Like many marginalized groups, indigenous representation has been too limited in books and media, and even when there was representation, the depiction was still wrong, fueling stereotypes and doing more harm than good (ie , it’s 2020 and there are still sports teams using caricatures and native images for their mascots).
You are reading: Native american young adult books
Even with small steps towards rectifying this problem, there is still a lot more need for Native and Indigenous stories in the media, especially in our literary world. As author Cynthia Leitich Smith said of the launch of Heartdrum, HarperCollins’ native-focused publishing imprint, “Now is the time for positive and uplifting change in the form of resonant representation across all markets and age formats. we have stories that affirm life and turn the page to share.”
Reading works by indigenous authors is something we should be doing all year long, so what better time than now to add these titles to your tbr? With these books, you’ll read not only about the struggles and tragedies that come from surviving the lasting effects of colonization, but also about the triumphs and celebrations that come from reclaiming your own culture.
and books with indigenous characters
sincere, innovative and revolutionary stories
1. the firefighter’s daughter by angeline boulley
As a biracial, unenrolled tribal member and the product of a scandal, eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. Daunis dreams of studying medicine, but when her family is struck by tragedy, she puts her future on hold to care for her fragile mother.
Only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. However, even as Daunis falls for Jamie, certain details don’t add up and she feels the dashing hockey star is hiding something. It all comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into the heart of a criminal investigation.
Reluctantly, daunis agrees to go undercover, but secretly continues his own investigation, tracking down the criminals with his knowledge of chemistry and traditional medicine. But the deceptions and deaths keep piling up, and soon the threat strikes too close to home.
Now, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe Kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she will go to protect her community, even if it shatters the only world she has ever known.
This coming-of-age story is about identity, grief, family, community, and love. the author’s use of anishinaabemowin language and culture paints a rich world and explores what it means to be an ojibwe woman who knows the power within her.
- buy fire keeper’s daughter now!
2. apple in the middle by alba quigley
apple starkington turned her back on her native american heritage the moment it was called a racial slur for someone of white and indian descent, not that she really knew how to be indian in the first place. she pity that the white world does not accept it either. and so she begins to gain acceptance for her peculiar habits.
Apple’s name, chosen by his Indian mother on her deathbed, has a double meaning: the treasured apple of my eyes, but also the negative connotation of a person who is red, or Indian, on the outside, but white inside.
After being kicked out one summer by her wealthy father, Apple reluctantly agrees to visit her Native American relatives on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota for the first time. Ella Apple learns to deal with the culture shock of Indian customs and the native Michif language, while trying to find a connection to Ella’s dead mother. She also has to deal with a vindictive Indian man who loved her mother in high school but now she hates apple because her mother married a white man.
Bouncing between two cultures, Apple meets her Indian relatives, breaks down Indian stereotypes, and learns what it means to find her place in a world divided by color.
- buy apple in the middle now!
3. purple cedar house by tim tingle
“The hour has come to speak of troubled times. It is time we spoke of Skullyville.”
Thus begins Rose Goode’s story of her upbringing in Indian Territory in the pre-statehood state of Oklahoma. Skullyville, a once-thriving Choctaw community, was destroyed by land grabbers, culminating in the New Year’s Eve 1896 arson of New Hope Academy for Girls. Twenty Choctaw girls died, but Rose escaped. She is blessed by the presence of her Pokoni Grandma and Amafo Grandpa, both respected elders who understand her old ways. shortly after the fire, the white sheriff beats up amafo in front of the townspeople, humiliating him. Instead of asking the Choctaw community to avenge the beating, her grandfather decides to follow the path of forgiveness.
And so unfolds this story of mystery, Indian-style magical realism, and profound wisdom. It is a world where the spiritualism of the forests and the Christianity of the Bible are mixed with the bad guys; a one-legged merchant woman, her jerk husband, herbal potions, and shape-shifting panthers doing justice. Tim Tingle, a scholar of El Nation’s language, culture, and spirituality, tells Rose’s story of good and evil with understanding and even laugh-out-loud Choctaw humor.
- buy purple cedar house now!
4. #notyourprincess: Native American Women’s Voices, edited by lisa charleyboy & mary beth leatherdale
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Whether looking back at a troubled past or welcoming a hopeful future, the powerful voices of North American indigenous women resonate in this book.
With stories told through poems, essays, comic strips, photographs, interviews, artwork and more, this anthology uniquely captures and amplifies the powerful voices of Native women from across the continent. its strength is not only heard, but felt.
Shedding the hardships, the generational pain, the damage caused by abuse and stereotypes, and the dismissal of her story, this book is an act of vindication. Resilient at its core, it honors and celebrates indigenous women and their legacy in a beautiful and intricate narrative.
- buy #notyourprincess now!
5. rain is not my indian name by cynthia leitich smith
Fourteen-year-old Rain is dealing with the recent passing of her best friend and crush, Galen, as well as losing her mother years before. After months of solitude and grieving, she reemerges to the outside world when she’s dragged into joining her Aunt Georgia’s summer camp for Native American teens. There, she’s hired to photograph the camp by the local paper.
With a father stationed abroad, a brother estranged from her, and the ugly darkness of small-town politics, we witness Rain’s struggles and efforts to fit in with her heritage and her journey into the future. self discovery. Does she want to keep a professional distance from her native teenage peers? And, though she’s still grieving, will she be able to embrace new friends and new beginnings?
- buying rain is not my Indian name now!
6. intact hearts by cynthia leitich smith
Another book by New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith, Hearts Unbroken tells the story of newly single teenager Louise Wolfe. She just broke up with her first boyfriend, who was unaware of her Muscogee heritage, after hearing him make racist comments about the natives.
Senior year begins, and the theater department’s production of The Wizard of Oz causes undue controversy. Racism erupts as white parents in small-town Kansas rage at the diversity among the cast. Lou is paired with Joey to cover a story about the play’s inclusive cast, and though she finds her partner irritating her, she can’t help but be attracted to him.
As tensions rise at school, so does Lou and Joey’s romance, but as she’s learned, “native dating” can be tough. In trying to protect her own heart, will Lou break Joey’s?
- buy intact hearts now!
7. if i ever get out of here by eric gansworth
The year is 1975 and junior high school student Lewis “Shoe” Blake lives on the Tuscarora Indian reservation. He’s been placed in a nearby predominantly white school by a guidance counselor and wrestles with fitting in socially. No stranger to prejudice, Shoe has just about had it when he becomes the target of bully Evan Reininger.
When shoe hears that another student is joining the class, he waits for an indigenous friend. Instead, he meets white military brat George Haddonfield, whose father has just been transferred to the base in town. An unexpected bond is forged through his love and knowledge of music, but despite his budding friendship, Shoe still feels the need to hide parts of his life from his new friend.
This is a story about friendship, identity, and overcoming the feeling of needing to repress your culture in order to fit in.
- buy if I ever get out of here now!
8. give me some truth by eric gansworth
another play by author eric gansworth, this time set in 1980 and told in two narratives.
Carson, a 17-year-old dreamer, wants one thing and that is to lead a rock band. he sets his sights on winning the “battle of the bands” for a free trip to new york. His instinct tells him this is his chance to get off the Tuscarora reservation.
With a strong sense of timing and setting, we’re drawn into the story as Carson’s older brother Derek walks into his bedroom with a gunshot wound in the night, after an apparently botched robbery at last stand. of custard. A spark is ignited in Carson, and an impactful social justice movement is launched.
Meanwhile, maggi, or magpie, has just returned to his family and is relearning the ways of the rez. she’s dying to stop making the same traditional art that her family sells to tourists (conceptual stuff is cool), stop feeling out of place in her new (old) home, and stop being treated like a girl. she would also like to fall in love for the first time.
Carson and Maggi, along with their friend Lewis, navigate loud protests, louder music, and first love in this heartwarming novel about coming together in a world defined by difference.
- buy give me some truth now!
9. darcie elatsoe little badger
This hybrid of mystery, noir and fantasy is set in a land where paranormal beings walk among us.
elatsoe—ellie for short—is a Lipan Apache teenager living in an alternate contemporary America shaped by ancient magic and the knowledge of its indigenous and immigrant groups. she possesses the inherited gift of resurrecting the spirit of the dead. her cousin loses his life and appears as a ghost to ellie, declaring himself a murder victim. And now it’s time for Ellie to find the truth.
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much more than a murder mystery and a combination of paranormal folklore with indigenous identity, this story is about how our ancestors live through the stories we pass down from generation to generation.
- buy elatsoe now!
10. surviving the city by tasha spill
Surviving the City is a graphic novel series written by Tasha Spillet, of Nehiyaw and Trinidadian heritage, and illustrated by Natasha Donovan, a member of the Métis nation.
miikwan and dez are best friends. miikwan is Anishinaabe; dez is new. together, the teens face the challenges of growing up in an urban landscape that can be so dismissive of natives. they are so close that they even completed their berry fast together.
however, when dez’s grandmother gets too sick, dez is told she can no longer stay with her. With the threat of a group home looming, Dez can’t bring himself to go home and disappears. miikwan is devastated and her missing mother’s wound resurfaces.
Will the dez community find her before it’s too late? Will miikwan be able to cope if they don’t?
- buy survive the city now!
11. the marrow thieves by cherie dimaline
the marrow thievesfollows a group of teenagers on their quest to survive in a post-apocalyptic North America wracked by global warming.
Humanity has nearly destroyed their world through global warming, but now an even greater evil looms.
french, 16, and his friends, miig, zheegwon, wab, riri, tree, minerva, chi-boy, and slopper, are on the run from recruiters, who are trying to capture them. your goal? harvesting the bone marrow of North American Indians, which holds the key to regaining something that the rest of the population has lost: the ability to dream.
In this dark world, frenchie and her companions fight for survival as they push north into the ancient lands. For now, surviving means staying hidden, but what they don’t know is that one of them holds the secret to defeating the marrow thieves. This story focuses on themes of culture loss, survival, and resilience, and teaches what it means to be part of a community.
- buy the marrow thieves now!
12. this place: 150 years recounted
A graphic novel anthology composed of 10 powerful stories, This Place invites you to explore the past 150 years through the eyes of Indigenous creators and their art.
Beautifully illustrated, these stories are an insightful and moving journey through indigenous wonders, psychic battles, and time travel. see how indigenous peoples have survived a post-apocalyptic world since contact.
These stories highlight indigenous resistance and give an idea of how native communities have tried to protect their people, promote their traditions and continue to pass on their teachings, despite the clutches of colonialism.
- I bought this place: 150 years counted now!
13. series a girl named echo by katherena vermette
A Girl Called Echo is a graphic novel series that begins with Pemmican Wars.
follows echo desjardins, a 13-year-old of mixed-race descent, as he struggles to adjust to a new life away from his mother, who has just been hospitalized. alone and alienated, her life begins to change after she begins to experience vivid dreams one day in mr. bee history class during mr. the bee lecture, she echo she finds herself transported to another time and place, a bison hunt on the saskatchewan prairie, and back to the present.
Over the following weeks, the echo slides back and forth in time. Visit a mestizo encampment, travel ancient fur trade routes, and experience the dangerous and bygone era of the Pemmican wars. Through space and time, echo is literally immersed in the history of his people for the first time.
- buy pemmican wars now!
14. shadows cast by the stars by catherine knutsson
Two hundred years from now, blood has become the most valuable commodity on the planet, especially the blood of Aboriginal peoples, as it contains antibodies that protect them from the plague that plagues the rest of the world.
Sixteen-year-old Cassandra Mercredi may be immune to the plague, but that doesn’t mean she’s safe: Government forces are looking for people of Aboriginal descent to collect their blood. when a search threatens cassandra and her family, they flee to the island: a mysterious and idyllic territory protected by the gang, a group of guerrilla warriors, and by an enigmatic energy barrier that keeps out outsiders and the world of the spirits within. the village healer has taken her under her wing, and the tribal leader’s son in her heart, the creatures of the spirit world are angry and have chosen cassandra to be her voice and instrument.. .
Incorporating the traditions of the first peoples, as well as the more familiar stories of Greek mythology and Arthurian legend, Shadows Cast by the Stars is a haunting and beautifully written story that breathes new life into ancient ways.
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- buy shadows cast by the stars now!