How Marten Got His Spots and other Kootenai Indian Stories. 2002, b/w illustrations by Debbie Joseph Finley and Howard Kallowat, Jr.

Here, Marten learns a tough lesson about obedience during a run-in with a bear that leaves his fur spotted, Coyote gets his comeuppance after wrestling with a woman who turns into a trout, and a little boy learns a lesson from his dreams.
pb 9.00

 

Ktunaxa Legends. (1984), 1997, b/w illustrations.

The People's self-name is pronounced “tun-a-HA.” Coyote, who inhabits about half of the stories in this large volume, has unusual (to say the least) ways of solving his problems. Through these stories, told by Ktunaxa elders, Ktunaxa children have learned respect for all of creation and a personal regard for all life; the proper way to be in this world. Excellent for telling and read-aloud, as well as for independent reading.
pb 28.00

Owl’s Eyes & Seeking a Spirit. 1999, b/w illustrations by Debbie Joseph Finley and Howard Kallowat, Jr.

In the first story, Owl gets his big eyes because he wasn’t paying attention to the cries of his luckless friend, Mouse; and in the second story, a boy goes to the mountaintop to seek a spirit.
pb 6.00

Kreipe de Montaño, Marty (Potawatomi), Coyote in Love with a Star. 1998, color illustrations by Tom Coffin (Potawatomi/Creek).

This is a well-done modern adaptation of a traditional Potawatomi tale, this time with Coyote leaving the reservation and heading for New York City, where he secures a job as rodent control officer at the World Trade Center. Lonely for home and looking for escape from the noise of the city, he goes up to the observation deck for some solitude, and there is smitten by a star in the night sky…. (Note: This story was published before the World Trade Center ceased to be. It can have value for children in a number of ways.)
hc 15.00

Arctic Stories. 1998, color illustrations.

It's 1958, and 10-year-old Agatha does not expect to become a hero. But that's exactly what happens. In these three stories, Agatha saves her community from a monstrous flying object (sort of), makes friends with an odd assortment (to her) of birds, and rescues a skating priest who has ventured onto thin ice.
hc 20.00, pb 7.00

Baseball Bats for Christmas. 1990, color illustrations.

It is 1955, Christmas, “a glorious time,” and Arvaarluk and his community receive their first “standing-ups.” As with Kusugak's other books, this is a good blend of modern and traditional.
hc 19.00, pb 7.00

Hide and Sneak. 1992, color illustrations.

When Allashua goes out to play, her mother warns her: “Don't go too far away. An Ijiraq might hide you, and...no one will ever find you again.” Allashua, who is no wimp, outwits the Ijiraq, and with the help of an inuksugaq, finds her way home.
hc 16.00, pb 6.00

My Arctic 1, 2, 3. 1996, color illustrations.

“I grew up in the Arctic Circle,” says Kusugak. “When I was a little boy we hunted seals, caribou and whales. But we did not hunt animals all the time. Mostly, we watched them.” In this counting book with some words in Inuktitut, wonderfully illustrated by Vladyana Krykorka, Kusugak shows young readers “some of the animals we have watched.”
hc 17.00, pb 8.00

Northern Lights: The Soccer Trails. 1993, color illustrations.

The Northern Lights, known as Aqsalijaat, “the trail of those playing soccer,” “like to come out when the sky is crisp and clear and the stars are twinkling brightly in the heavens.” They are the spirits of our dead relatives enjoying a game of soccer across the sky... “It is a great consolation to go out on a clear moonlit night and watch them...” A story of a young girl whose grandmother's wisdom guides her.
hc 17.00, pb 8.00

Kwulasulwut/Ellen White (Coast Salish), Kwulasulwut II: More Stories from the Coast Salish. 1997, color illustrations.

In this second volume of traditional stories by the Salish elder and storyteller, wonderfully illustrated by Okanagan artist Bill Cohen, are “The Mink and the Raccoon Family, “Smuy the Little Deer,” “Deer, Raven and the Red Snow,” and “Journey to the Moon.”
pb 14.00

Lacapa, Kathleen (Mohawk), and Michael Lacapa (Apache/ Hopi/Tewa), Less than Half, More than Whole. 1994, color illustrations by Michael Lacapa.

“Tony looked into his grandfather’s eyes in the mirror framed by all of the different sizes, shapes and colors of his family. Finally, he understood: He was not less than half; he—like the corn—was more than whole.” This beautiful story and luminous illustrations are for all children, especially children of mixed parentage who are called “half”-something or “part”-something, and struggle with the question, “where do I belong?”
hc 15.00
Audiotape to accompany this book, 5.00

LaDuke, Winona (Anishinaabe), and Waseyabin Kapashesit (Anishinaabe), The Sugar Bush. 1999, color photos.

Here, Wasey and her mom Winona take young readers on a trip to the sugar bush, where the sacred maple trees give the people sap to make maple syrup and sugar. There is history here, too, and an unspoken story of how we are all related. Inserted into a color photo of a healthy green forest is an archival black-and-white picture of how the barren land looked 100 years ago after loggers cut down the forests for lumber. “My mother taught me,” Wasey says, “that you can only cut down a forest once. But if you leave it standing, you can walk through it and taste its sweetness year after year.” This is a beautiful book. Chi-miigwech, Wasey and Winona.
pb 7.50

Taken Alive, Delores (Lakota), Pispíza wan Wayáwa Iyáye/Prairie Dog Goes to School. 2004, color illustrations.

As a prairie dog goes to school, he encounters a skunk, a turtle, a beaver, a grasshopper, an owl, a porcupine, a deer, a chipmunk and finally, a bear (the teacher), who counts and names all the students.
pb 10.00

 

Loewen, Iris, My Kokum Called Today. 1993, color drawings by Gloria Miller.

When her grandma, her Kokum, calls from the Cree reserve, a child living in the city looks forward to going home to the round dance and all things that tie her to the land. Miller’s soft colored pencil illustrations complement this very real little story.
pb 11.00

Manabozho and the Bullrushes. 1976, b/w illustrations.

Manabozho, who loves to play tricks, gets the tables turned. An exemplary story about the consequences of pride, anger, competitiveness, and excess.
pb 4.50

Real Wild Rice. 1975, b/w illustrations.

In a short story poem, a boy talks about going for rice. “I run with the rabbit/I jump and play/Today isn't Monday/It's wild rice day.” Young readers will feel the teller's delight in the “Real wild/wild rice” that “grows tall and free/and tastes real nice,” and in the pleasure of the day.
pb 4.50

Shemay: The Bird in the Sugarbush. 1975, color illustrations.

During sugaring season, Liza loves to listen to the birds, but she hears one who sounds unhappy. So her grandmother tells her the story of how this little bird got its sad song. The warmth between child and grandmother are conveyed by both text and illustrations in this excellent beginning reader.
pb 4.50

The Birth of Nanabosho. 1989, color illustrations.

How Nanabosho, the son of West Wind and grandson of Nokomis, is born into this world, grows and learns of the world around him.
pb 11.00

Nanabosho Dances. 1991, color illustrations.

In the origin of the hoop dance, Kitchi Manitou presents Nanabozho with a gift of tobacco and instructs him in its use. Nanabosho, in his hurry to appease his hunger, promptly forgets the tobacco but he does not forget the advice of Kitchi Manitou.
pb 11.00

Nanabosho: How the Turtle Got Its Shell. 1994, color illustrations.

Turtle, who was just a sad little defenseless green creature, is rewarded after helping Nanabosho.
pb 11.00

Nanabosho, Soaring Eagle, and the Great Sturgeon. 1993, color illustrations.

When Nanabosho and Soaring Eagle finish their fall fishing to prepare for winter, Nanabosho runs off with all the fish, leaving Soaring Eagle and his family to starve. Trout, taking pity on Soaring Eagle, helps him, but then Soaring Eagle gets greedy....
pb 11.00

Nanabosho Steals Fire. 1990, color illustrations.

How Nanabosho, feeling the bite of the cold, steals fire and brings it to the people.
pb 11.00

Nanabosho and Kitchie Odjig. 1997, color illustrations by Lloyd Swampy (Ojibwe) and Jeff Burling.

When Kitchie Odjig—the Great Fisher—teaches Nanabosho the song for bringing the shores of the lake together, he also warns him not to sing the song that will push the shores of the lake apart. So Nanabosho, being ever curious, of course tries it out...
pb 11.00

Nanabosho and the Cranberries. 1998, color illustrations by Lloyd Swampy (Ojibwe).

Here, the hungry Nanabosho, the first teacher of the Ojibwe—who often teaches good behavior by behaving badly—learns the hard way that it probably isn't wise to try to get cranberries off a bush by grabbing at their reflection in a lake.
pb 11.00

Medicine Crow, Joe (Crow), Brave Wolf and the Thunderbird. 1998, color illustrations by Linda R. Martin (Diné).

Each spring, a water monster comes out of the lake to steal Thunderbird’s chicks. Determined not to let this continue, Thunderbird snatches up a human hunter to help her foil the monster. With Brave Wolf contributing some creative thinking and Thunderbird contributing some dry logs, a big pile of rocks, a freshly killed buffalo, and a rainshower, the monster is greeted by more than a few helpless chicks. Martin’s drawings—especially of the monster getting its comeuppance—are perfect.
hc 15.00

Messinger, Carla (Lenape), with Susan Katz, When the Shadbush Blooms. 2007, color paintings by David Kanietakeron Fadden (Mohawk).

“My grandparents’ grandparents walked beside the same stream where I walk with my brother, and we can see what they saw. Deer leap in the woods. Hawks fly in circles overhead. Frogs splash, and turtles sun themselves.” When a Lenape girl goes to the stream to fish for shad, she knows that another girl did the same generations before. She knows that, through the circle of the seasons, things change and things remain the same, as they always have. Fadden’s paintings, in acrylic on canvas on a palette of earth colors, perfectly complement the words. When the Shadbush Blooms is a poem, a song, a prayer for Earth and her inhabitants.
hc 16.00

Munsch, Robert, and Michael Kusugak (Inuit), A Promise is a Promise. 1991, color illustrations.

On the first warm day of spring, Allashua and her mother are more than a match for the wily Qallupilluit; to tell more is to give away the story.
hc 17.00, pb 7.00

Nelson, S.D. (Lakota), Gift Horse. 1999, color illustrations by the author.

S. D. Nelson's incredibly beautiful, bold illustrations bring to life the story, told in the first person, of his great-great-grandfather's transition from boy to man. As Flying Cloud and his horse—a gift from his father—hunt deer, endure a blizzard, and join the men on a buffalo hunt and a raid, he grows into the relationship, no, partnership, between a warrior and his pony.
hc 16.00

Okanagan Tribal Council, Kou-Skelowh/We Are the People: How Food Was Given, How Names Were Given & How Turtle Set the Animals Free. (1984), 2004, color illustrations by Barbara Marchand (Okanagan).

In “How Food Was Given,” the Animal and Plant People must decide how food will be provided for the People-to-Be. “How Names Were Given” tells of Coyote's plans to be named chief of all the Animal People by being first to arrive at the name-giving ceremony. But the Great Spirit has other plans for him. In “How Turtle Set the Animals Free,” the Animal People are Eagle's slaves because nobody is fast enough to win a race against him. These teaching stories, from the Kou-skelowh (We Are the People) series, are lovely in their simplicity and heart.
pb 13.00

Otto, Simon (Ojibwe/Odawa), Walk in Peace: Legends and Stories of the Michigan Indians. 1990, b/w illustrations.

Here are 18 short, simply and well told how-it-came-to-be stories: how dogs and humans became friends, how pike got a long nose, how turtle got a shell, why snakes shed their skins. This is excellent read-aloud for the younger listeners.
hc 18.00, pb 10.00

Pennington, Daniel (Cherokee), Itse Selu: Cherokee Harvest Festival. 1994, color illustrations.

A young child and his family prepare for Itse Selu, the Green Corn Festival, a thanksgiving for the corn harvest and celebration of the new year.
hc 16.00, pb 8.00

Olson, Karen (Cree/Anishinaabe), Living Safe, Playing Safe. Illustrated by Leonard George, Jr. (Thompson).

At school, in the kitchen and in the playground, Tony, Rainey, Jennifer and Mavis learn important safety lessons.
pb 11.00

Plain, Ferguson (Ojibwe), Eagle Feather—An Honour. 1988, b/w illustrations by the author.

Now that his Mishoomis, his grandfather, is gone, a young man remembers walking with him in the bush and listening to stories of the old days; he remembers being honored with an eagle feather at the powwow and not knowing what he had done to deserve this honor; he remembers his grandfather telling him that “I had achieved a good deed from the first day he held me, as a baby, in his arms.” Plain’s illustrations perfectly complement this deep little story and express the many layers of life’s experiences.
pb 8.00