Children's Books for Parents and Teachers » Native Americans

An Indian Winter

admin — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:15:12 +0000

In 1833 German prince Maximilian and Swiss artist Karl Bodmer traveled through the Missouri River Valley to study Native Americans. Their detailed journals and artwork are the basis for this account of their travels. Freedman describes the customs, social structure, and artifacts the two men encountered as well as their friendship with the Mandan and … Continue reading →

Kaya’s Hero: A Story of Giving

admin — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:35:41 +0000

This episodic story, set in 1764, explores the tragedies and triumphs that befall Kaya, a Nez Perce girl. Kaya’s hero is a brave and strong woman named Swan Circling. When Swan Circling dies suddenly while performing a selfless act, her people give away her belongings to guide her spirit to rest. Before this, Swan Circling had requested that if she died, Kaya was to be granted her Native American name — the greatest gift one could receive. Kaya realizes that this sacred gift is a sign of honor and trust and that she must earn the right to use it.

Morning Girl

admin — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:14:33 +0000

In alternating chapters, warm, carefully chosen words show the reader how it feels to be Morning Girl, a 12-year-old Taino, and her younger brother, Star Boy. The powerful ending packs a wallop and will leave the reader thinking long after the last page has been turned.

Sacajawea: The Story of Bird Woman and the Lewis and Clark Expedition

admin — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:16:16 +0000

Told from the perspectives of both Sacajawea and Clark, this novel brings to life the famous story of Sacajawea, a Shoshone woman, who embarked on a long journey with the explorers Lewis and Clark. This intimate glimpse of Sacajawea as translator, peacemaker, caretaker, and guide makes readers understand the important role she played in making the explorers’ journey possible. Excerpts from these explorers’ journals as well as traditional tales of the Shoshone introduce chapters and add depth and a touch of humor to the story.

Spider Spins a Story: Fourteen Legends from Native America

admin — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:10:20 +0000

The spider, a character in many Native American stories, is numerous things — sometimes a teacher, other times an ally, but also a trickster. This collection of Native American legends is beautifully illustrated by five different Native American artists and endorsed by tribal authorities. Legends from several culture areas — including the Southwest, Southeast, Great Plains, Great Lakes, and California — are represented. These legends are great to read aloud to younger students, and older students will enjoy reading them on their own.

Squanto’s Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving

admin — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 20:12:41 +0000

Although the story of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving has been a staple in schools for decades, the Native American version of this event is far less familiar. Told in the first person from Squanto’s point of view, Bruchac’s book begins with the brutal hardships Squanto endured at the hands of the English. After being kidnapped and enslaved in Spain, he works desperately hard to sail back to New England, only to find that his family and many other Patuxet people have died from disease brought by the white man. In spite of all this, Squanto is unaltered in his belief that “these men can share our land as friends.” He acts with dignity as an ambassador between the Native Americans and the English and helps the Pilgrims survive in their new world. Shed’s full-page, earth-tone illustrations add warmth and historical detail to this Thanksgiving story.

The First Strawberries: A Cherokee Story

admin — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:11:07 +0000

This Cherokee creation tale tells the story of a quarrel between the first man and woman. When the woman walks away from her husband’s harsh words, he follows, but is not able to catch up. The Sun sees how sorry the man is and tries to help by causing various berries to grow in her path. Only the sweetness of strawberries, however, has the power to stop her and allow her husband a chance to ask for forgiveness. This is how strawberries came to be, and now whenever Cherokee people eat strawberries they are reminded to be kind to one another.

The Legend of the Lady Slipper

admin — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:11:54 +0000

In this retold Ojibwe tale, a little girl’s courage and determination save her village from a terrible disease and bring the delicate lady slipper flower to the forests of the Great Lakes. By listening closely to nature, the hissing snow, rumbling ice, and dancing northern lights, the little girl is able to bring healing herbs back from a neighboring village. The next spring she goes back to look for a pair of beaded ma-ki-sins she lost during her harrowing journey to retrieve the medicine. Instead, all along her route, wherever she had stepped, she finds beautiful lady slipper flowers shaped like tiny mocassins.

The Long March

admin — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:13:59 +0000

In 1847 a group of Choctaw Indians collected $170 toward the relief of Ireland’s potato famine. This story is a fictionalized account of that little-known real event. Choona, now an old man, relates this story from his boyhood. Although 14-year-old Choona knew that his people had been forced to march from their homelands in Mississippi to Indian Territory, now the state of Oklahoma, the adults did not speak about this tragic event to their children. Then, during a tribal meeting, where the Choctaw meet to discuss sending relief to the Irish, Choona’s great-grandmother relates the terrible truth about the winter of the march — the starvation, the freezing, the deaths. She urges her people to help the Irish who are now going through their own “trail of tears.” At first Choona is so angry at the Europeans that he votes against helping them. But soon he, too, is able to put his anger aside as he realizes that through this act of giving the Choctaw will feel less helpless. In facing their past, they are able to move forward.

When Clay Sings

admin — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:13:18 +0000

In this Byrd Baylor prose-poem classic, Indian children in the Southwest make a game of collecting pieces of ancient pottery and trying to fit the pieces together. Their parents remind them to treat the clay with respect because “every piece of clay is a piece of someone’s life” and every piece “has its own small voice and sings in its own way.” As the children carefully touch the pieces of clay, they listen for the songs they sing and think about the hands that shaped them. And as they examine the pottery’s designs, their imaginations conjure up details of the people’s lives who made and used this pottery. Bahti’s animated pen-and-ink drawings of the pottery’s primitive figures and designs won a prestigious Caldecott honor.