By Traci Sorell
Illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight
Published by Penguin Random House

ABOUT POWWOW DAY
In this uplifting, contemporary Native American story, River is recovering from illness and can’t dance at the powwow this year. Will she ever dance again?


River wants so badly to dance at powwow day as she does every year. In this uplifting and contemporary picture book perfect for beginning readers, follow River’s journey from feeling isolated after an illness to learning the healing power of community.



Additional information explains the history and functions of powwows, which are commonplace across the United States and Canada and are open to both Native Americans and non-Native visitors. Author Traci Sorell is a member of the Cherokee Nation, and illustrator Madelyn Goodnight is a member of the Chickasaw Nation.

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By Ria Thundercloud

Illustrated by Kalila J. Fuller
Published by Penguin Workshop

ABOUT FINDING MY DANCE
In her debut picture book, professional Indigenous dancer Ria Thundercloud tells the true story of her path to dance and how it helped her take pride in her Native American heritage.



At four years old, Ria Thundercloud was brought into the powwow circle, ready to dance in the special jingle dress her mother made for her. As she grew up, she danced with her brothers all over Indian country. Then Ria learned more styles–tap, jazz, ballet–but still loved the expressiveness of Indigenous dance. And despite feeling different as one of the only Native American kids in her school, she always knew she could turn to dance to cheer herself up.

Follow along as Ria shares her dance journey–from dreaming of her future to performing as a professional–accompanied by striking illustrations that depict it while bringing her graceful movements to life.

ABOUT RIA THUNDERCLOUD
Ria Thundercloud (she/her) is from the Ho-Chunk Nation and Sandia Pueblo. She holds strong ties to her kinship in the Southwest and North, practicing both styles of traditional dance. She started training in classical dance at the age of thirteen, went professional at sixteen, and has traveled internationally as a cultural ambassador and professional dancer. Ria is a 2019 graduate from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Indigenous Liberal Studies and is a holistic yoga teacher from the Healing Lotus Center. Her art is influenced by the women who came before her, reclaiming stories of matriarchs that highlight the resilience and knowledge of Indigenous women.

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By Gary Robinson
Published by Tribal Eye Productions

ABOUT Lands of our Ancestors: Book One
This historical novel tells the story of a twelve-year-old Chumash boy and his family who become captives in a California Spanish mission sometime more than 200 years ago. This is historical fiction based entirely on historical fact that reveals the devastating impact the missions had on California Native peoples. Written for fourth, fifth and sixth graders, the story ends on a hopeful note as a small group of Native children are able to escape their captors and begin a journey to join other Native escapees in a remote mountain village. As mandated by the California Department of Education, every 4th grader is taught the “Mission Unit,” which perpetuates the “idyllic mission myth” that glorifies the priests, denigrates California Indians and fails to mention that Indians were actually treated as slaves held captive by a Spanish colonial institution. The manuscript has been reviewed and approved by the Director of the Santa Ynez Chumash Culture Department and a member of the California American Indian Education Oversight Committee. It has the endorsement of a fourth grade teacher in California who has shared the story with her class and a local librarian who is excited about sharing the story with elementary age children through the library. It has also been endorsed by the local library branch manager and a former professor of Anthropology within the University of California system.

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By Gary Robinson
Published by Tribal Eye Productions

ABOUT Lands of our Ancestors: Book TWO
Kilik, Tuhuy and the other Native American children have escaped from a Spanish mission in California in the early 1800s. They find the village of other runaway Indians and become part of that community. As they grow and mature, they have children of their own. Together they must face a new set of adversaries, the Mexican Rancheros who have received massive land grants to establish huge cattle ranches. Book Two recounts the exciting and dangerous adventures this Chumash family experience in this multigenerational saga.

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By Carole Lindstrom

Illustrated by Michaela Goade
Published by Roaring Brook Press

ABOUT WE ARE WATER PROTECTORS
From author Carole Lindstrom and illustrator Michaela Goade comes a New York Times bestselling and Caldecott Medal winning picture book that honors Indigenous-led movements across the world. Powerfully written and gorgeously illustrated, We Are Wa- ter Protectors, issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth’s water from harm and curruption-inviting young readers everywhere to join the fight.
 


Water is the first medicine.

It affects and connects us all . . .

When a black snake threatens to destroy the Earth And poison her people’s water, one young water protector Takes a stand to defend Earth’s most sacred resource.

The fight continues with Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior, the must-read companion book to We Are Water Protectors. Written by Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by Bridget George, it tells the story of real-life water protectors, Autumn Peltier and her great-aunt Josephine Mandamin, two Indigenous Rights Activists who have inspired a tidal wave of change.

ABOUT CAROLE LINDSTROM
Carole Lindstrom is a New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of literature for young people, including the Caldecott Medal-winning WE ARE WATER PROTECTORS. She is Anishinaabe/Metis and an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe. She is honored to write books that allow her to shine a light on her beautiful people and their strength and resilience. Her tribal homelands are in Belcourt, North Dakota, but she was born and raised in Nebraska and currently makes her home in Maryland.

Carole has been a voracious reader and library geek ever since she was growing up in Nebraska. On weekends you could usually find her at the library lost in the book stacks or holed up in her bedroom with a good book. It wasn’t until she had her son, that she discovered her love of writing for children and began to work seriously on her writing.resilience and knowledge of Indigenous women.

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