Children's Stories & Young Adult

Tessa loves how her grandmother always smells of campfire stories.  Mom says it’s because Kohkom spends her days sewing onto smoked hides.  Inspired, Tessa asks Kokomo to teach her beading, but first she must listen and learn the many...

Auntie always greets Cree in Nehiyawewin when she comes for a visit. When Auntie arrives with a surprise gift hidden in her bag, Cree can’t wait to discover what it is. The first clue? It’s from the rez. As Cree tries to figure out what it...

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...

When Mother Earth was very young and the Great Spirit had created all the beings, he noticed how quiet everything was. As he walked about the earth, listening to the sounds of the animals and the wind and the waters, some birds flying by caught his eye...

When local girl Loren includes Mara in a traditional Blackfeet Giveaway to honor Loren’s missing sister, Mara thinks she’ll finally make some friends on the Blackfeet reservation.  Instead, a girl from the Giveaway, Samantha White...

Ariel and Tomah have lived in the city’s intertribal housing complex all their lives. But for both of them, this Dagwaagin (Autumn) season is different than any before. From his bench outside the front door of his building, Tomah watches his...

These days, Tre Brun is happiest when he is playing basketball on the Red Lake Reservation high school team—even though he can’t help but be constantly gut-punched with memories of his big brother, Jaxon, who died in an accident. When...

Welcome friends and settle in:there’s lots to do and seeas I tell you the storyof our oldest, wisest tree . . .Old Oak is Bear’s favorite tree in the woodland. With its gnarled trunk, giant branches, and glossy leaves, Oak supports hundreds...

It’s a special day—the day of the Jingle Dress Dance! Before the big powwow, there’s a lot to do: getting dressed, braiding hair, packing lunches, and practicing bounce-steps. But one young girl gets butterflies in her stomach thinking...

When a house full of grandmothers tries to determine who is the “best” grandma, a hilarious hullabaloo ensues in Grandmothers Galore!, a full-color picture book from Emmy Award–winning composer Judith Henderson, writer Ellen...

Inspired by her popular Wild Thing podcast, journalist Laura Krantz incorporates the scientific method and her journalistic skills to determine if Bigfoot is real.When journalist Laura Krantz discovered that her long-lost cousin, Grover Krantz,...

In this enlightening legend shared by Lakota Elder Kevin Locke, Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka (The Great Spirit) created the entire world in seven days; leaving the most precious creation for last.  In order to protect this precious creation,...

Buffalo Fluffalo arrives on the scene puffed up with self-importance. Stomping around and raising billows of dust, Buffalo Fluffalo proclaims his superiority to the other creatures—the ram, the prairie dog, and the crow—who just want to be...

A mother -- the author of this story -- shares Lakota cultural experiences with her daughter, introducing her to waci (dance) as a way to celebrate life. Wacipi (powwow), where the dancing occurs, is a setting for Indigenous song, dance, regalia, food...

"Who am I?" a young girl asks her mom as she snuggles close. "You are the fire that burns and the eagle that soars. You are the oak tree and the wild rose," says momma. Written from an Indigenous perspective, Who Am I? tells the story of how we are all...

There was a time when the only on the prairies came from the sun, moon, stars, and the campfires of Indian people.  There were no written words, but tales and traditions took life and were passed down in stories told around the million campfires...

The seventh generation is creatingA sea of change.It was a soft voice, at first.Like a ripple.But with practice it grew louder.Indigenous women have long cared for the land and water, which in turn sustains all life on Earth―honoring their ancestors and...

Pet'a (from Pet'a Shows Misun the Light) returns in this spiritual sequel for another life-changing lesson. What are big feelings like fear and anxiety, and what can we do to feel better?  These are the difficult questions Keya seeks answers to...

What if a school's mascot is seen as racist, but not by everyone? In this compelling middle-grade novel in verse, two best-selling BIPOC authors tackle this hot-button issue.In Rye, Virginia, just outside Washington, DC, people work hard, kids go to...

Phoenix loves to play with dolls and marvel at pretty fabrics. Most of all, he loves to dance―ballet, Pow Wow dancing, or just swirling and twirling around his house. Sometimes Phoenix gets picked on and he struggles with feeling different, but his mom...

Squirrel introduces themself at the start as an expert in making snacks disappear by eating or hiding them. What Squirrel really wants to do, though, is use magic to make the food vanish entirely. When a stray ice cream cone is discovered, Squirrel seeks...

He dug in his hooves and huffed through his nose.  He would not run away - it was courage he chose! Storms can be scary - even for big, strong bison.  But Bryson has a plan - next time it starts thundering, lightning, and rain starts pouring...

Winifred has lived in the apartment above the cemetery office with her father, who works in the crematorium, all her life, close to her mother's grave. With her sixteenth birthday only days away, Winifred has settled into a lazy summer schedule, lugging...

Perry Firekeeper-Birch has always known who she is - the laidback twin, the troublemaker, the best fisher on Sugar Island. Her aspirations won't ever take her far from home, and she wouldn't have it any other way. But as the rising number of missing...