A Book A Day for Native American Heritage Month (twice)

I got  started blogging about Black Music Month early because I was still waiting on two books for this. This means my posts are not perfectly sequenced.

There was always a chance of that.

This reading list started at https://www.heisereads.com/nahm2022/.

Jillian Heise's #ClassroomBookADay was inspired by Donalyn Miller's (The Book Whisperer) #bookaday.

There could be many of these lists our there, and I am not sure that I want to know given how hard a time I have passing up any such lists, given my passion for literacy and representation.

Regardless, I did read all 60 of the books that Heise selected, for 2021 and 2022. If she makes another selection for 2023, then I suspect I will read another 30. For now, all I am really committed to are some more curriculum-geared books also listed on that page. (But not the Dunbar-Ortiz book; I've read that.)

I try and keep my eye out, but there were so many books here, and most of them in our local library system (the handful that weren't is why I could not post until today). For a few favorites...

May We Have Enough to Share by Richard Van Camp

I adored Little You, Van Camp's collaboration with Julie Flett, who is fast becoming one of my favorite illustrators. That is a poem of love for one growing child, and beautiful. 

This one is a collection of photos, with lots of different, smiling faces, affirming that the Native people are still here, alive and vibrant.

Shaped By Her Hands: Potter Maria Martinez by Anna Harber Freeman, Barbara Gonzalez, and Aphelandra.

Beautiful artwork, and I was impressed by how vivid they made the colors, which is important because part of Maria Martinez' contribution was finding a technique to recreate a type of black pottery that had been lost. 

Sharice's Big Voice by Sharice Davids, Nancy K. Mays, and Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley

This is a good one for the rowdy kids, because cage fighting and political office do not have to be mutually exclusive, and loud kids can do good things.

A River's Gifts: The Might Elwha River Reborn by Patricia Newman and Natasha Donovan

This is beautifully illustrated and full of hope. It makes me think that we could get Celilo Falls back. In addition, there is so much about ecosystems and history that while that may not interest younger kids it could put a little bit older kids on a good path for a science project. 

We Are Still Here! Native American Truths Everyone Should Know by Traci Sorrell and Frané Lessac could help start a social studies project, but I did not find it as enthralling.

Of course, everyone has different needs and tastes. So if there were things that did not mean a lot to me personally, they might still mean a lot to children with sensory issues (Thunder and the Noise Storms), or facing a move (Forever Cousins), or frustrated with recent Supreme Court decisions (probably all of the ones with "water" in the title but especially The Water Lady).

Because, really, we all need lots of books, all the time. 

Here are the books. In general, the names in parenthesis are the author, illustrator, and sometimes translator, but sometimes there is more than one author or illustrator, or even translator.

Be A Good Ancestor (Leona Prince, Gabriel Prince, Carla Joseph)
May We Have Enough To Share (Richard Van Camp)
Thunder and the Noise Storms (Jeffrey Ansloos, Shezza Ansloos)
The Water Walker (Joanne Robertson)
Runs With the Stars (Darcy Whitecrow, Heather M. O'Connor)
Unstoppable: How Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Defeated Army (Art Coulson and Nick Hardcastle)
First Laugh – Welcome Baby (Rose Anne Tahe, Nancy Bo Flood, Jonathan Nelson)
It's a Mitig! (Bridget George)
Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer (Traci Sorrell, Natasha Donovan)
Forever Cousins (Laurel Goodluck, Jonathan Nelson)
A River's Gifts: The Might Elwha River Reborn (Patricia Newman, Natasha Donovan)
My Heart Fills With Happiness (Monique Gray Smith, Julie Flett, Angela Mesic, Margaret Noodin)
Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code Talker's Story (Joseph Bruchac, Liz Amini-Holmes)
Powwow Day (Traci Sorrell, Madelynn Goodnight)
When We Were Alone (Davd A. Robertson, Julie Flett)
Mashkiki Road (Elizabeth S Barrett, Jonathan Thunder)
Finding My Dance (Ria Thundercloud, Kalila J. Fuller)
Berry Song (Michaela Goade)
Ojibway Animals (Jason Adair)
SkySisters (Jan Bourdeau Waboose)
Where Wonder Grows (Xelena Gonzales, Ariana M. Garcia)
Tallchief: America's Prima Ballerina (Maria Tallchief, Rosemary Wells, Gary Kelley)
Still This Love Goes On (Buffy Sainte-Marie, Julie Flett)
Keepunumuk (Danielle Greendeer, Anthony Perry, Alexis Bunten, Garry Meeches Sr.)
We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga (Traci Sorrell, Frané Lessac)
Dancing With Our Ancestors (Sara Florence Davidson, Robert Davidson, Janine Gibbons)
Young Water Protectors: A Story About Standing Rock (Aslan Tudor, Kelly Tudor)
The Good Luck Cat (Joy Harjo, Paul Lee)
Together We Drum: Our Hearts Beat As One (Willie Poll, Chief Lady Bird)
I Hope (Monique Gray Smith,Gabrielle Grimard)

I Sang You Down From the Stars (Tasha Spillett-Sumner, Michaela Goade)
Jingle Dancer (Cynthia Leitich Smith, Ying-Hwa Hu, Cornelius Van Wright)
Nimoshom and His Bus (Penny M. Thomas, Karen Hibbard)
The Train (Jodie Callaghan, Georgia Lesley)
The Forever Sky (Thomas Peacock, Annette S Lee)
Wilma's Way Home (Doreen Rappaport, Linda Kukuk)
Sus Yoo the Bear's Medicine (Clayton Gauthier)
Birdsong (Julie Flett)
Mission to Space (John Herrington)
Look Grandma! Ni Elisi! (Art Coulson, Madelyn Goodnight)
At the Mountain's Base (Traci Sorrell, Weshoyot Alvitre)
Wolf Cub's Song (Joseph Bruchac, Carlin Bear Don't Walk)
We All Play (Julie Flett)
We Are Water Protectors (Carol Lindstrom and Michaela Goade)
Mii maanda exhi-gkendmaanh/ This is How I Know (Brittany Luby, Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley, Alvin Ted Corbiere, Alan Corbiere)
The First Blade of Sweetgrass (Suzanne Greenlaw, Gabriel Frey, Nancy Baker)
Sharice's Big Voice (Sharice Davids, Nancy K. Mays, Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley)
When We Are Kind (Monique Gray Smith, Nicole Neihardt, Mildred Walters)
Greet the Dawn the Lakota Way (S.D. Nelson)
The Girl and the Wolf (Katharena Vermette, Julie Flett)
A Day with Yayah (Nicola I. Campbell, Julie Flett)
Shaped by Her Hands: Potter Maria Martinez (Anna Harber Freeman, Barbara Gonzalez, Aphelandra)
When Turtle Grew Feathers (Tim Tingle, Stacey Schuett)
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story (Kevin Noble Maillard, Juana Martinez-Neal)
Hungry Johnny (Cheryl Minnema, Wesley Ballinger)
We Are Still Here! Native American Truths Everyone Should Know (Traci Sorrell, Frané Lessac)
Josie Dances (Denise Lajimodiere, Angela Erdrich)
On the Trapline (David A. Robertson, Julie Flett)
The Water Lady (Alice B. McGinty, Shanto Begay)
Bowwow Powwow (Brenda Child, Jonathan Thunder, Gordon Jourdain)