Staff Picks
Read All About It: Indigenous and Native Biographies & History for Older Readers
- Thursday, December 02, 2021
Collection
Discover the true stories and history of Indigenous and Native people of the Americas in these titles for middle grade and teen readers.
Looking for even more good books? Check out our personalized recommendations or call us at 803-799-9084. Find more resources on race, equity, and inclusion, here.

#NotYourPrincess
Voices of Native American Women
Published in 2017
"Whether looking back to a troubled past or welcoming a hopeful future, the powerful voices of Indigenous women across North America resound in this book. In the same style as the best-selling Dreaming in Indian, #Not Your Princess presents an eclectic collection of poems, essays, interviews, and art that combine to express the experience of being a Native woman. Stories of abuse, humiliation, and stereotyping are countered by the voices of passionate women making themselves heard and demanding change. Sometimes angry, often reflective, but always strong, the women in this book will give teen readers insight into the lives of women who, for so long, have been virtually invisible."-- Provided by publisher.

Urban Tribes
Native Americans in the City
Published in 2015
Young, urban Natives share their diverse stories, shattering stereotypes and powerfully illustrating how Native culture and values can survive -- and enrich -- city life. --Publisher


One Real American
The Life of Ely S. Parker, Seneca Sachem and Civil War General
Published in 2020
"Ely S. Parker (1828-1895) is one of the most unique, but little-known figures in US history. A member of the Seneca, an Iroquois nation, Parker was an attorney, engineer, and tribal diplomat. Raised on a reservation but schooled at a Catholic institution, he learned English at a young age and became an interpreter for his people. During the American Civil War, he was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel and was the primary draftsman of the terms of the Confederate surrender at Appomattox. He eventually became President Grant's Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the first Native American to hold that post. Award-winning children's book author and Native American scholar Joseph Bruchac provides an expertly researched, intimate look at a man who achieved great success in two worlds yet was caught between them. Includes archival photos, maps, endnotes, bibliography, and timeline"-- Provided by publisher.

Marooned in the Arctic
Published in 2016
The first and only young adult book about Ada Blackjack and her remarkable, true-life survival story?In 1921, four men ventured into the Arctic for a top-secret expedition?an attempt to claim the remote, uninhabited Wrangel Island in northern Siberia for Canada. With the men was a 23-year-old Inuit woman named Ada Blackjack, who had signed on as a cook and seamstress to earn money to care for her sick son, left at home. Conditions soon turned dire for the team when, after rations ran out, they were unable to kill enough game to survive. Three of the men tried to cross the frozen Chukchi Sea for help but were never seen again, leaving Ada with one remaining, ill team member whom she cared for but who soon died of scurvy. Determined to be reunited with her son, Ada learned to survive alone in the icy world by trapping foxes, catching seals, and avoiding polar bears. She taught herself to shoot a shotgun and a rifle. After Ada was finally rescued in August 1923, after two years total on the island, she became an instant celebrity, with newspapers calling her a real "female Robinson Crusoe." The first and only young adult book about Ada Blackjack and her remarkable story,?Marooned in the Arctic?includes sidebars on relevant topics of interest to teens, such as the uses of cats on sailing ships, the phenomenon known as Arctic hysteria, and various aspects of Inuit culture and beliefs.

Marooned in the Arctic
The True Story of Ada Blackjack, the "female Robinson Crusoe"
Published in 2016
The first and only young adult book about Ada Blackjack and her remarkable, true-life survival story In 1921, four men ventured into the Arctic for a top-secret expedition-an attempt to claim the remote, uninhabited Wrangel Island in northern Siberia for Canada. With the men was a 23-year-old Inuit woman named Ada Blackjack, who had signed on as a cook and seamstress to earn money to care for her sick son, left at home. Conditions soon turned dire for the team when, after rations ran out, they were unable to kill enough game to survive. Three of the men tried to cross the frozen Chukchi Sea for help but were never seen again, leaving Ada with one remaining, ill team member whom she cared for but who soon died of scurvy. Determined to be reunited with her son, Ada learned to survive alone in the icy world by trapping foxes, catching seals, and avoiding polar bears. She taught herself to shoot a shotgun and a rifle. After Ada was finally rescued in August 1923, after two years total on the island, she became an instant celebrity, with newspapers calling her a real "female Robinson Crusoe." The first and only young adult book about Ada Blackjack and her remarkable story, Marooned in the Arctic includes sidebars on relevant topics of interest to teens, such as the uses of cats on sailing ships, the phenomenon known as Arctic hysteria, and various aspects of Inuit culture and beliefs.

Marooned in the Arctic
The True Story of Ada Blackjack, the "female Robinson Crusoe"
Published in 2016
"In 1921, four men ventured into the Arctic for a top-secret expedition: an attempt to claim uninhabited Wrangel Island in northern Siberia for Great Britain. With the men was a young Inuit woman named Ada Blackjack, who had signed on as cook and seamstress to earn money to care for her sick son. Conditions soon turned dire for the team when they were unable to kill enough game to survive. Three of the men tried to cross the frozen Chukchi Sea for help but were never seen again, leaving Ada with one remaining team member who soon died of scurvy. Determined to be reunited with her son, Ada learned to survive alone in the icy world by trapping foxes, catching seals, and avoiding polar bears. After she was finally rescued in August 1923, after two years total on the island, Ada became a celebrity, with newspapers calling her a real "female Robinson Crusoe." The first young adult book about Blackjack's remarkable story, Marooned in the Arctic includes sidebars on relevant topics of interest to teens, such as the uses of cats on ships, the phenomenon known as Arctic hysteria, and aspects of Inuit culture and beliefs. With excerpts from diaries, letters, and telegrams; historic photos; a map; source notes; and a bibliography; this is an indispensable resource for any young adventure lover, classroom, or library"-- Provided by publisher.

Dreaming in Indian
Contemporary Native American Voices
Published in 2014
Profiles over fifty emerging and established contemporary Native American artists and provides samples of their work.

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States
Published in 2014
Today in the United States, there are more than five hundred federally-recognized Indigenous nations comprising nearly three million people, descendants of the fifteen million Native people who once inhabited this land. The centuries-long genocidal program of the US settler-colonial regimen has largely been omitted from history. Now historian and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz offers a history of the United States told from the perspective of Indigenous peoples and reveals how Native Americans, for centuries, actively resisted expansion of the US empire. In An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, Dunbar-Ortiz challenges the founding myth of the United States and shows how policy against the Indigenous peoples was colonialist and designed to seize the territories of the original inhabitants, displacing or eliminating them. And as Dunbar-Ortiz reveals, this policy was praised in popular culture, through writers like James Fenimore Cooper and Walt Whitman, and in the highest offices of government and the military. As the genocidal policy reached its zenith under President Andrew Jackson, its ruthlessness was best articulated by US Army general Thomas S. Jesup, who, in 1836, wrote of the Seminoles: "The country can be rid of them only by exterminating them."

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States
Published in 2014
Today in the United States, there are more than five hundred federally recognized Indigenous nations comprising nearly three million people, descendants of the fifteen million native people who once inhabited this land. The centuries-long genocidal program of the U.S. settler-colonial regimen has largely been omitted from history.Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz adroitly challenges the founding myth of the United States and shows how policy against the indigenous peoples was colonialist and designed to seize the territories of the original inhabitants, displacing or eliminating them. And as Dunbar-Ortiz reveals, this policy was praised in popular culture and in the highest offices of government and the military.Spanning more than four hundred years, this classic bottom-up peoples' history radically reframes U.S. history and explodes the silences that have haunted our national narrative.

Looks Like Daylight
Voices of Indigenous Kids
Published in 2013
For two years, Ellis traveled across the United States and Canada interviewing Native children. The result is a compelling collection of interviews with children aged nine to eighteen. They come from all over the continent, from Iqaluit to Texas, Haida Gwaai to North Carolina, and their stories run the gamut; some heartbreaking; many others full of pride and hope.

Native Women of Courage
Published in 2007
Profiles ten women of Native American descent--both contemporary and historical--who challenged traditional stereotypes and fought discrimination in the United States and Canada.

Fatty Legs
A True Story
Published in 2010
Looks at the experiences of a strong-willed young Inuit girl who receives permission from her father to travel to a residential religious school run by non-Inuit outsiders, where she struggles to adapt to the new way of living.

Notable Native People
50 Indigenous Leaders, Dreamers, and Changemakers from Past and Present
Published in 2021
"An accessible and educational illustrated book profiling 50 notable American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian people, from NBA star Kyrie Irving of the Standing Rock Lakota to Wilma Mankiller, the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation"-- Provided by publisher.


Crazy Horse and Custer
Born Enemies
Published in 2021
"In 1876, Lakota chief Crazy Horse helped lead his people's resistance against the white man's invasion of the northern Great Plains. One of the leaders of the US military forces was Army Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. The men had long been enemies. Atthe height of the war, when tribalism had reached its peak, they crossed paths for the last time. In this action-packed double biography, S. D. Nelson draws fascinating parallels between Crazy Horse and Custer, whose lives were intertwined. These warriors were alike in many ways, yet they often collided in deadly rivalry. Witness reports and reflections by their peers and enemies accompany side-by-side storytelling that offers very different perspectives on the same historical events. The two men's opposing destinies culminated in the infamous Battle of the Greasy Grass, as the Lakota called it, or the Battle of the Little Bighorn, as it was called by the Euro-Americans. In Crazy Horse and Custer, Nelson's gripping narrative and signature illustration style based on Plains Indians ledger art, along with a mix of period photographs and paintings, shines light on two men whose conflict forever changed Lakota and US history. The book includes an author's note, timeline, endnotes, and bibliography"-- Provided by publisher.

Undefeated
Published in 2017
When superstar athlete Jim Thorpe and football legend Pop Warner met in 1904 at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, they forged one of the winningest teams in American football history. Called "the team that invented football," they took on the best opponents of their day, defeating much more privileged schools such as Harvard and the Army in a series of breathtakingly close calls, genius plays, and bone-crushing hard work. But this is not just an underdog story. It's an unflinching look at the persecution of Native Americans and its intersection with the beginning of one of the most beloved?and exploitative?pastimes in America, expertly told by nonfiction powerhouse Steve Sheinkin. From the Compact Disc edition.

Undefeated
Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team
Published in 2017
"A great American sport and Native American history come together in this true story of how Jim Thorpe and Pop Warner created the legendary Carlisle Indians football team"-- Provided by publisher.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but Were Afraid to Ask
Published in 2012
"I had a profoundly well-educated Princetonian ask me, 'Where is your tomahawk?' I had a beautiful woman approach me in the college gymnasium and exclaim, 'You have the most beautiful red skin.' I took a friend to see Dances with Wolves and was told, 'Your people have a beautiful culture.' . . . I made many lifelong friends at college, and they supported but also challenged me with questions like, 'Why should Indians have reservations?'"What have you always wanted to know about Indians? Do you think you should already know the answers-or suspect that your questions may be offensive? In matter-of-fact responses to over 120 questions, both thoughtful and outrageous, modern and historical, Ojibwe scholar and cultural preservationist Anton Treuer gives a frank, funny, and sometimes personal tour of what's up with Indians, anyway.-What is the real story of Thanksgiving? -Why are tribal languages important? -What do you think of that incident where people died in a sweat lodge? White/Indian relations are often characterized by guilt and anger. Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians but Were Afraid to Ask cuts through the emotion and builds a foundation for true understanding and positive action.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but Were Afraid to Ask
Published in 2021
From the acclaimed Ojibwe author and professor Anton Treuer comes an essential book of questions and answers for Native and non-Native young listeners alike. Ranging from Why is there such a fuss about nonnative people wearing Indian costumes for Halloween? to Why is it called a 'traditional Indian fry bread taco'?, What's it like for natives who don't look native?, Why are Indians so often imagined rather than understood?, and beyond, Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask does exactly what its title says in a style consistently thoughtful, personal, and engaging.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but Were Afraid to Ask
Young Readers Edition
Published in 2021
A "book of questions and answers for Native and non-Native young readers alike. Ranging from 'Why is there such a fuss about nonnative people wearing Indian costumes for Halloween?' to 'Why is it called a traditional Indian fry bread taco?' to 'What's it like for Natives who don't look Native?' to 'Why are Indians so often imagined rather than understood?' and beyond, [this book] does exactly what its title says for young readers"--Publisher marketing.

A Man Called Horse
John Horse and the Black Seminole Underground Railroad
Published in 2021
John Horse was a famed chief, warrior, tactician, and diplomat who played a dominant role in Black Seminole affairs for half a century. A political and military leader of mixed Seminole and African heritage, Horse defended his people from the U.S. government, other tribes, and slave hunters by serving as a counselor of fellow Seminole leaders, an agent of the U.S. government, and a captain in the Mexican army.