LibGuides: American Indian Youth Literature Award: 2020

Winners

Bowwow Powwow : Bagosenjige-niimi'idim by Brenda J. Child, author ; Gordon Jourdain, translator ; Jonathan Thunder, illustrator

Bowwow Powwow : Bagosenjige-niimi'idim by Brenda J. Child; Jonathan Thunder (Illustrator); Gordon Jourdain (Translator)
Call Number: Easy CH (Easy Fiction)
ISBN: 9781681340777
Publication Date: 2018-05-01
When Uncle and Windy Girl attend a powwow, Windy watches the dancers and listens to the singers. She eats tasty food and joins family and friends around the campfire. Later, Windy falls asleep under the stars. Uncle's stories inspire visions in her head: a bowwow powwow, where all the dancers are dogs. In these magical scenes, Windy sees veterans in a Grand Entry, and a visiting drum group, and traditional dancers, grass dancers, and jingle-dress dancers -- all with telltale ears and paws and tails. All celebrating in song and dance. All attesting to the wonder of the powwow

Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis, author ; with Traci Sorell

Indian No More by McManis, Charlene Willing ; Traci Sorell
Call Number: Juv F MMA (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9781620148396
Publication Date: 2019-09-24
Regina Petit's family has always been Umpqua, and living on the Grand Ronde reservation is all ten-year-old Regina has ever known. Her biggest worry is that Sasquatch may actually exist out in the forest. But when the federal government signs a bill into law that says Regina's tribe no longer exists, Regina becomes "Indian no more" overnight -- even though she was given a number by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that counted her as Indian, even though she lives with her tribe and practices tribal customs, and even though her ancestors were Indian for countless generations. With no good jobs available in Oregon, Regina's father signs the family up for the Indian Relocation program and moves them to Los Angeles.

Hearts Unbroken by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Hearts Unbroken by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Call Number: J-Fiction SM (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780763681142
Publication Date: 2018-10-09
When Louise Wolfe's boyfriend mocks and disrespects Native people in front of her, she breaks things off and dumps him over e-mail. She'd rather spend her senior year with her family and friends and working on the school newspaper. The editors pair her up with Joey Kairouz, an ambitious new photojournalist, and in no time the paper's staff find themselves with a major story to cover: the school musical director's inclusive approach to casting The Wizard of Oz has been provoking backlash in their mostly white, middle-class Kansas town. As tensions mount at school, so does a romance between Lou and Joey. But 'dating while Native' can be difficult. In trying to protect her own heart, will Lou break Joey's?

Honors

Fry Bread : A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard, author ; Juana Martinez-Neal, illustrator
Birdsong by Julie Flett, author and illustrator
At the Mountain's Base by Traci Sorell, author ; Weshoyot Alvitre, illustrator
We Are Grateful : Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell, author ; Frané Lessac, illustrator
Raven Makes the Aleutians by Janine Gibbons, adaptor and illustrator

Fry Bread : a Native American family story by Juana Martinez-Neal (Illustrator); Kevin Noble Maillard
Call Number: Easy NOB (Easy Fiction)
ISBN: 9781626727465
Publication Date: 2019-10-22
Using illustrations that show the diversity in Native America and spare poetic text that emphasizes fry bread in terms of provenance, this volume tells the story of a post-colonial food that is a shared tradition for Native American families all across the North American continent. Includes a recipe and an extensive author note that delves into the social ways, foodways, and politics of America's 573 recognized tribes.

Birdsong by Flett, Julie (Illustrator)
Call Number: Easy FLE (Easy Fiction)
ISBN: 9781771644730
Publication Date: 2019-10-08
When a young girl moves from the country to a small town, she feels lonely and out of place. But soon she meets an elderly woman next door, who shares her love of nature and art. As the seasons change, can the girl navigate the failing health of her new friend? Acclaimed author and artist Julie Flett's textured images of birds, flowers, art, and landscapes bring vibrancy and warmth to this powerful story, which highlights the fulfillment of intergenerational relationships and shared passions. A brief glossary and pronunciation guide to Cree-Métis words that appear in the text is provided on the copyright page.

At the Mountain's Base by Sorell, Traci ; Weshoyot Alvitre (Illustrator)
Call Number: Easy SOR (Easy Fiction)
ISBN: 9780735230606
Publication Date: 2019-09-17
At the mountain's base sits a cabin under an old hickory tree. And in that cabin lives a family -- loving, weaving, cooking, and singing. The strength in their song sustains them through trials on the ground and in the sky, as they wait for their loved one, a pilot, to return from war.

We Are Grateful : otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell; Frané Lessac (Illustrator)
Call Number: Easy SOR (Easy Fiction)
ISBN: 9781580897723
Publication Date: 2018-09-04
Modern Native American life as told by an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation.

I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day, author
The Grizzly Mother by Hetxw'ms Gyetxw, author ; Natasha Donovan, illustrator

I Can Make This Promise by Day, Christine
Call Number: Juv F DAY (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780062871992
Publication Date: 2019-10-01
When twelve-year-old Edie finds letters and photographs in her attic that change everything she thought she knew about her Native American mother's adoption, she realizes she has a lot to learn about her family's history and her own identity.

The Grizzly Mother by Brett D. Huson; Natasha Donovan (Illustrator)
Call Number: Juv 599.784 HUS (Juvenile Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9781553797760
Publication Date: 2019-09-01
An engaging look at how the animals, people, and seasons within an ecosystem are intertwined. To the Gitxsan people of Northwestern British Columbia, the grizzly is an integral part of the natural landscape. Together, they share the land and forests that the Skeena River runs through, as well as the sockeye salmon within it. Follow mother bear as she teaches her cubs what they need to survive on their own. The Mothers of Xsan series uses striking illustration and lyrical language to bring the poetry of the Xsan ecosystem to life.

Surviving the City by Tasha Spillett, author ; Natasha Donovan, illustrator
Reawakening Our Ancestors' Lines : Revitalizing Inuit Traditional Tattooing by Angela Hovak Johnston, author ; Cora De Vos, photography
An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People by Debbie Reese and Jean Mendoza, authors ; adapted from the adult book by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Apple in the Middle by Dawn Quigley, author

Surviving the City (Debwe #1) by Natasha Donovan (Illustrator); Tasha Spillett-Sumner
Call Number: YA G SPI-T S1 (Young Adult Graphic Novels)
ISBN: 9781553797562
Publication Date: 2019-03-01
Miikwan and Dez are best friends. Miikwan's Anishinaabe; Dez is Inninew. Together, the teens navigate the challenges of growing up in an urban landscape - they're so close, they even completed their Berry Fast together. However, when Dez's grandmother becomes too sick, Dez is told she can't stay with her anymore. With the threat of a group home looming, Dez can't bring herself to go home and disappears. Miikwan is devastated, and the wound of her missing mother resurfaces. Will Dez's community find her before it's too late?

Reawakening Our Ancestors' Lines : revitalizing Inuit traditional tattooing by Angela Hovak Johnston; Meta Antolin (Photographer); Cora DeVos (Photographer)
Call Number: YA 391.6 JOH-AH (Young Adult Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9781772271690
Publication Date: 2017-11-22
For thousands of years, Inuit practised the traditional art of tattooing. Created the ancient way, with bone needles and caribou sinew soaked in seal oil, sod, or soot, these tattoos were an important tradition for many Inuit women, symbols etched on their skin that connected them to their families and communities. But with the rise of missionaries and residential schools in the North, the tradition of tattooing was almost lost. In 2005, when Angela Hovak Johnston heard that the last Inuk woman tattooed in the old way had died, she set out to tattoo herself in tribute to this ancient custom and learn how to tattoo others. What was at first a personal quest became a project to bring the art of traditional tattooing back to Inuit women across Nunavut, starting with Johnston's home community of Kugluktuk.

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz; Debbie Reese (Adapted by); Jean Mendoza (Adapted by)
Call Number: YA 970.004 DUN (Young Adult Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780807049396
Publication Date: 2019-07-23
Going beyond the story of America as a country "discovered" by a few brave men in the "New World," Indigenous human rights advocate Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz reveals the roles that settler colonialism and policies of American Indian genocide played in forming our national identity. The original academic text is fully adapted by renowned curriculum experts Debbie Reese and Jean Mendoza, for middle-grade and young adult readers to include discussion topics, archival images, original maps, recommendations for further reading, and other materials to encourage students, teachers, and general readers to think critically about their own place in history.

Apple in the Middle by Dawn Quigley; Suzzanne Kelley (Editor-In-Chief); Jamie Hohnadel Trosen (Illustrator, Cover Design by)
Call Number: J-Fiction QU (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9781946163073
Publication Date: 2018-08-02
pple Starkington turned her back on her Native American heritage the moment she was called a racial slur for someone of white and Indian descent, not that she really even knew how to be an Indian in the first place. Too bad the white world doesn't accept her either. And so begins her quirky habits to gain acceptance. Apple's name, chosen by her Indian mother on her deathbed, has a double meaning: treasured apple of my eye, but also the negative connotation a person who is red, or Indian, on the outside, but white on the inside. After her wealthy father gives her the boot one summer, Apple reluctantly agrees to visit her Native American relatives on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in northern North Dakota for the first time. Apple learns to deal with the culture shock of Indian customs and the Native Michif language, while she tries to find a connection to her dead mother. She also has to deal with a vengeful Indian man who loved her mother in high school but now hates Apple because her mom married a white man. Bouncing in the middle of two cultures, Apple meets her Indian relatives, shatters Indian stereotypes, and learns what it means to find her place in a world divided by color.

American Indian Youth Literature Award

Winners and Honor Books (2020)

Winners

Bowwow Powwow : Bagosenjige-niimi'idim by Brenda J. Child, author ; Gordon Jourdain, translator ; Jonathan Thunder, illustrator

Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis, author ; with Traci Sorell

Hearts Unbroken by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Honors

Fry Bread : A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard, author ; Juana Martinez-Neal, illustrator

Birdsong by Julie Flett, author and illustrator

At the Mountain's Base by Traci Sorell, author ; Weshoyot Alvitre, illustrator

We Are Grateful : Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell, author ; Frané Lessac, illustrator

Raven Makes the Aleutians by Janine Gibbons, adaptor and illustrator

I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day, author

The Grizzly Mother by Hetxw'ms Gyetxw, author ; Natasha Donovan, illustrator

Surviving the City by Tasha Spillett, author ; Natasha Donovan, illustrator

Reawakening Our Ancestors' Lines : Revitalizing Inuit Traditional Tattooing by Angela Hovak Johnston, author ; Cora De Vos, photography

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People by Debbie Reese and Jean Mendoza, authors ; adapted from the adult book by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Apple in the Middle by Dawn Quigley, author