Brilliant Indigenous Literature from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Books by Indigenous authors and illustrators. Add to your kids’ shelves, read them together, or download the activity below for a fun family learning experience!
Celebrate Indigenous thinkers and inventions with this beautifully designed, award-winning interactive nonfiction book—perfect for fans of Braiding Sweetgrass.
Corn. Chocolate. Fishing hooks. Boats that float. Insulated double-walled construction. Recorded history and folklore. Life-saving disinfectant. Forest fire management. Our lives would be unrecognizable without these, and countless other, scientific discoveries and technological inventions from Indigenous North Americans. Spanning topics from transportation to civil engineering, hunting technologies, astronomy, brain surgery, architecture, and agriculture, Indigenous Ingenuity is a wide-ranging STEM offering that answers the call for Indigenous nonfiction by reappropriating hidden history. The book includes fun, simple activities and experiments that kids can do to better understand and enjoy the principles used by Indigenous inventors. Readers of all ages are invited to celebrate traditional North American Indigenous innovation, and to embrace the mindset of reciprocity, environmental responsibility, and the interconnectedness of all life.★ “This book will amaze readers and teachers. Completely unique and important.” —SLJ, starred review
★ “Engaging and informative.” —Booklist, starred review” Essential for kids and adults. We need this book.” —Candace Fleming, award-winning author of The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh and The Family Romanov
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY School Library Journal • Shelf Awareness • National Education Society • American Association of Geography • Canadian Children’s Book Centre • Nerdy Book Club • NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Awards • The Green Earth Book Award
★ “A moving portrait about discovering what home means.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
★ “Highly recommended.”—School Library Journal, starred review
★ “Luby’s lyrical text and Donovan’s vibrant…illustrations combine to powerfully convey universal themes about change and the strength of family.”—Horn Book, starred review
A heartwarming look at how the comfort of tradition and story can create a true sense of belonging, told through an Indigenous lens.
When Ojiig moves to the city with his family, he misses everything they left behind. Most of all, he misses the sparkling night sky. Without the stars watching over him, he feels lost.
His parents try to help, but nothing seems to work. Not glow-in-the-dark sticker stars, not a star-shaped nightlight. But then they have a new idea for how to make Ojiig feel better — a special quilt stitched through with family stories that will wrap Ojiig in the warmth of knowing who he is and where he came from. Join this irresistible family as they discover the power of story and tradition to make a new place feel like home.
Pia rushes over to the Indigenous community center after school. It’s where she goes every day to play outside with friends and work on her homework. But today—March 18, 2021—is special: Auntie Autumn gathers all the children around their television to witness Secretary Deb Haaland in her ribbon skirt at the White House as she becomes the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary. Pia and the other kids behold her Native pride on an international stage. Together with their parents and Elders, the children explore the values woven into their own regalia, land, community, and traditions, making precious memories on this day they won’t soon forget.
A Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature Best Book of 2023
A Rise: A Feminist Book Project List Selection
A Caldecott Honor Book!
An Indie Bestseller!
Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goade’s first self-authored picture book is a gorgeous celebration of the land she knows well and the powerful wisdom of elders.
On an island at the edge of a wide, wild sea, a girl and her grandmother gather gifts from the earth. Salmon from the stream, herring eggs from the ocean, and in the forest, a world of berries.
Salmonberry, Cloudberry, Blueberry, Nagoonberry.
Huckleberry, Snowberry, Strawberry, Crowberry.
Through the seasons, they sing to the land as the land sings to them. Brimming with joy and gratitude, in every step of their journey, they forge a deeper kinship with both the earth and the generations that came before, joining in the song that connects us all. Michaela Goade’s luminous rendering of water and forest, berries and jams glows with her love of the land and offers an invitation to readers to deepen their own relationship with the earth.
A People Magazine Best Book
★ "The thematic and literary richness of this story is exhilarating."— Horn Book, starred review
★ "An important and accessible modern tale."— School Library Journal, starred review
From celebrated Indigenous author Thomas King and award-winning Métis artist Natasha Donovan comes a powerful graphic novel about a family caught between nations.
Borders is a masterfully told story of a boy and his mother whose road trip is thwarted at the border when they identify their citizenship as Blackfoot. Refusing to identify as either American or Canadian first bars their entry into the US, and then their return into Canada. In the limbo between countries, they find power in their connection to their identity and to each other.
Borders explores nationhood from an Indigenous perspective and resonates deeply with themes of identity, justice, and belonging.
A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Book
This unique baby book sings with Native cultural detail, while striking a universal chord in its celebration of the blossoming of love that comes with expecting and welcoming a new baby–with art by New York Times bestselling illustrator and Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goade
Each addition to the bundle will offer the new baby strength and connection to tradition, family, and community. As they grow together, mother and baby will each have gifts to offer each other.
Tasha Spillett and Michaela Goade, two Indigenous creators, bring beautiful words and luminous art together in a resonant celebration of the bond between mother and child.
Billy Mills was once an orphan on the Oglala Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation. But before his father was called to the ancestors, he told Billy how to conquer his suffering: You have broken wings, son. You have to dig deeper, below the anger, the hurt, the self-pity. The pursuit of a dream will heal you.
Despite poverty, racism, and severe health challenges, Billy raced toward his goal of becoming an Olympic athlete, inspired by his indigenous ancestors who stood strong when the odds were against them. Though at times he felt like his wings were clipped—a lone bird falling from the sky—he adapted and overcame, finally earning his place at the 1964 Olympics.
This autobiographical tale of Billy Mills’s awe-inspiring flight to a record-breaking gold medal, breathtakingly illustrated by award-winning Lakota artist SD Nelson, is a soaring testament to Billy’s legacy and the Lakota prayer: we are all related.