List
Books for Indigenous People's Day: Grades 3-5
These are some of our favorite books featuring Indigenous and Native American people, stories, and information to share with kids in grades 3-5. We tried to find books whose authors or illustrators wrote from their own Native American perspective.
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Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids
2021Get this itemAn anthology of stories set at a powwow featuring Native American voices and celebrating resilience, pride, and the strength of community.
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Native Americans in History: A History Book for Kids
2021 by Beason, JimmyGet this itemA collective biography of 15 Native Americans who made and are continuing to make history in sports, the arts, government, and more.
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We Still Belong
2023 by Day, ChristineGet this itemBy the author of I Can Make This Promise comes this story about 12-year-old Wesley, who moves with her mother into her grandfather's house in an Indigenous community outside Seattle and struggles with fitting in and finding community.
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Indigenous Ingenuity: A Celebration of Traditional North American Knowledge
2023 by Havrelock, DeidreGet this itemOur lives would be unrecognizable without the hundreds of discoveries and inventions chronicled in this book. From kayaks to birchbark scrolls to fishhooks to whoopee cushions to sustainable practices, people from different times in history and different tribes greatly contributed to the way we live today.
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The Case of Windy Lake
2019 by Hutchinson, MichaelGet this itemThe first book in the Mighty Muskrats Mystery series, this book focuses on four Indigenous cousins who help solve the mystery of an archaeologist who disappeared while visiting the community.
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The Star That Always Stays
2022 by Johnson, Anna RoseGet this itemWhen 14-year-old Norvia moves from an island to the city in 1914, she not only has to deal with with a new school, a first crush, and a blended family, but she also is asked to keep her parents' divorce and her Ojibwe heritage a secret.
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She Holds Up the Stars
2022 by Laronde, SandraGet this itemTwelve-year-old Misko is drawn to the reservation where her mother disappeared when Misko was four. She connects with a horse who is being cruelly broken in by a rancher and his son in this beautiful coming-of-age story.
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Indian No More
2019 by McManis, Charlene WillingGet this itemIn the 1950s, 10-year-old Regina lives on the Grand Ronde Tribe reservation. When her Umpqua tribe is "legally terminated," her family must relocate to Los Angeles, where she struggles to understand her identity and meets kids of other races and backgrounds.
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Powwow: A Celebration through Song and Dance
2020 by Pheasant-Neganigwane, KarenGet this itemGorgeously illustrated, this is a fascinating exploration of powwow culture in history and across the Americas.
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Race to the Sun
2020 by Roanhorse, RebeccaGet this itemPart of the "Rick Riordan Presents" series, this adventure story features a 7th grader who is able to detect monsters. When her dad disappears, she, her brother, and her best friend must try to rescue him against all odds.
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Mary and the Trail of Tears: A Cherokee Removal Survival Story
2020 by Rogers, Andrea L.Get this itemThis historical fictional book is based on a time when colonizers forced Indigenous people out of their homes in the 1800's in Georgia, resulting in what became known as the "Trail of Tears." Part of the Girls Survive series, this book centers around Mary, a 12-year-old girl, and her family.
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Weird Rules to Follow
2022 by Spencer, KimGet this itemIn the 1980s in a coastal fishing town, 10-year-old Mia struggles with the way people treat her differently from her best friend, who is Mexican-Hungarian and lives in a big house down the street from her shabby war-time house with her large, extended family.
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Trickster: Native American Tales : A Graphic Collection
2021Get this itemThis 10th anniversary edition of the nonfiction graphic novel features contributions by a wide variety of Native American storytellers and artists.
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Healer of the Water Monster
2021 by Young, BrianGet this itemWhen 11-year-old Nathan visits his grandmother on the Navajo reservation, he finds a water monster from the Navajo Creation Story in need of help, and must help heal the creature.
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