Collection Highlights: Native American Heritage Month

 

Collection Highlights: Native American Heritage Month

Contributed by Jordan Farinelli, Collection Development Librarian

Join us in celebrating Native American Heritage Month by checking out some of the books below!

Children’s

BR 22441 ; DB 101829 – We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga, by Traci Sorell

Citizen of the Cherokee Nation provides a glimpse of modern Native American life through a Cherokee family and their tribal nation. They express thanks for celebrations big and small throughout the year as seasons change.

DB 102650 – Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids, by Cynthia Leitich Smith

An award-winning author compiles an anthology of intersecting Indigenous stories and poems written by Joseph Bruchac, Christine Day, Eric Gansworth, Carole Lindstrom, Rebecca Roanhorse, Traci Sorell, Tim Tingle, and more.

Young Adult

DB 102762 – Firekeeper’s Daughter, by Angeline Boulley

Daunis, who is part Ojibwe, defers attending the University of Michigan to care for her mother. When Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, she reluctantly agrees to go undercover, drawing on her knowledge of chemistry and Ojibwe traditional medicine to track down the source of a new drug.

Contemporary

DB 102680 – The Removed, by Brandon Hobson

As National Cherokee Day approaches, the Echota family still grieves their teenage son, Ray-Ray, who was killed in a police shooting fifteen years ago. The mother, Maria, is dealing with the onset of Alzheimer's in her husband, Ernest. Meanwhile both surviving children face struggles of their own.

Horror

DB 104847 – My Heart is a Chainsaw, by Stephen Graham Jones

In a quickly gentrifying rural town, tourists begin to die, and the tension between the community and the celebrity newcomers heads to a tipping point. Protected by her encyclopedic knowledge of horror films, Jade, of Blackfoot descent, hopes it is enough to help her survive.

Fantasy

DB 92041 – Trail of Lightning, by Rebecca Roanhorse

In the wake of climate disaster, much of the world is underwater, but the Navajo reservation, or Dinétah, still stands thanks to their magic. Maggie Hoskie is a monster hunter looking for a supernatural killer who gets help from Kai, an unconventional medicine man.

Non-Fiction

BR 23447 ; DB 101203 – Iwígara : American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science, by Enrique Salmón

Ethnobotanist profiles plants used by Native Americans to illustrate the concept of iwígara which is that all life--spiritual and physical--interconnects in a cyclical nature and everything and everyone is related. Profiles include where to find the plants, which parts to use, common uses, and health benefits and warnings. 

DB 93988 – The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee : Native America from 1890 to the Present, by David Treuer

A history of Native Americans, beginning with the 1890 massacre of Sioux at Wounded Knee and continuing up through the early twenty-first century. An Ojibwe Indian himself, the author discusses the treatment of Native Americans by the government.

Historical Fiction

BR 23078 ; DB 98896 – The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich

1953. Chippewa Council member Thomas Wazhashk tries to balance the demands of his job as a night watchman at the new jewel bearing plant outside the Turtle Mountain reservation and monitoring the consequences of the bill purporting emancipation for Native American tribes wending its way through Congress.