Indigenous

Sierra and Blue tells the story of a young girl and boy who go to live with their grandparents on the Blood Reserve when their parents are killed in a car accident.  

The Blackfoot language focus for this book is family and relationships.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 8 to 12.

This book is the first book in the Sierra and Blue series. 

Includes some Blackfoot words. A glossary for the words is included at the back of the book.

Additional Information
32 pages plus cover | 8.5" x 10" 

A sweet story about a little Quail who, through the love of his family, learns life lessons about feelings, emotions and expressing oneself.

Written for children of all backgrounds, with colorful illustrations, this story shares the important message of healthy living.

Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 3 to 5.

This book is part of the Caring For Me Series.

Additional Information
20 pages | 10.00" x 8.00" | Paperback

Christmas with a Lakota trick!

A traditional Native American character gets a modern update in this charming Christmas tale.

On Christmas Eve, Coyote wants to find some people to trick out of a hot meal. Sneaky Coyote is known in the Native American tradition as the Trickster. He knows that there's one character people can't refuse on Christmas Eve: Santa Claus! Using straw for a jolly belly and wool for his Santa's beard, the Trickster fools a family into welcoming him to their Christmas meal. But just when he thinks he's gotten away with his ruse, taking their food and leaving the family with nothing, he's foiled by a strange occurrence. Could it be a Christmas miracle?

Coyote's antics, beautifully told and illustrated by S. D. Nelson, will delight readers, and his eventual comeuppance just in time for Christmas makes this a perfect holiday tale.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 6 to 9

Additional Information
40 pages | 9.50" x 10.50"

Maintaining the Dene storytelling tradition of passing along the teachings to their children, John Blondin relayed the story of The Legend of the Caribou Boy as he heard it from his father, George Blondin a respected Elder and storyteller. Now written down in dual language the legend is passed on to you. Discover one small part of Dene history and the lessons that have been passed on for generations.

A young boy is having trouble sleeping at night. he is being called to fulfill his destiny, a destiny which lives on today in the traditions and culture of the Dene people and their relationship to the caribou and the land on which they live.

The multimedia CD included allows readers to hear and see the Dogrib legend in Dogrib and English on a Mac or PC computer or insert it into a CD player to listen to the story in either language.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 6 to 8.

Additional Information
40 pages | 10.00" x 8.00"

Yamozha and His Beaver Wife is a story based upon an oral legend of the Dene people. Yamozha stories entertain but also teach and pass on knowledge. In this story, Yamozha forgets his promise to his wife and as a result she turns into a giant beaver. He chases her all over Denedeh but is unable to catch her. This story tells of how this great medicine man shaped the land in the Dogrib region and surrounding areas into what it is today. 

Additional Information
48 pages | 12.30" x 10.02"

This is a quiet tale of a Native American girl who, with gentle guidance from her grandfather, learns to find strength, not fear, in her identity as a Native person living in an Anglo society. Beautifully illustrated and complete with a Seneca creation story, Muskrat Will Be Swimming demonstrates how the ancient stories of Native American cultures are used to help today's children find their way in the world. It is a treasure for all who have ever dealt with the fear of being different.

Educator Information
Recommended Grades: 3-6.

Additional Information
32 pages | 9.00" x 10.00"

An adventure begins when Zoe finds a lone fawn in the forest and helps search for its mother. But who could the mother be? A bunny? A fish? Join Zoe and her father as they encounter many woodland animals and learn their Native names along the way.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 3 to 5

Additional Information
32 pages | 8.00" x 8.00" | Paperback

In this retelling of a Native American pourquoi tale, Brown Squirrel challenges prideful Bear to keep the sun from rising.

Bear brags that he can do anything-even stop the sun from rising. Brown Squirrel doesn't believe him, so the two wait all night to see if the sun will rise. Sure enough, the sky reddens and the sun appears. Brown Squirrel is so happy to be right that he teases Bear. What happens when a little brown squirrel teases a big black bear? Brown Squirrel gets stripes and is called chipmunk from that day forward . . . Joseph and James Bruchac join forces to create this buoyant picture book, based on a Native American folktale.

Educator Information
Recommended Ages: 5-8.

Additional Information
32 pages | 8.00" x 10.00"

A long time ago, Raven was pure white, like fresh snow in winter. This was so long ago that the only light came from campfires, because a greedy chief kept the stars, moon, and sun locked up in elaborately carved boxes. Determined to free them, the shape-shifting Raven resourcefully transformed himself into the chief's baby grandson and cleverly tricked him into opening the boxes and releasing the starlight and moonlight. Though tired of being stuck in human form, Raven maintained his disguise until he got the chief to open the box with the sun and flood the world with daylight, at which point he gleefully transformed himself back into a raven. When the furious chief locked him in the house, Raven was forced to escape through the small smokehole at the top--and that's why ravens are now black as smoke instead of white as snow.

This engaging Tlingit story is brought to life in painted illustrations that convey a sense of the traditional life of the Northwest Coast peoples.

Additional Information
32 pages | 9.50" x 9.60"

A Cherokee folk tale featuring woodland animals working together.

After Possum and Buzzard fail in their attempts to steal a piece of the sun, Grandmother Spider succeeds in bringing light to the animals on her side of the world.

Additional Information
32 pages | 8.30" x 10.70"

Aundeck The Crow is a beautiful Ojibwe Story about learning to listen and have empathy to those around you in order to find your purpose in life. The story is illustrated and told by Robert Madahbee who is from Aundeck Omni Kaning on Manitoulin Island. There is a free download of the audio narration for this story. The story is narrated in English by Robert. The Ojibwe language is spoken by Georgina Nahwegahbo.

This book has both Ojibwe and English text.

Educator Information
The publisher of this picture book recommends it for all ages.

Includes a "Thoughts for Inquisitive Minds" page at the end of the book that asks questions of readers that relate back to teachings of the story.

Additional Information
22 Pages | pencil and ink illustrations (black and white)

Annii, welcome to our story. Gifts for Dawnis was written to help us remember our place in Creation. Our teachings tell us that all of life is equally sacred, and that all forms of life were given original instructions by the Creator. Every living thing on our Mother Earth has a purpose and a role to fulfill, in order for our world to be in balance.

Gifts for Dawnis reminds us that everything is here for a purpose, and that when we ask, we are always shown the answers. We just have to learn to listen.

This book features both Ojibwe and English audio as a free accompanying download. . The text in this story is also in both Ojibwe and English. Many of the pictures in Gifts for Dawnis are taken from actual photographs, some of which came from the territories of Ziigwen’s ancestors.

Educator Information
Publisher recommends this book for all ages.

Dual-language: English and Ojibwe

Gifts for Dawnis is rooted in traditional Indigenous teachings and is meant to bring an Indigenous way of thinking into the hands of young people and people of all ages who are young of heart.

Additional Information
26 Pages