American Indian/Alaska Native Resources

American Indian/Alaska Native Resources

There is incredible richness and diversity to American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) culture and history! This list is only a very brief one, which we hope will launch you on further explorations and learning. If you would like any additional recommendations, librarian Tasha Gross will be happy to share more! 

At the Library

Children

• A Coyote Solstice Tale by Thomas King (Cherokee)

• The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich (Ojibwe)

• Jim Thorpe: Original All-American by Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki)

• Keepunumuk: Weeachumun’s Thanksgiving Story by Danielle Greendeer
  (Mashpee Wampanoag), Anthony Perry (Chickasaw), and Alexis C. Bunten (Aleut/Yup’ik)

• Lasting Echos: an Oral History of Native American People by Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki)

• Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo)

• • Skeleton Man by Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki)

• Stolen Words by Melanie Florence (Cree)

• • Thunder Boy Jr. by Sherman Alexie (Spokane-Coeur d’Alene)
  • The Trail of Tears by Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki)

• When We Were Alone by David Robertson (Swampy Cree)

Teens

• Code Talker: a Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two by Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki)

• • Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger (Lipan Apache) 
  • Fatty Legs: a True Story by Margaret Pokiak-Fenton (Inuvialuit)

• Found by Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki)

• I Am Not a Number by Jenny Kay Dupuis (Anishinaabe/Ojibway)

• • Makoons by Louise Erdrich (Ojibwe)

• Skywalkers: Mohawk Ironworkers Build the City by David Weitzman

Adults

• A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott (Tuscarora)

• • The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Spokane-Coeur d’Alene)

• An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States by Kyle T. Mays (Saginaw Chippewa)

• • Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux by Black Elk (Oglala Lakota) interpreted through John G. Neihardt 

• Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Potawatomi)

• • The Clockwork Dynasty: a Novel by Daniel H. Howard (Cherokee)
  • Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline (Metis)
  • The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treuer (Ojibwe)
  • The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich (Ojibwe) (Or, check out Louise Erdrich’s many other works at the Library!)
  • Oak Flat: a Fight for Sacred Land in the American West by Lauren Redniss
  • The Only Good Indians: a Novel by Stephen Graham Jones (Blackfeet)
  • Native American Gardening: Stories, Projects, and Recipes for Families by Michael J. Caduto & Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki)
  • Songs From This Earth on Turtle’s Back: Contemporary American Indian Poetry edited by Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki)
  • There There by Tommy Orange (Cheyenne/Arapaho)
  • This Town Sleeps: a Novel by Dennis E. Staples (Ojibwe)

• The Trail of Tears by Gloria Jahoda 

• Winter Counts: a Novel by David Heska Wanbli Weiden (Sicangu Lakota)

Movies

• We Shall Remain: America Through Native Eyes 

Borrow Online

Overdrive

• • Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Potowatomi) (available as audiobook or ebook)
  • An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (available as audiobook or ebook)
  • House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa) (available as ebook)
  • The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich (Ojibwe) (available as audiobook or ebook)
  • Fry Bread: a Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard (Seminole) (available as ebook)

• Spirit Run by Noe Alvarez (available as ebook)

• The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline (Metis) (available as ebook)

• Empire of the Wild by Cherie Dimaline (Metis) (available as ebook)

• A Mind Spread Out On the Ground by Alicia Elliott (Tuscarora) (available as ebook)

• Winter Counts: a Novel by David Heska Wanbli Weiden (Sicangu Lakota) (available as audiobook or ebook)

• Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford (Cherokee) (available as ebook)

• This Town Sleeps by Dennis E. Staples (Ojibwe) (available as audiobook)

• Lakota America by Pekka Hamalainen (available as ebook)

• Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo) (available as ebook)

• Trial of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse (Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo) (available as ebook)

• Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse (Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo) (available as ebook)

• Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo) (available as ebook)

• Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz (Mojave) (available as ebook)

• When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through by Joy Harjo (Muscogee Creek) (available as ebook)

Hoopla

• • Everything You Wanted To Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask by Anton Treuer (Ojibwe) (available as audiobook or ebook) 
  • God is Red by Vine Delora,  Jr. (Standing Rock Sioux) (available as ebook)
  • We are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom (Anishinaabekwe/Metis) (available as audiobook)

• An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo (Muscogee Creek) (available as ebook)

• Conflict Resolution For Holy Beings by Jo Harjo (Muscogee Creek) (available as audiobook)

• A Mind Spread Out On the Ground by Alicia Elliott (Tuscarora) (available as audiobook)

• Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God by Kaitlin B. Curtice (Potawatomi) (available as audiobook or ebook)

• Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford (Cherokee) (available as ebook)

• This Town Sleeps by Dennis E. Staples (Ojibwe) (available as audiobook)

• Lakota America by Pekka Hamalainen (available as audiobook)

Kanopy

• • Native-American History and Culture Series 

• Native Peoples of North America

• The Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy

• • Black Indians: An American Story 
  • 6 Generations 
  • The People’s Protectors 
  • Who Owns the Past? 

• The Spirit of the Ancestors: Journey to Bring Home a Stolen Artifact

• Up Heartbreak Hill

• Moroni for President

• •  Marie’s Dictionary

• Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World

• • Gather 
  • Return: Native American Women Reclaim Foodways for Health & Spirit 

• Molly of Denali