In Honor of National Native American Heritage Month

November 10, 2010

Here are some books to help you celebrate the rich ancestry and traditions of Native Americans:

Lifting the Sky by Mackie D'Arge
Twelve-year-old Blue, always on the move with her ranch-hand mother, yearns for a real home where her father can find them, and on a remote ranch on a Wyoming reservation she finds that and more, including a mystical ability to heal injuries.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.

A Woman of the People by Benjamin Capps
When her parents are killed in a raid, 11-year-old Helen Morrison and her younger sister Katy are kidnapped by a band of Comanches. Given the name Tehanita, Helen vows to maintain her white identity and clings tightly to her only possession--the dress she was wearing when captured. She is appalled by Katy's quick adjustment to her new home and family. Helen resists assimilation but she must make a decision. Should she become a woman of the People?

Rain is Not My Indian Name by Cynthia Leitich Smith　
It's been six months since Rain's best friend Galen died, and up until now she has succeeded in shutting herself off from the world. But when controversy arises around her Aunt Georgia's Indian Camp in their mostly white Midwestern community, Rain decides to face the outside world again--at least through the lens of her camera.

Hope you enjoy broadening your horizons,

Jessica F.