustrated and some have photographs. Either way, they bring forth quiet, or warm, or jubilant emotions!

We Can't Wait to Hold You is due out in 2026. A few months ago, I was in that "we can't wait to hold you" place as we waited for the birth of our first grandchild and there were many "can you hurry up" words spoken to her as we waited. That's how We Can't Wait to Hold You starts out. We see a mother and child, their hands embracing the baby in the mother's body. The anticipation in their faces is quiet and filled with love. In the ensuing pages we see photos of babies as we read Richard's words like "We can't wait for your snuggles, hugs, kisses, and giggles."

We're doing the snuggles and hugs and kisses and giggles, now, and I'm so pleased to see this book and happy to recommend you get it for your home, classroom, school, or public library. It better sit next to some of his other board books! And your collection ought to have his other works for children and teens, too!

Correcting an error

2025-09-06T06:58:00.000-05:00

Good morning,

Today (September 6, 2025) I am following up on the error I made on Sunday, August 31. In that post, I said that "~~Texas does not extend state recognition to anyone~~." I was wrong, and as soon as I realized I had made that mistake, I did a strike-thru of the sentence and added this note:

Note from Debbie at 7:31 PM Pacific Time, September 1, 2015. Below, I said that the State of Texas has not recognized any tribes, but I stand corrected. I'm reading about legislation, effective September 1, 2025, that says "The Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas is designated and recognized by this state as a Native American Indian Tribe exercising substantial governmental powers and duties." I apologize for the error.

As best as I can, I am reconstructing how I ended up writing that sentence in my post, titled Debbie--Have you seen THE ECHO PEOPLE, published by Lee and Low?.

I had learned of a new children's book by an author, SD Youngblood, who was unfamiliar to me. He was claiming to be from a tribe that was also unfamiliar to me and a few years prior he had claimed a different tribe. A shift in claims, over time, is seen as a red flag by people who study and write about claims to Native identity.

Both tribes Youngblood claimed said they are Cherokee. That was another red flag for me because there are many groups that claim to be Cherokee tribes. Both of the tribes Youngblood claimed are located in Texas. So, I searched the State of Texas website using the names of the two claimed tribes and got "No search results found" for each one. Then I searched the website for "state recognized tribes." Some state websites have lists of federally and state recognized tribes, but I didn't find a list on the Texas site. In the past, I have used a list created by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) as a resource. I was unable to find their list this time. The last one I saw was from 2020. On that list, it did not list any state recognized tribes in Texas. I was very deep in research on those two groups. Not finding anything led me to write that sentence.

When I learned that Dr. Darcie Little Badger objected to it, I was in one of those "wait, what?" moments. Over the years we have recommended the work of Darcie Little Badger and most recently, I included her book on a page of Native writers whose books have been banned. She is an enrolled member of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas. It was a no-brainer that she would object. I would, too, if I was in her shoes. So I made a correction as soon as possible, apologized, and will be more vigilant about such matters in the future.

--Debbie

Debbie--Have you seen THE ECHO PEOPLE, published by Lee and Low?

2025-08-31T21:31:00.006-05:00

Note from Debbie at 7:31 PM Pacific Time, September 1, 2015. Below, I said that the State of Texas has not recognized any tribes, but I stand corrected. I'm reading about legislation, effective September 1, 2025, that says "The Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas is designated and recognized by this state as a Native American Indian Tribe exercising substantial governmental powers and duties." I apologize for the error.

In recent days, I've seen a lot of promotional material for a new picture book, The Echo People. It caught my eye because the illustrator is Shonto Begay, who is Diné and has done outstanding art for Native writers.

But, who is the author? "SD Youngwolf" is not someone I am familiar with. When that is the case, I see what I can learn about the individual and the Native Nation they claim. Here's my notes:

The author is "SD Youngwolf."

In January of 2019, he won the "New Voices" award that Lee and Low gives out. That's a writing contest that is "open to writers of color and Native/Indigenous writers" who are at least 18 years old. And, "In order to enter the Contest or receive the prize award, you must fully comply with the Official Rules and, by entering, you represent and warrant that you agree to be bound by these Official Rules..."

On their Jan 22, 2019 blog announcement of his award, they say he is "tribally enrolled in the Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokee." I assume they got that information from him or a statement he submitted when he entered the contest.

There's a Jan 24, 2019 article at Valley Courier (a newspaper in Alamosa, Colorado) about him winning the award. There it says he is tribally enrolled in the "Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokee." I assume the reporter got that information from him or from Lee and Low.

Now (August 29, 2025), on the "About" page at Lee and Low, Youngwolf is identified as "an enrolled citizen of the Tsalagiyi Nvdagi Tribe."

Why am I noting these names of nations Youngwolf claims? Because it matters!

There are three federally-recognized Cherokee Nations: Cherokee Nation, United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Youngwolf doesn't say he's a citizen of any of the three.

He once claimed to be a citizen of The Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokee, which is apparently located in Texas. [Note: I am striking out the following sentence because it is not correct. See my note at the top of this post. ~~But, the state of Texas does not extend state recognition to anyone. ]~~

Now he claims to be an enrolled citizen of the "Tsalagiyi Nvdagi Tribe." It is neither a federally recognized or state recognized tribal nation. It strikes me as similar to the groups of people that come together and form what they call a tribe, based on family stories.

Clearly, I have questions about the Native Nation he claims to be part of now. But, asking again -- who is this person, SD Youngwolf?

I did a bit of searching and found SD Youngwolf's name in a 2013 dissertation titled "Mystics, Radicals, Sinners, and Saints: Freedom, Rebirth, and the American West, where he was one of the people interviewed by Brian King, a PhD student at the University of New Mexico. The abstract for jos dissertation says it is an exploration of "the lives of John Muir, the Taos Society of Artists, Mabel Dodge Lujan, Everett Ruess, Edith Warner, and the Taos hippies who journeyed to the American West in search of freedom" (p. x).

In the acknowledgments, Brian King thanks "Suri Dass Youngwolf" who is in Chapter 5, titled "Taos Hippies Model an Alternative: Freedom for All?"

Having read chapter 5, I think it fair to say that in the 1960s SD Youngwolf was a hippy living in a commune in Taos.

In the dissertation, King's footnotes indicate he interviewed SD Youngwolf on November 30, 2012. King asked Youngwolf what he and the hippies who moved to Taos wanted to accomplish. Youngwolf replied "To live a spiritual life," and said "many of these people had grown up in a very materialistic life in which something was missing and that's why there was the hippie revolution." They "were seeking [...] 'the sacred.'" King asked if they succeeded or failed, and Youngwolf replied that he'd succeeded. He also said that happiness is not a goal, that it is the path and "that's kind of the way I feel, sacred is what you live, day to day" (p. 241-242). Youngwolf experimented with drugs, and that led him to practice yoga and meditation. He wanted to use his artwork to convey "Beauty, bliss, Spirit" and "the sacred, the sacred" (p. 250).

Nowhere does the dissertation identify Youngwolf as Cherokee. The interview was in 2012.

For now, I am uneasy with what I have found and doubt that I will review his book. I'm curious about how Lee and Low verifies the identity of a person who submits a manuscript in the New Voices Award when that person says they are Native. I'm going to see if I can find the author of the dissertation. Maybe the interview says something about Youngblood being Cherokee but that didn't make it into the dissertation. I'm also curious how King found Youngblood and decided to interview him.

Pausing for now, but wanted to share these notes. If you know him and can provide any insights, let me know.

Notes about the Drumbeat Decodable Book Collection (phonics readers) from Lee and Low

2025-08-21T14:24:00.003-05:00

New from Lee and Low is the "Drumbeat Decodable Book Collection" of books meant to teach readers short vowels (a, e, i, o, u) in the context of consonant-vowel-consonant words through stories that provide readers with an Indigenous Perspective. The author of the books is Sandra Samatte. She is Anishinaabe, a member of Ne-biimiskonaan (Skownan) First Nation, Treaty 2 Territory. The illustrations are by Julian Grafenauer, who is also Anishinaabe, and a member of Ditibineya-ziibiing (Rolling River) First Nation, Treaty 4 Territory. The books themselves are published in collaboration with Indigenous Education Press.

These are my notes as I read them:

Duck and Cub shows us a duck and cub playing in the mud, getting muddy, and then playing in a tub to get cleaned up.

Grandfather Rock is about Tom and his dog, Dot. They're out for a jog and see a rock that he likes. A frog tells him not to take it. His mom "comes out of the fog at the bog" and also tells him not to take the rock. The fog swirls around her, making the image of her kind of mystical. Her long black hair flows around her head and shoulders. She's wearing beaded earrings, and a beaded medallion and a belt that has Native designs on it. She's wearing a gray shirt and dark pink sweater, and a muted red skirt. She gives an offering to the rock. On the final page of the story, Tom is holding the rock. The text says he and the dog love Grandfather Rock.

Jan at Camp is about a young girl named Jan. Her dad has a plan for the day: she is going to go to Culture Camp. She is shown in a ribbon skirt, blouse, and her long dark hair is braided. Her dad has jeans, white shirt, and vest. His long dark hair is in braids and some of it is loose behind his head. The camp is "on the Land near Sand Lake." There, a fat cat lives with Elder Fran, who has long white hair that is worn with elastic bands several inches apart, kind of like a pony tail. At the camp, Elder Fran is shown standing beneath a tree, telling a story, and then she teaches Jan and her dad how to tap a tree for sap. Jan is glad to be on the land, learning from Elder Fran.

Rhett and Jet is about two boys with black hair. They are out fishing with a net and catch a fish, a gem, and a shell. Inside the shell is a crab. They want it to be their pet. The boys and the crab play in the water. Then they go home, eat, set up a tent, and go to sleep.

Tim and Robin is about a six-year-old boy and a bird. Tim has black hair, and is shown in a t-shirt and shorts. He watches a robin flying and when it hits its wing, he wants to fix it. He puts it into a can and when Sis (she's got long black hair and is wearing a belted dress) approaches, he hides from her. She finds him and the robin. She asks why the robin is in a can, and on the next page we see the two have brought the robin into their house. They feed it, and it grows and is "now fit." They take it outside and Tim watches it fly.

And now, my comments:

None of the books tell us the nation/nations the children belong to. Without advance preparation from the teacher using the books, these could be children of any nation. There's not enough context to help children understand that there is tremendous diversity across Native Nations, and there's not enough in the books for me to feel comfortable naming an Indigenous perspective in them. A teacher's guide with tribally specific information could help a teacher make optimal use of the books. Without that, teachers may inadvertently fill their knowledge gaps with incorrect information. An example is the Grandfather Rock book. Why is it called that? Do all Native peoples have reverence for rocks, such that they give them offerings? Is it ok to pick up rocks called Grandfather Rock, as Tom is shown doing on the final page of the story? And, how will a teacher answer questions from children about why the rock is called "Grandfather Rock?" Without that information the books are pan-Indian (which means they're all the same) stories. I have a lot of resources that might help me use them if I was teaching in an elementary school classroom, but would I have the time to do that research? Not likely.

Two of the characters (Elder Fran and Sis) strike me as romanticized. I do know Native women who look something like them but most do not. And the way fog and light are used on/around them, the effect is to make them mystical rather than realistic Native women.

The books in this set are meant to be stories with beginnings and endings, but there's gaps in the flow of the text (in the first pages of Grandfather Rock, Tom is not wearing socks but when he's on the dock, he takes off his socks) and sometimes in the clothing the child is wearing (in Tim and Robin he is wearing a yellow t-shirt at the start but later the shirt has a collar).

One good point: the stories with children in them are set in the present day, and they're doing things specific to being Native but they're also doing the sorts of things any kids do (like fishing). The problem as noted above: children will not learn about specific nations. Instead they learn "Indigenous" which can be characterized as a new word for "Indian" which, in effect, depicts us as a monolithic group of people. Whether shown as children of present or past days, monolithic imagery is unacceptable.

As you might observe, I'm disappointed. We need phonics books that depict Native children but this one falls too short from important expectations for it to work, educationally.

Highly Recommended: THE NAVAJO: PEOPLE, CULTURE, AND HISTORY by Jennifer R. Denetdale

2025-08-20T18:15:00.001-05:00

For years I have studied the many excellent books and articles by Dr. Jennifer R. Denetdale. She's a citizen of the Navajo Nation and a history professor at the University of New Mexico. When I saw she had done another children's book, I looked forward to seeing it, and here it is!

The Navajo: People, Culture, and History

Written by Jennifer R. Denetdale, citizen of the Navajo Nation

Published in 2026

Publisher: Capstone

Reviewer: Debbie Reese

Review Status: Highly Recommended

Denetdale's book is in the Indigenous Peoples' series published by Capstone. Years back, Lerner did a series like this--with the authors of each book being citizens or tribal members of the Native Nation the book is about. They went out of print and I'm glad Capstone is doing this series. A few days ago I wrote about The Cherokee: People, Culture, and History by Twila M. Barnes, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.

In the review of that book, I said something that applies here, too: Regular readers of AICL will also know that I recommend books by Native writers because they bring their lived experience to their writing. They have knowledge that they gained first-hand rather than from resources by outsiders that are too-often flawed, biased, incomplete, or just plain wrong!

Some things that stand out to me as I read Denetdale's book:

It starts with "About the Navajo." The first paragraph tells us what the Navajo people call their homeland. It tells us that Diné is the name the Navajo people call themselves, and it tells us where their homeland is. Most people don't know that Native people are still here, because so many books confine us to the past. In her first sentences, Denetdale says "call" and "is" -- present tense verbs that do important work in reorienting readers to see us as people of the present day.

From there Denetdale provides a section called What Is the Navajo Nation? See the word Nation in that question? In addition to use of present tense verbs, it is crucial that everyone -- especially educators -- use the word nation when referring to us. In her answer to that question, Denetdale tells us that the Navajo Nation is a sovereign nation whose leaders negotiated and signed treaties with Spain, Mexico, and then the US. These are important facts! So many nonfiction books for kids ignore the fact that we have had nationhood status for a long time, even before the year when the United States became a nation.

Page after page is like that. Information that educators should give to children in their classrooms in order for them to have a complete history of this continent.

I'll point to one more: the pages about Kit Carson. Most history books count him as a hero but those histories leave out his role in the US war against the Diné in 1863. A leader in that war, Carson destroyed livestock, cornfields, and water sources. He burned homes. Does that sound like a hero? Of course not.

You surely have a lot to learn, and unlearn. Books like The Navajo: People, Culture, and History can help with both. Bring them into your classrooms, whether the children are in elementary school, or high school, or college. Step beyond the idea that children's books are only for children. When the subject is Native peoples and the author is Native, there's a lot that their books can teach you.

2024 American Indian Youth Literature Award (AIYLA) -- Acceptance Speeches

2025-08-15T18:21:00.000-05:00

On January 25, 2025, the American Indian Library Association (AILA) held its Youth Literature Award Ceremony in Phoenix during the American Library Association's LibLearn gathering. With their permission, AICL is pleased to share the remarks delivered by award recipients that were able to travel to Phoenix:

Christine Day (Upper Skagit). We Still Belong and She Persisted: Maria Tallchief

Laurel Goodluck (Mandan & Hidatsa and Tsimshian). Forever Cousins, Rock Your Mocs, and She Persisted: Deb Haaland

Byron Graves (Ojibwe). Rez Ball

Jonathan Nelson. Forever Cousins and A Letter for Bob

Kim Rogers (Wichita & Affiliated Tribes). A Letter for Bob

Traci Sorell (Cherokee Nation). Contenders: Two Native Baseball Players, One World Series and Mascot, and She Persisted: Wilma Mankiller

Arigon Starr (Kickapoo Tribe). Contenders: Two Native Baseball Players, One World Series

A complete list of the award winners is at the AILA website. Click on the year (2024) to see books chosen to receive the AIYLA awards. You can download a pdf of the winners. You can also read the association's Winter 2025 newsletter. Page 3 is an article by Joy Bridwell, who served as the committee chair.

Highly Recommended: THE CHEROKEE: PEOPLE, CULTURE, AND HISTORY by Twila M. Barnes

2025-07-29T11:01:00.001-05:00

A few days ago on social media, I saw Daniel Heath Justice's post about The Cherokee: People, Culture, and History by Twila M. Barnes. Daniel is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and a scholar and professor who has written several terrific books. If you don't have Why Indigenous Literatures Matter, order it today. You can definitely use it to become more adept at evaluating information about Native peoples. And if you work in a library, you can draw from it to update your collection development policy. In his post about The Cherokee: People, Culture, and History he said it is "Authentic, well-sourced, and accurate" and that he couldn't be more excited to see it is finally out. Daniel and Twila are citizens of the Cherokee Nation.

Twila's book is non-fiction, meant for young readers. Here's the cover:

The Cherokee: People, Culture, and History

Written by Twila M. Barnes, citizen of the Cherokee Nation

Published in 2026

Publisher: Capstone

Reviewer: Debbie Reese

Review Status: Highly Recommended

Regular readers of AICL will know why that cover is important: it features a Native--in this case Cherokee--child of the present day. Think back to most books you've seen (or do a Google search) that feature Native people. The covers usually show Native adults in a past tense setting, or in tribal regalia (clothing). Rarely do we see present-day Native children on book covers, wearing something they wear every day. Of course, I love the cover!

I've been reading Twila's blog, Thoughts from Polly's Granddaughter: A Little Cherokee History and Genealogy Mixed in with a Whole Lot of Truth, for years. I've learned a lot from her careful studies there and am delighted that Capstone asked her to write this book. I was also happy to see the interview of her in the Cherokee Nation's newspaper, Cherokee Phoenix.

Regular readers of AICL will also know that I recommend books by Native writers because they bring their lived experience to their writing. They have knowledge that they gained first-hand rather than from resources by outsiders that are too-often flawed, biased, incomplete, or just plain wrong!

So, what will you find once you open her book? I see present tense verbs in sentences like "What is a sovereign tribal government?" and "Where are the Cherokee tribal governments located?" They're a textual echo of the cover. Using present tense verbs tells readers that we are still here. And I see the word "nation" several times, in vibrant bold text!

What else do I see.... hey -- earlier in this post I mentioned the Cherokee Phoenix and right there on page 10 is a photo of the very first issue, which came out in 1828! There's a timeline that has key moments including familiar events like the Trail of Tears, and lesser known ones whose presence invites teachers to look for more information than could be included in a picture book for young readers. I like the page about Cherokee language, and that Barnes did not shy away from saying that the US government and its boarding schools played a large part in loss of language.

I'll stop there and ask you to get a copy for your classroom, or school or public library if you work in one, and if you're a parent, get a copy for your home. Next time you're at the library, ask them to get it, too.

In short, The Cherokee: People, Culture, and History by Twila M. Barnes is highly recommended.

"What if Everything We Know about Sacagawea is Wrong?"

2025-07-27T09:36:00.001-05:00

I'll start with a thanks to Carol, a reader who wrote to me about the recent New York Times Magazine article, "What if Everything We Know about Sacagawea is Wrong?" by Christopher Cox. Published on July 23, 2025, Cox tells us about a book written by Dennis and Sandra Fox and several Hidatsa elders. That book is Our Story of Eagle Woman. Sacagawea: They Got it Wrong. The author is listed on the cover as the Sacagawea Project Board of the Mandan Hidatsa & Arikara Nation. Published in 2021, you can get it here.

I bought the electronic copy and will be reading through it. There's also a children's book available that I ordered and will write about when it arrives:

I'll close by thanking Carol for writing to me about the book, and ask readers not to hesitate to write to me about this or that. I may not reply -- time is limited -- but I do what I can to help us all move to a better place in what we know about Native peoples.

Stereotypes of Native Peoples in Children's Books - A Report from 1971

2025-07-25T16:36:00.000-05:00

How does a society move away from its embrace of stereotypes or biased and incorrect images? Native people and our allies have been calling out stereotyping and bias of Native peoples for hundreds of years, but without widespread dissemination of the problems, they persist.

This morning, for example, I did a quick search of WorldCat to see if Syd Hoff's Little Chief is still on shelves. I was disappointed to see how many public libraries continue to provide it. And so, I am offering this post to anyone who is unaware of the stereotyping in older books you may have on your shelves.

The list below is from Carolyn L. Bell's The Pre-School Child's Image of the American Indian. I don't know Bell or her other work, but this report from 1971 is good. I've done analyses or writings about some of the books in her report. Because her list is concise with book info and a paragraph about each one--and the report is online--I'm listing only the titles she looked at. Go read it! They are a small sample of the many books old and new that have stereotypical and biased images.

All these books would get a NOT RECOMMENDED label if I reviewed them. In 2013, Native children in my home community wrote to me about The Brave Cowboy and I wrote about it then.

Anglund, Joan Walsh. The Brave Cowboy

Beatty, Hetty Burlingame. Little Owl Indian

Benchley, Nathaniel. Red Fox and His Canoe

Friskey, Margaret. Indian Two Feet and His Eagle Feather

Friskey, Margaret. Indian Two Feet and His Horse

Hader, Berta de Elmer, Mighty Hunter

Hartman, Virginia. I Can Do Anything Almost

Hoff, Syd. Little Chief

Moon, Grace and Carl. One Little Indian.

Parish, Peggy. Little Indian

Parish, Peggy. Good Hunting Little Indian

Parish, Peggy. Granny and the Indians

Teichman, Dorothy. My Friend God

Wiseman, B. Morris is a Cowboy, a Policeman and a Baby Sitter

Art by Rebecca Lee Kunz (Cherokee Nation) on Cover of THE HORN BOOK MAGAZINE

2025-07-05T07:03:00.000-05:00

What a delight this morning (July 5, 2025) to see art by Rebecca Lee Kunz (Cherokee Nation) on the cover of the July/August 2025 The Horn Book Magazine! As I study the cover, I see a Cherokee child, reading for a book about a Cherokee family. A rare book, in fact. I think it is the only book written and illustrated by two women of the same Native Nation.

Kunz's work has layers of meaning and I thoroughly enjoyed reading her Caldecott Medal Acceptance speech. Read it, and get the book she illustrated, Chooch Helped. Written by Andrea L. Rogers (Cherokee Nation), it is heartwarming, delightful, poignant, fun... and I hope the two women collaborate again. Chooch Helped is such a special book!

Highly Recommended: REDress

2025-06-24T16:59:00.000-05:00

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

REDress: Art, Action, and the Power of Presence
Edited by Jaime Black-Morsette (Metis)
Published by Portage and Main Press

Published in 2025

Reviewer: Jean Mendoza

Review Status: Highly Recommended

Have you seen social media images of Native women with red handprints on their faces? Do you know the symbolism?

The red handprint is a symbol of protest against violence against Native women and girls. Its meaning expanded to include violence against LGBTQ+ and Two-Spirit Native people. For decades, Native communities in the US and Canada have tried to call attention to the fact that significant numbers of Native women, girls, and LGBTQ+ people have been disappearing, or been killed, while law enforcement shows little interest in finding perpetrators. In one recent case that made some headlines, families of two missing First Nations women wanted authorities to search a Canadian landfill where they were certain their missing loved ones had been hidden. Officials insisted that would be too expensive. The families prevailed and the missing women's remains were found. Serial killers and sex traffickers can flourish when law enforcement behaves as if Indigenous victims don't warrant full investigations. The red handprint is one of several symbols of insistence on justice for MMIWG2S.

This is a short-and-sweet review of a 2025 anthology focused on another approach to honoring and raising awareness of the murdered and missing: Jaime Black-Morsette's REDress: Art, Action, and the Power of Presence.

Here's a description from the publisher:

In 2010, Métis artist Jaime Black-Morsette created the REDress Project—an art installation consisting of placing red dresses in public spaces as a call for justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2S). Symbolizing both absence and presence, the red dresses ignite a reclamation of voice and place for MMIWG2S. Fifteen years later, the symbol of the empty red dress endures as families continue to call for action.

In this anthology, Jaime Black-Morsette shares her own intimate stories and memories of the REDress Project along with the voices of Indigenous women, Elders, grassroots community activists, artists, academics, and family members affected by this tragedy. Together they use the power of their collective voice to not only call for justice for MMIWG2S, but honour Indigenous women as keepers and protectors of land, culture, and community across Turtle Island.

And here are four reasons we recommend REDress.

Reason #1: It sheds needed light on the phenomenon of murdered and missing Indigenous people, and on the experience of the people and communities affected by those losses.

Reason #2: It combines visual and verbal images to powerful effect. It's a sobering book, a beautiful, powerful, reverent tribute to Indigenous victims of violence, for (and from) those who are left without them. And take a look at that cover! Wow!

Reason #3: It's a collection of voices. Essays, poetry, photos, and commentary by more than a dozen Indigenous creators address loss, violence, healing, and the roles art and performance can play on the path toward justice.

Reason #4: The publisher provides a free teaching guide e-book. Discussing the murdered and missing requires preparation and sensitivity. The teaching guide offers structure and suggestions for conversations about the book and the topic.

Reading and discussing REDress can be a powerful experience for older teens and adults. We urge librarians, high school teachers, and arts educators to order multiple copies and share them widely.

Will Native Presence at Alcatraz by removed or covered up by Trump Administration?

2025-06-14T10:53:00.004-05:00

Update on Sept 27, 2025: At the end of this original post on June 14, 2025, I am adding changes on the Alcatraz website.

On June 13, 2025 The New York Times published an article titled National Parks Are Told to Delete Content that 'Disparages Americans.' Here's the first four paragraphs of the article by Lisa Friedman:

The Interior Department plans to remove or cover up all “inappropriate content” at national parks and sites by Sept. 17 and is asking the park visitors to report any “negative” information about past or living Americans, according to internal documents.

It’s a move that historians worry could lead to the erasure of history involving gay and transgender figures, civil rights struggles and other subjects deemed improper by the Trump administration.

Staff at the National Park Service, which is part of the Interior Department, were instructed to post QR codes and signs at all 433 national parks, monuments and historic sites by Friday asking visitors to flag anything they think should be changed, from a plaque to a park ranger’s tour to a film at a visitor’s center.

Leaders at the park service would then review concerns about anything that “inappropriately disparages Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times),” according to slides presented this week at a meeting with park superintendents. By Sept. 17, “all inappropriate content” would be removed or covered, according to the presentation.

Note the second paragraph says "other subjects." It isn't the first time Native peoples have been characterized by the media as "other." The fourth paragraph says that "inappropriate content" must be removed or covered by September 17th. I wonder what will happen at Alcatraz?

I went over to the National Park Service page on Alcatraz and got these screen caps. Easy enough to delete web pages but what will they do with the writing on walls and on the water tower? Below are screen captures I did today, from the website.

This one is on the home page:

Scroll down and you'll see this one. Note the "Last updated" timestamp:

Clicking through the image above you'll go to the page that has these options:

What will be on the website between now and September 17th? If you click through those options you'll see many photos of Native statements declaring our presence and about Indian Land. Will those be painted over? Covered up? Or will a court pause these actions? We'll see.

Update on September 27, 2025

Since my initial post (above on June 14) I have been checking the website to see if changes have been made. To best show the changes, I am places images next to each other as follows:

With the exception of the section title being in bold now, the opening paragraph is unchanged:

In June when I scrolled down the page, there was an array of options to click through. On the bottom right was one called Red Power: American Indian Occupation. It has now been replaced with one called Welcome to Indian Land. Here they are:

Back in June when I clicked on the Red Power image, I could watch a video called Perspectives 50 Years Later, or click on a section called About Red Power that had several options within it. Or I could click on the Virtual Exhibition or Commemorative Events, each which had several options, too. Back in June, I shared screen shots of those images.

Today when I clicked on Welcome to Indian Land, the options are different. I go right to a screen that tells me there is an exhibit opening in September. It is called "Welcome to Indian Land: Resistance, Resilience, & Activism." When I scrolled down I saw a section called "Navigate Welcome to Indian Land. There's two click-through options:

When I clicked through the Virtual Exhibition I saw sections called "We Are Still Here," and "Why Alcatraz?" and "And End... And a Beginning." I don't remember these sections but as I read through them now, they have the sort of language that I think is necessary. Examples:

"Native peoples were forcibly relocated..."
"...colonization had a disastrous impact."
"Native Americans were imprisoned here for resisting or rebelling against the U.S. government"
"... invaders broke all government treaties with tribes and stole Indian territory for its valuable natural resources."
"the government moved to seize more lands."

When I clicked through the Frequently Asked Questions, I see one that may explain why the erasures we're seeing across the country are not happening here. The question is "How does the exhibit fit into the GCNRA's legislation and strategic vision?" GGNRA is the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Here's the answer to that question:

Alcatraz Island is a site within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. As referenced in the GGNRA’s Foundation Document, Alcatraz Island is significant partly because of the occupation, which helped ignite the movement for American Indian self-determination. By interpreting this moment in history, the site provides a powerful opportunity to encourage visitors to contemplate their personal views on freedom and civil rights.

Theme 5 of GGNRA's Long Range Interpretive Plan states, "Layers of history within the park challenges us to contemplate the meaning of freedom, justice and equality...the island provides an opportunity to consider the contrasting views on human rights and rehabilitation, as well as civil rights movements and role of political protest."

Golden Gate National Recreation Area is a proud member of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience. Sites of Conscience enable visitors to make connections between the past struggles and related human rights issues of today. The coalition's goal is to connect past and present to envision a more just and humane future.

I wonder if the island being located within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area--and it being a member of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience--providing the site a measure of protection from the federal government efforts to whitewash history? I don't know, but I'll keep my eye on the page and see if there are additional changes as time progresses.

Why I am not recommending children's books by Thomas King

2025-06-12T08:08:00.000-05:00

Why I am no longer recommending books by Thomas King? Because I am no longer confident that he is Cherokee.

When I was teaching at the University of Illinois (as a grad student, a post doc, and then an assistant professor from mid 1990s to 2010), I assigned "Borders" -- one of his short stories. It came out in 1993. It isn't written for children but was recently published as a graphic novel for young readers. Borders is about a twelve-year-old boy and his mother and their attempt to cross the Canadian border to visit his sister who was living in Salt Lake City, Utah. When they pull up to the booth and the border guard asks his mother about her citizenship, she says "Blackfoot." He asks "Canadian?" and she replies "Blackfoot." He asks again and the same thing happens. He asks them to wait and another guard comes out and asks if she's Canadian or American-side Blackfoot. She still replies, "Blackfoot."

The story introduces the fact that Native peoples state their nationhood as being whatever tribal nation they are from, and how that can play out when crossing a border. When I taught that story, I believed he was Cherokee.

Since the year that I taught that story, I learned that Thomas King's claim to being Cherokee is much-discussed within Native networks. As far as I know, he never said the name of a specific Cherokee Nation (there are three with federal recognition in the US). Today, I'd look for statements he made about his identity and I'd look for other sources that confirm his claim. Until I feel confident in what I find, I will not recommend his books.

Not Recommended: Gooney Bird and the Room Mother, by Lois Lowry

2025-06-08T07:26:00.001-05:00

Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry came out in 2002. In 2005, Gooney Bird and the Room Mother came out and there are a few more Gooney Bird books since then. Of course, Lowry has written many books -- several of which have won major book awards.

Published by Houghton Mifflin in 2005, I'm disappointed that nobody involved in the creation of Gooney Bird and the Room Mother noted the problems I see. And, I'm disappointed in the starred review from Kirkus. Their reviewer described it as a "winning, tongue-in-cheek outing." School Library Journal said the illustrations highlight key moments in the story, but four of the 10 illustrations show kids stereotypically dressed up as Pilgrims and Indians. Why didn't they note that problem?

I didn't know about the Gooney Bird books until recently when a reader wrote to ask me about Gooney Bird and the Room Mother. Here's the description:

Gooney Bird Greene likes to be right smack in the middle of everything. That's why she wants to have the lead role of Squanto in her class Thanksgiving pageant. But that role will go to whoever finds someone to be the room mother. All the parents are so busy, no one can bring cupcakes to the play. Gooney Bird Greene to the rescue! She finds a room mother alright, but promises not to tell who it is until the day of the play. Now the kids are really busy getting ready for the show. But will the mystery room mother really show up?

Thanksgiving events in schools are disturbing because they introduce (or affirm) a feel-good story that glosses the truth of what happened. Reading reviews at Goodreads, I see two that note the problems I saw. Walton says that "History is totally whitewashed in appalling ways." Cindy says that she was uncomfortable with the dressing up part and that the book went from uncomfortable to "downright inappropriate" in its depiction of Squanto as a "very, very helpful guy." She notes that the book briefly references the fact that Squanto was forcibly taken to Spain and sold as a slave but that the general narrative of him is about choices he made to go here and there. Surely Houghton Mifflin could make sure their staff includes people like Walton and Cindy who could help the publishing house and the author, too, step away from feel-good stories that mis-educate children.

Without hesitation, I am giving it a 'Not Recommended' label:

Several years ago I wrote an article for Journal of Language and Literacy Education. In it I analyzed Anne Rockwell's Thanksgiving Day and did a lot of historical research about Thanksgiving that I am using as I read through Lowry's book. Below, description is in plain text and my comments are in italics:

In chapter 2, Gooney Bird tells her teacher, Mrs. Pidgeon, that she wants to color Squanto's feather on the mural the class is working on. On page 10, we read that she's coloring one of his feathers blue. On page 13, she's coloring one red.

Debbie's comments: Did the man commonly known as Squanto wear feathers? And if he did, what did they look like? Did he wear them all the time? Were some red and some blue? The man's name was Tisquantum, not Squanto. His correct name has been known for so long. Why do children's books continue to use Squanto?

In chapter 4, the teacher tells them the mural is coming along well and that they also have to learn a song, make costumes, and select a cast of characters for the pageant. They need Pilgrims and Native Americans. Gooney Bird wants to be Squanto. Children have begun working on their costumes, as shown by the illustration of them singing the song:

Debbie's comments: That illustration with kids in those hats and headbands appears four times in the book. I see that in many children's books and in many photos teachers share of their own classroom activities around the holiday. Lowry's book joins the pile of educationally bad children's books that get circulated in society. It miseducates every child who learns this is ok.

The pageant would be more educational if it was tribally specific. By that, I mean that instructional materials about the Pilgrims need to use the name of the tribal nation--Wampanoag--rather than generic labels like Native American. I'd also want to see more facts than are likely to be included in pageants. However, my guess is once the facts are included, any "fun" in a pageant disappears. If a fuller understanding leads teachers to reject books like this one, or to stop doing these activities, that's a huge plus for children they teach!

Here's the song lyrics, sung to the tune of Jingle Bells:

Succotash, succotash, lima beans and corn. Thank you, noble Squanto, you may set the platter down.

Debbie's comments: I think the idea is to show gratitude to Native peoples -- Tisquantum in particular -- for help in learning how to plant and grow vegetables but why is he characterized as noble?

On page 32 the class works on their costumes. Their teacher tells them that the Pilgrims didn't decorate their clothing but Native Americans did. Students making headbands glue beads onto them and will also add a feather. Chelsea says "I wish I could be a Native American" because she hates her plain Pilgrim hat. There's a conversation about Pilgrims being brave, crossing the ocean.

Debbie's comments: This pervasive activity -- Native people in feathered headbands and Pilgrims in hats with buckles is inaccurate. The idea that Pilgrims wore black and white clothing and buckles on their hats and shoes is not accurate. The Mayflower History page (and other sources, too), tell us that is a stereotype.

Many people in the US wish they could be Native. They may have a romantic idea of what it means but that idea is often missing the difficulties Native people endured and endure as we fight for our rights, homelands, religious sites, return of artifacts and so on. There's a growing body of writing about people who go from wishing to claiming a Native identity. I've been compiling a log that you may want to visit.

On page 34, Mrs. Pidgeon asks Gooney Bird if she has been working on Squanto's dance. On the piano she plays some low notes in a repetitive way and tells Gooney Bird to pretend it is a drumbeat that Squanto should keep time to, and maybe doing some "rhythmic foot-hopping, too."

Debbie's comments: I can almost hear (in my imagination) the low notes Mrs. Pidgeon is playing. They're the sort of thing you hear in so many movies and TV shows and on sports fields where the team has a stereotypical mascot. It is kind of a BOOM boom boom boom, BOOM boom boom boom in a minor tone. If you listen to Native music done by Native drummers, do you hear that sort of thing? I don't. Take a few minutes to watch this video from the Museum of Indian Culture in New Mexico. In it, you will see how pueblo drums are made. There's a segment where a group of children is playing the drums they've made, and in the background of some of the narration, you can hear drumming. Music across Native Nations is different, of course, and I don't know all of it but I don't hear it in pow wow drumming or any other ceremonies of other nations that I've been to. I'll look for an example of Wampanoag drumming and add it when I find one.

In chapter 6 on page 36, Gooney Bird is wearing a hat with a feather in it. Mrs. Pidgeon asks why she doesn't have a headband. Here's their conversation:

"I decided Squanto should have a better hat than the other Native Americans, because he's been to England, remember?"

"Well, yes, he did travel there. But that's a top hat, Gooney Bird. Something an ambassador might wear. I don't think---"

"I think Squanto brought it back from England. He probably went shopping and bought a lot of new clothes there. People always buy new clothes when they travel."

Debbie's comments: Yikes! Granted, the character is a little girl but that character was created by an adult and looked over by editors at the publishing house... it is disappointing that nobody hit the pause button on the idea of Tisquantum shopping in England as if he is a modern day tourist!

On page 38, Gooney Bird began testing some dance steps and says that she thinks Squanto probably learned the tango in England.

Debbie's comments: Again, how did this get by editors?! I'd have flagged the idea of a kidnapped individual learning the tango (as if he is a modern day tourist) as being ridiculous but I'd also have looked up the tango. When was it invented? The answer: in the 18th century. When was Tisquantum there? Centuries before that!

Beyond that, it is important to know that Native dance is not performance or entertainment. Much of it is associated with a spiritual or religious ceremony. Teachers would not reenact something they see in a church or temple or place of worship... and it should not happen with Native dance either. Far too many writers misrepresent it in books they write.

Near the end of chapter 8, Mrs. Pidgeon worries that the costumes and song are slapdash and ill-fitting. The students tell her all the things they've learned in her classroom and she cheers up and says:

"I'm sorry that I was depressed for a minute. It's just that the story of the first Thanksgiving is such a truly wonderful story, about becoming friends, and helping one another, and being thankful. I wish I could have presented it better, instead of writing a dumb song about succotash."

Debbie's comments: These pageants are not a wonderful story! Especially for Native children. Native parents have been asking teachers to reconsider them for decades.

Gooney Bird has an idea. The day of the pageant, their presentation opens with Gooney Bird as Squanto, entering the multipurpose room with a dance that is "a combination of shuffles, taps, and twirls, with an occasional pause for a hop" done to Mrs. Pidgeon playing rhythmic drumming sort of music on the piano. At the front of the room, she says:

I am not the actual Squanto. The real Squanto was a Patuxet Indian who was born in a village near where the Pilgrims would land, but when he was born they hadn't landed yet.

He learned to speak English from some early settlers. He helped them in many ways. He was a very helpful guy.

When some of them went back to England, they invited him to go along. His mother didn't want him to.

But he went anyway. This was way back in the 1600s. Squanto is dead now. I am not the real Squanto. I am an imitation.

Debbie's comments: See notes above regarding Native dance and rhythmic drumming. Regarding Tisquantum speaking English: none of my sources say he learned it from early settlers. He learned it when he was kidnapped and taken to England. They didn't "invite" him to go along. Later in her remarks, Gooney Bird says he was taken captive, but why didn't Lowry or her editors remove the invitation part here? And where did that bit about what his mother wanted come from? I've never seen that before but I can imagine teachers raising that part and asking "would your mom want you to go so far away." It makes me deeply uncomfortable. He wasn't a child when taken. Does that passage invite children to think of him as a child?

She asks the principal to tell the audience what imitation means (she said "I am not the real Squanto. I am an imitation.") and then continues:

He traveled around for a while, being helpful because he was a helpful guy. He was an interpreter between the Americans and the Indians.

Debbie's comments: "He traveled around the world" and "being helpful" invoke an image that does not reflect the truth. I urge teachers to read Chris Newell's If You Lived During the Plimoth Thanksgiving. Get a classroom set of the book and use it to critique Gooney Bird's remarks! Develop a lesson plan on how to critically analyze the ways the Thanksgiving story is presented! In his book, Newell tells us that Tisquantum and 20 other Patuxet Wampanoag people and seven Nausets were kidnapped by Thomas Hunt who took them to Spain to sell them as enslaved people.

She asks a classmate to explain the word interpreter and then continues:

But suddenly--a bad ship captain tricked him into going onto his ship. It was a big scam. They made him a captive and took him to Spain. The captives all were sold as slaves. It made Squanto pretty mad.

But he was indefatigable.

After a long time Squanto finally made his way home. He had been away for years. And when he finally got home, he found that his village was gone. His people had all died. He was the last of his tribe.

It was very sad. But he became friends with the great chief Massasoit, and after a while he met the Pilgrims, who had just arrived. So he had some new friends and they hung out together.

The Pilgrims' lives in America would have been a fiasco if good Indians like Squanto had not helped them.

Squanto had gotten lots of new clothes in England, and he had learned to dance.

The End.

Gooney Bird bowed, twirled in a circle, did a bit of hula, and then said:

"All of my story was absolutely true, except maybe the part about learning to dance, but I think he probably did."

Gooney Bird tells children some truth but overall there is a silver-lining way to her remarks. "It was very sad" is immediately displaced by "But he became friends..." And then "... new friends" and "hung out together" and "new clothes" and "learned to dance" -- all of that softens the truth. And note the "good Indians" characterization, too. It implies there's bad Indians. Who were they, and what did they do that readers are meant to think of as "bad"?

Indigenous Food Knowledge in 2 New Books

2025-05-18T13:23:00.002-05:00

Dad, Is It Time to Gather Mint? Celebrating the Seasons

Written by Tyna Legault Taylor (Attawapiskat First Nation)

Illustrated by Michelle Dao (Vietnamese Canadian)

Published in 2025

Published by Portage and Main (Highwater Press)

Reviewer: Jean Mendoza

Review Status: Highly Recommended

laget hiyt toxwum/Herring to Huckleberries

Written by ošil Betty Wilson (Tla'anim)

Illustrated by Prashant Miranda (not Native)

Published in 2025

Published by Portage and Main (Highwater Press)

Reviewer: Jean Mendoza

Review Status: Highly Recommended

Are you a teacher who has used a curriculum about Native Americans? Debbie has started analyzing one on AICL. Take a look! Her comments can help you think critically about whatever curriculum you use. Her analysis got me thinking about a phrase I've seen in non-fiction books to describe Indigenous societies before colonization: "hunter-gatherer." It's used to differentiate between groups that mainly "lived off the land" and those that grew crops or kept animals. It's not usually explained very well.

As a kid, I pictured "hunter-gatherers" wandering in the woods hoping to come across something edible to collect or kill. It seemed like an exhausting life, always having to find the next meal. In my mind, people who grew gardens and row crops didn't need to go looking for food. (Though I figured they'd still pick huckleberries if they found some, because who wouldn't?) Nothing in textbooks or children's literature I saw dismantled those mistaken ideas, and it's embarrassing how long it took me to replace them with a more accurate picture.

That's one reason it's good to see two 2025 picture books from Portage and Main Press that give a clear, respectful sense of what's involved in collecting food from the land (and water) to feed families and the community. Observation, intergenerational knowledge, ingenuity, and hard work kept the people fed, and continue to do so today.

Dad, Is It Time to Gather Mint? is for ages 5-9. The protagonist is a contemporary Native child, Joshua. Joshua learns from his dad about when, where, and how to find foods that have sustained his Omushkego Cree and Anishinaabe communities over time. Plants, fish, and mammals couldn't just be taken all year round. What Joshua likes most of all is picking mint so his mom can make mint iced tea, but he has to wait until summer for that. Meanwhile, he and his dad go on walks each season, and dad shows him what to look for.

I like the way several two-page spreads show what Joshua learns, and what he does to help. Here are pages about fall:

On the left, Dad explains the peoples' seasonal food sources. On the right, Joshua has hooked a white fish, one of the foods of fall.

The illustrations show his delighted engagement as he soaks in what Dad teaches him. But what he wants most of all is to be able to gather wild mint for tea. Spoiler alert: that day comes at last.

Herring to Huckleberries is suitable for slightly older children; I would think middle grades and up. It follows the experience of a girl from the Tla'amin Nation, one of the Coast Salish nations in what is currently known as British Columbia. In her author's note, Betty Wilson comments that the book shares her memories of growing up in the 1950s, when, during each season, she would go with her grandparents and other relatives to collect foods that would sustain them all year.

Throughout the book, text and pictures give a sense of how large the gathering operations could be, and how much knowledge was involved. Yes, the people caught herring when the fish showed up in the bay -- and they used a specially-designed rake. They also sank cedar branches in the water so the herring would lay eggs on them. They then gathered the branches full of eggs, peeled the eggs off to eat fresh, or hung the full branches up on drying racks so the eggs would dry, to be used later. They dried the whole fish, too.

Children reading these two books will never be burdened with the inadequate ideas I had about what it means to "hunt and gather"! Both Dad and Herring emphasize the science, community effort, and complexity of the knowledge involved. Dad features a map of the region where Joshua's family lives, and a recipe for mint tea. The back matter of Herring includes an eagle's-eye-view map of the Tla'amin homelands, and detailed descriptions of 12 of their important traditional foods.

I also love that both books integrate specific Indigenous languages of the protagonists. In Dad, selected words in Anishinaabemowin and Omushkegomowin are part of the text, with English equivalents in the margins. Herring is a dual language book; the story is told in the author's native Ayahjutham and English on the same 2-page spreads, like this:

Some young readers will be intrigued to see that the orthography of Ayahjutham is very different from English. Here's how the name of that language is written:

At AICL, we're strong believers that Native children benefit from knowledge about their Indigenous language, and that all children benefit from knowing about languages other than what they speak at home! Both Dad and Herring support this by providing vocabulary lists and pronunciation guides in the back matter.

And teacher guides for both books are available from Portage and Main.

There are so many opportunities for conversations with children here, whether they're Native or not. Younger kids may be very surprised that not everybody has gotten their food from Safeway or Jewel. They may want to talk about foods they would be willing to work for, as Joshua and ošil do. What do they notice about the variety of foods shown in the books -- does it create a balanced diet? Do they or any of their family members fish, hunt, trap, or collect wild foods like mushrooms or berries? Is the activity random, or does a person have to "know what they're doing" in order to have success? What's it like for them -- do they enjoy it, or feel like part of something important? Is it even possible to find wild foods where they live now? How could they find out what wild food resources would have been available in their area 70 years ago, or longer? Betty Wilson comments that many of the foods her community gathered in the 1950s are no longer available. What might have happened to those foods?

Food sovereignty is an increasingly important topic for Native people. High schoolers may know that the US government officials provided or withheld food to keep Native communities "in line". They may have heard that settlers' foods, heavy on sugar and carbohydrates, have created health problems that Native Nations now deal with. Food sovereignty addresses those issues, and more. Picture books like Dad, Is It Time to Gather Mint and Herring to Huckleberries can help older kids explore the historical and cultural significance of communities being able to think critically about diet and supply themselves with food.

Dad, Is It Time to Gather Mint and Herring to Huckleberries are strongly recommended! They can be important additions to a curriculum about Native Americans, and useful in teaching about the relationships between human well-being and the foods we eat.

Notes on Core Knowledge's Language Arts Unit 8 Activity Book on Native Americans

2025-05-06T13:18:00.003-05:00

A few teachers have written to ask me about the Native Americans unit in Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) for grade 5. For them and others interested, I've downloaded it and will make notes here as I go through it (if you see a confusing note, let me know! These are rough notes. If they don't make sense, tell me and I'll try again). I'll date each entry. The file is 280 pages long. You'll see that I'm including a SUGGESTION section here and there.

May 6, 2025

Let's start by looking at the cover. As you see, I've placed red question marks on it to indicate my concerns:

First thought? Why did the publishers use a sepia-toned photo? Images like that suggest we are a people of the past. I don't know how many districts in the US use this curriculum but research studies show that state standards fail to show us as people of the present day. See, for example, "Manifesting Destiny" by Shear, Knowles, Soden and Castro. It was a major study that got a lot of press when it came out in 2015. If the photo on the cover is indicative of the materials in this curriculum, that's definitely a problem.

SUGGESTION: Develop a critical literacy unit on analyzing photos of Native peoples. Note and compare time periods depicted, color versus black/white, and photographers. I'm guessing the photo on the cover is one taken by Edward S. Curtis. There's more and more articles available that let readers know that he (and other photographers) manipulated photos to convey a romantic image. Here's one example of what he did. On left is the original. See the clock between the two men? It isn't in the photo on the right. For more information, see Edward S. Curtis: Romance vs. Reality.

Scrolling down to see the opening pages, I find a 2014 copyright year which is a year before Shear's study. Over ten years have passed which is plenty of time to have revised the activity book.

Page 1: "Native Americans by Region" starts by asking students to "Write the name of the region in which each Native American tribe, or group, lived."

The instruction does not bode well! Note that it is in past tense ("lived"). I note, too, that it says "tribe" or "group." In fact, the best word for us is nations. We were nations before the US was a nation. Early Europeans recognized us as nations. Their leaders and leaders of Native Nations entered into diplomatic negotiations. The outcome? Treaties. You read about them in school but the key fact that they're the outcome of diplomacy doesn't get enough attention. If teaching materials highlighted that fact, we'd see nation rather than tribe in materials like this activity book.

After that instruction, there are two pages that consist of a paragraph of information. Above each paragraph is a blank line. Students are supposed to write down a "tribe" or "group" name on that line. Reading through the paragraphs, I see that each one is written as if the people being described no longer exist. All the verbs are past tense. I don't have the curriculum the activity book is referring to, but I can tell from the content that the first paragraph is meant to be about a Plains Nation. Some of the sentences will seem fine to readers who have been taught to think of us as people of the past. People who notice? Native people and critical thinkers! The last sentence in the first paragraph says that homes "were made out of animal hides and were called tepees." If we change the verb tense, you'll see a huge difference. "are made out of animal hides and are called tipis." See the difference?

The second paragraph is about Pueblo people but verbs throughout are past tense. I'll list them: lived, lived, grew, provided, lived, learned, built, learned, wove, coated, baked, used, planted, used. The facts? We still live in that region with, and trees still grow there. We still use them to build with. We still farm with small water supplies. We still build homes out of clay bricks and stone. We don't plant cotton to make clothing -- we buy our clothing just like most people do! We still weave baskets.

The third and fourth paragraphs are on page two and like the ones on page one, they use past tense verbs.

I'm going to pause note-taking/sharing for now.

SUGGESTION: If your school uses this curriculum, how about you do a critical literacy lesson on verb tense? I'd love to see students doing edits to these two pages! And photos of these edits could be sent to the publisher. I was going to suggest putting them on social media but that's risky, these days. Send them to me! I'll share them.

Highly Recommended! FIERCE AUNTIES! by Laurel Goodluck and Steph Littlebird

2025-05-02T17:44:00.003-05:00

Fierce Aunties!

Written by Laurel Goodluck (Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara)

Illustrated by Steph Littlebird (member of Oregon’s Grand Ronde Confederated Tribes)

Published in 2024

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Reviewer: Debbie Reese

Review Status: Highly Recommended

****

As I look at the dust jacket cover of Fierce Aunties! I recognize the vibrant joy of Native women. Their joy infuses Native communities, on or off reservations. That joy is in the lines that radiate from the people Goodluck and Littlebird are introducing to readers, and it is in their faces, too. Did you notice their clothing and hats? I love that -- visually -- the author and illustrator are saying LOOK! Native people are in the present day!

When I slip the dust jacket off and look at the book's cover, I see a girl and a woman -- perhaps her mother -- in traditional regalia. Many of us have clothing we wear for our ceremonies and celebrations. The two are shown at a part of a dance where their arms are raised and the fringes on their shawls are caught by the energy of their motions. It is better if I show you:

Those two images tell readers we're joyful people of the present day who are doing the sorts of things that our ancestors did, for generations. For a Native kid who rarely sees images like these in their school books, this is powerful stuff!

Turning to the first page of the story, we see a modern day kitchen. On the left side of the page is a mother and father and baby, standing at the stove as the father stirs something he's cooking. On the right is a little girl looking over at them, hands grasping her head to signify her frustration. The words on that page tell us her parents are busy but that there are "somebodies" she can count on... of course, it is fierce aunties.

Some of her Fierce Aunties are there, in her community. She does things with them. The one in the ball cap is shown helping her ride a bike. The others we met on the cover are Fierce Aunties who garden, attend and speak at protests, tell stories, make frybread, and coach sports teams. I gotta say I especially like the image of the pregnant auntie:

On one page, we read that the arms of Fierce Aunties "... are like the strong branches of a family tree, holding you up. They stand tall with feistiness and flair so you stretch up to meet them." With her art, Littlebird shows us three women. One is Deb Haaland. She's the first Native person to serve on the cabinet for a US President (she was the Secretary of the Department of the Interior during President Biden's administration). Haaland is from Laguna Pueblo. I'm from Nambé Pueblo. Obviously, I'm psyched to see that page (it is also what we see on the back cover):

If you're a parent or grandparent--or Auntie!--of a Native child, get this book for them! I'm delighted it is in our home. If you're a teacher or librarian, get it for all the children you work with. Everyone should see Native women and children in the books they read. This one is a must-have.

Notes about proposed Netflix show, Little House on the Prairie

2025-04-10T19:04:00.004-05:00

Some time back I read that Netflix was going to do a reboot of Little House on the Prairie. I groaned. I'm going to use this page to keep track of what I see.

April 10, 2025:

Most recently I saw this casting call:

It tells us there's a character named Good Eagle. His mom is named White Sun. She is apparently a citizen of the Osage Nation. His dad is named Mitchell. Mitchell is white and Osage, and he's also a citizen of the Osage Nation. He went to the "Osage Mission" when he was a child. He loves books and speaks English. He built "the most impressive homestead" in a county in Kansas. He wants peace with the settlers. His wife, White Sun, is "more cynical about the white settlers" than her husband is.

My thoughts: Do they have an Osage consultant working with them? Who chose "Good Eagle" and "White Sun" as names for those two characters? "Good Eagle" in particular strikes me as odd. Does it suggest there could be a family somewhere that would name their child "Bad Eagle"? Maybe I'm being unnecessarily snarky there, but that's what I feel towards everything spun off of the Little House books (books, merchandise, television show...). As for Mitchell, I guess that's the name he got at the mission school and that's what he's going by now as a successful farmer. That's all from me, for now.

Highly Recommended: WE WEAVE by Daniel W. Vandever and Deonoveigh Mitchell

2025-04-10T16:57:00.003-05:00

We Weave

Written by Daniel W. Vandever (Diné)

Illustrated by Deonoveigh Mitchell (Diné)

Published in 2024

Publisher: South of Sunrise Creative

Reviewer: Debbie Reese

Review Status: Highly Recommended

****

Why am I so pleased with this book? It hits all the key points in books I recommend:

Native author
Native illustrator
Set in present day
Tribally specific content
Includes Native language(s)

But there's more to say! As I write, it is baseball season so I'll use a baseball phrase: It's a home run! We Weave is a home run. Vandever and Mitchell hit a homer!

Earlier today a friend was telling me about the Native information her child is getting in school. It sounds like the school they go to is not hesitating to teach middle school children about boarding schools. That's a topic that we ought to see in all educational materials about Native people. I wonder, though, if my friend's school is also making sure children learn that we're still here and that we use technology much like the devices they themselves use? A cell phone features prominently in We Weave. I also recommend you read Laurel Goodluck's picture book, Forever Cousins. In it, two cousins use their phones to stay in touch.

We Weave is one of many picture books that can help with that teaching. (Note here that I encourage everyone to read picture books by Native writers and illustrators, no matter how old you or your child are! Mostly likely, none of the content you received in school depicted us as people of the past and fails to show us as people of the present day who know who we are as citizens or tribal members of our specific, unique nations.)

Let's start by looking at the cover. That's a grandmother sitting at a loom. She's gazing at a child who is holding a phone. See the emoji's above the phone? Nice touch! Those are first impressions but look closer. See the child's hairstyle? And moccasins, and the loom the grandmother is weaving on? These are most definitely specific to the Diné people.

As you open the book you see the dedication page that says, in part, "be proud of who you are, where you're from, and where you're going." Many parents say that to their children but that dedication includes words in Diné. Beneath the dedication are three terms you'll see as you read the book. Masaní (Grandmother), Shiyázhí (My Little One), and Dzil Yáázh (Little Mountain).

The story begins with Masaní reading a letter that says school is going virtual. How many of you got letters like that when the pandemic took over? Shiyázhí replies that he doesn't have a computer. All he has is a phone. He's sitting on the couch. Above/behind him are photographs on the wall of someone who was (or is) in the service. In Native homes across the country you'll find framed photos like those. Native people serve in the US armed service at a high rate. Including those photos behind Shiyázhí is an especially nice touch that reflects reality.

His grandmother replies "We weave to get what we need" and that kicks off the story Vandever and Mitchell give us. Masaní describes all the steps she goes through to weave. She intends to sell the rug to get enough money to buy a computer. Shiyázhí uses his phone to document what they do.

The grandmother is weaving a rug, and her grandson is weaving a story!

As they near the first day of school, she's disappointed. She hasn't finished in time to actually sell the rug herself and thinks they can't buy a computer, but her grandson has used his weaving to sell her rug. His weaving is videos of all she did to make the rug--and his weaving went viral. Together they have worked to get the computer. Together, they've been weaving. Hence, the 'we' in We Weave.

I really like this book! It was on AICL's 2024 year-end list but I ran out of time to post a review in 2024. As always, I recommend you flip to the Author's Note to learn from Vandever. He tells us things most textbooks do not. And he provides a "Caution with Technology" note, too. As more children use phones, the adults in their lives can clamp down in punitive ways, and/or they can teach them about online safety. I'm glad to see Vandever's note.

Get a copy of We Weave and ask for it at your library!

Highly Recommended: Yáadilá! Good Grief! More to say about this wonderful book!

2025-04-10T13:47:00.000-05:00

Back in January, I did a first-look 'highly recommended' post about Yáadilá!: Good Grief! I heaped praise on the way Laurel Goodluck and Jonathan Nelson presented the story. At the end of that post, I said I'd be back with more to say. So here we go!

In that post, I was especially taken with "Helpful Narrator" -- a character that proclaims on the first very page -- that it will teach readers how to yáadilá using body language. Here's my photo of the first page:

See what I mean? Anytime you have felt frustrated, you may have crossed your arms, or put your hands on your hips, or shook your head, rolled your eyes, sighed, or shrugged your soldiers. All of those gestures are the embodiment of frustration. Helpful Narrator tells us how we can use our body to communicate that sense of yáadilá, or good grief. On the facing page, Helpful Narrator goes on to tell you how to say the word. Meanwhile, a significant character in the book comments on Helpful Narrator! I love every bit of this!

In Yáadilá!, that red box is an unseen but very present voice in the book. Why am I going on about this, you may wonder. Because I haven't seen anything like this before. Have you?

Goodluck and Nelson are reaching across a knowledge gap to help you, the person getting ready to read this book aloud, who probably doesn't know any Diné words. Many times when I recommend a Native-authored book, I ask you to flip to the back and read the author's note. The information Native writers share with you is vital. Most schools and universities don't teach what you find in those notes. But with this technique -- Helpful Narrator -- we see a new iteration of an author's note. And its a delight!

Get the book and see what I mean. Here's the image I used with my first look. Highly recommended!

Yáadilá! Good Grief!

Written by Laurel Goodluck (Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara)

Illustrated by Jonathan Nelson (Diné)

Published in 2025

Publisher: Heartdrum (HarperCollins)

Reviewer: Debbie Reese

Review Status: Highly Recommended

2024 American Indian Literature Award Medal Acceptance: Jonathan Nelson

2025-02-03T11:31:00.000-06:00

Editors Note: On January 25, 2025, the American Indian Library Association (AILA) held its Youth Literature Award Ceremony in Phoenix. I am pleased to share the remarks Jonathan Nelson delivered when he received the American Indian Youth Literature Award in the picture book category for Forever Cousins.

****

AIYLA Medal Acceptance Remarks

Jonathan Nelson

Ya'at'eeh! Shi ei yinishye. Kiyaa'aanii doo Naakai dine'e baschichiin. Hooghan lani da shicheii doo Táchii’nii da shinali.

Hello. My name is Jonathan Nelson. I am of the Towering House clan, born for the Mexican clan. My maternal grandparents are of the Many Hogans clan and my paternal grandparents are of the Red-Running-Into-The-Water clan.

I’m grateful and honored to be here with you all and among the creators listed on the agenda for the American Indian Youth Literature Awards.

I’ve been awarded 2 awards and, yes, I was curious about giving the same speech twice. Thanks to Charlesbridge and Laurie Goodluck to share my talents on Forever Cousins. I also want to thank Heartdrum, an imprint of HarperCollins, and Kim Rogers for giving me the opportunity to collaborate on A Letter for Bob.

It’s been awhile since I’ve been back to Phoenix, the homelands of the of the Akimel O'odham (Pima), Piipaash (Maricopa), and Yavapai people. It’s great to see some of them here along with everyone else and these heavy hitters. I'm grateful and honored to be sharing this space and time with you.

In sharing my process I’d like to share some work I did back in 2009. I painted a series of six vinyl records I labeled Ewe-volution. You as in sheep. Get it? It’s a story about a mother and her son, a ram. The mother is the first to ever realize that she's a being, a person.

Her son begins to grow and he doesn't have to think about his own existence. He knows who he is and he has aspirations and goals. You can see how he grows. It relates with how I’ve gone through life and how the younger generations perceive education.

I got my start in art as a young kid drawing Garfield, Snoopy, then Spiderman, Hulk, and Batman. In high school, I began painting. Today, I work as a graphic artist, web designer, and illustrator.

In 2001, I had just met, my partner, Dr. Christine Nelson in Scottsdale and began dating. All the way from the Rez, she’s from Farmington and I’m from Hogback. I was working as a skycap at Sky Harbor and 9/11 happened and everything came to a halt. I needed to find work right away. We looked at different options and suggested I go back to school. We toured Al Collins Graphic Design School in Tempe and that’s where I got my start in graphic design and illustration. I didn't know I could do that with my art as I finished high school.

So, Dr. Chris and I have a 14-year-old son, Olin. He’s back in Denver and couldn’t be with us. So, he is kind of like the ram along with the younger generations we’re watching grow. He’s been seeing and hearing our work since he was a baby. Dr. Nelson with her research and writing contributions to papers, journals, and books. He’s watched me paint, sketch, and draw on canvas and iPad. He’s been with us on work trips to conferences and comic book conventions where we’ve presented and showcased. He hears about our research, projects, and discussions on higher education, career, and activist art among other topics in our fields.

I’m grateful to work with these authors, designers, and educators, and, more so, within various Indigenous communities, companies, and student organizations. Olin and the youth are seeing us do this work. We’re giving them pathways they could follow, something to shoot for. I illustrate that in my books. Olin, and my nieces and nephews, the youth, can see themselves in these books. I draw these characters for my wife, my son, my nieces and nephews, grandmas and grandpas and so on and so forth. I hope you can also see them for yourselves and your communities.

Thanks to Charlesbridge and Heartdrum & HarperCollins. Thanks to my agent, Nicole Gieger at Full Circle Literary. And thanks to American Indian Youth Literature Awards for these honors and inviting me here for this ceremony.

2024 American Indian Literature Award Medal Acceptance: Laurel Goodluck

2025-01-31T13:37:00.003-06:00

Editors Note: On January 25, 2025, the American Indian Library Association (AILA) held its Youth Literature Award Ceremony in Phoenix. I am pleased to share the remarks Laurel Goodluck delivered when she received the American Indian Youth Literature Award in the picture book category for Forever Cousins.

****

Naomi Bishop (left) presenting Laurel Goodluck (right) with award for Forever Cousins

AIYLA Medal Acceptance Remarks

Laurel Goodluck

Greetings,

Dosha – Hello, friends. It’s wonderful to be spending the morning with you all. Writing a book for children is a privilege, a responsibility, and a lot of fun.

BUT…

I wasn’t one of those kids who said I wanted to be a writer, but I grew up with oral storytelling.

My storytelling journey began with my family around the kitchen table in the SF Bay Area in California on weekends with my parents, uncles, aunties, grandmas, and cousins. The grown-ups told us stories of their adventures as children growing up in our homelands in North Dakota and Alaska. Stories of brown bears, gathering cedar bark, their father singing lullabies in Hidatsa and playing Stardust on the Sax, and trading horses for bikes with the town kids in Elbowoods.
As cousins, these stories were adventures that we wanted to live up to. So, when we ventured home to North Dakota each summer, we were determined to have similar escapades and did. We jumped off logs in the lake, and when wild ponies wandered on our farm, we corralled them and played rodeo; we found rattlesnakes in the garden, and in solemn moments, we gathered around the tipi rings dotting the land and imagined our ancestors’ lives on the prairie.
But the stories that were told around the kitchen table that later informed all of us cousins as adults were the stories about our chiefs and my grandfather, who was tribal chairman of Fort Berthold. My grandfather, Martin Old Dog Cross, bravely fought against the government to stop the Garrison Dam, which eventually flooded our ancestral lands. Martin would meet with Senators in Washington DC and proclaim, “There is no price for our land.”
With this legacy of leadership through oral storytelling, I learned that these powerful stories offered keys to resilience. So, with a career in education and mental health and near retirement, I decided to write for children. I wanted to provide all the kids with what my family offered me through oral storytelling.

It began with FOREVER COUSINS.

It is a story of my family and many families who experienced the Indian Relocation Act. Who knew a picture book format could offer all of this? I didn’t initially; this was my first attempt at a picture book. I soon discovered I could tell a universal story of love and friendship between cousins with all the beauty of our Native culture sprinkled through the story as organically as we live. And the back matter, the author’s note could express my need to tell the untold history and tribal and native cultural relevance. It also began with a lovely team of allies.
I found Debbie Reese on social media. I Instant Messaged her and asked her many questions. She directed me to Tracy Sorell, who spent over an hour on the phone with me, passing on her wisdom. Later, Traci and I were paired together as mentors and mentees through WNDB (We Need Diverse Books), and everything began to change.
Tracy introduced me to freelance editor Karen Boss, who was patient and professional and helped me edit Forever Cousins. Then she said, “I don’t say this to everyone; I’d like you to submit this to Charlesbridge.”
At the same time, I met Nicole Geiger, agent extraordinaire with Full Circle Literary Agency. I knew I wanted to be with this agency, which supported diverse creatives in children’s literature for decades.
My community expanded through the Kweli Children of Color Conference with Laura Pegram’s leadership, Native writing intensives sponsored by Heartdrum and WNDB with editor Rosemary Brosnan and Cynthia Leitich Smith, Highlights Native retreats with Tracy Sorell, and international online Native writing critique groups. We are a solid Native community of support and a soft nest to retreat to.

Closing

So, Forever Cousins was created with this circle of support and belief. And with a talented illustrator, Jonathan Nelson, who made the beautiful, vibrant, and playful art. I will forever be grateful to these allies and the community we continue to grow and nurture with many unique tribal voices and needed stories.
Thank you, American Indian Library Association, for this honor of best picture book, which I’m thrilled to share with Kim Rogers and her brilliant story.
And last, I thank my family, who offered stories that run as deep as the tipi rings still outlined on our prairie.