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Lana's Lakota moons
Yum! ¡MmMm! ¡Qué rico! : Americas' sproutings
Sitting Bull : Lakota warrior and defender of his people
If I ever get out of here : a novel with paintings
How I became a ghost : a Choctaw Trail of Tears story #1
My name is not easy
Buffalo Bird Girl : a Hidatsa story
Giving thanks : a Native American good morning message
Birch Coulie : the epic battle of the Dakota War
Sharing the skies : Navajo astronomy
Black Elk's vision : a Lakota story
Native athletes in action!
Muskrat will be swimming
Dance in a buffalo skull
You don't have to say you love me : a memoir
Follow the blackbirds
Songs from the loom : a Navajo girl learns to weave
The displacement of native peoples
The chichi hoohoo bogeyman
Itse selu : Cherokee harvest festival
I am not a number
Not my girl
SkySisters
Sacred wilderness
An infinity of nations : how the native New World shaped early North America
The dance boots
Hidden roots
Cell traffic : new and selected poems
Sacagawea
Native women of courage
Mission to space
Saltypie : a Choctaw journey from darkness into light
Native defenders of the environment
Sky dancers
Taku wadaka he? = (What do you see?)
Custer died for your sins : an Indian manifesto
A man called Raven
Walking on earth & touching the sky : poetry and prose by Lakota youth at Red Cloud Indian School
The people shall continue
A boy called Slow : the true story of Sitting Bull
Wild berries = Pikaci-mīnisa
The creator's game : a story of baaga'adowe/lacrosse
Buffalo song
Home to Medicine Mountain
Songs of Shiprock Fair
Ojibwe sky star map constellation guidebook : an introduction to Ojibwe Star knowledge
Native writers : voices of power
First laugh : welcome, baby!
For indigenous eyes only : a decolonization handbook
The blue roses
Crazy brave : a memoir
Navajo long walk : the tragic story of a proud people's forced march from their homeland
House of purple cedar
Mni sota makoce : the land of the Dakota
Me funny : a far-reaching exploration of the humor, wittiness and repartee dominant among the First Nations people of North America, as witnessed, experienced and created directly by themselves, and with the inclusion of outside but reputable sources necessarily familiar with the indigenous sense of humour as seen from an objective perspective
The birchbark house
The Mishomis book : the voice of the Ojibway
God is red : a native view of religion
Lincoln and the indians : Civil War policy and politics
The woman who outshone the sun : the legend of Lucia Zenteno = La mujer que brillaba aún más que el sol : la leyenda de Lucía Zenteno
Bears make rock soup and other stories
The Dakota prisoner of war letters = Dakota Kaŝkapi Okicize Wowapi
Nanabosho & Porcupine
Grandmother Spider brings the sun : a Cherokee story
D(L)akota star map constellation guidebook : an introduction to D(L)akota star knowledge
Moccasin thunder : American Indian stories for today
In the footsteps of Crazy Horse
Jingle dancer
The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian
Before Columbus : the Americas of 1491
Beloved child : a Dakota way of life
All our relations : native struggles for land and life
The Lone Ranger and Tonto fistfight in heaven
Hungry Johnny
Dreaming in Indian : contemporary Native American voices
When I was eight
A broken flute : the Native experience in books for children

Access the MN American Indian Collection Literature collection here.

A large selection of fiction and non-fiction works written by Native authors and focusing on Native American culture has been added to our collection, which is made possible by a project of the Minnesota Office of Indian Education using federal funding, Library Service and Technology Act [LS 00-17-0024-17].

The collection boasts works such as “Buffalo Song” by Joseph Bruchac, “The Birchbark House” by Louise Erdrich and more, and offers something for all age groups from childhood to adulthood.

To access the full collection of works, library customers can search our catalog for “MN American Indian Literature” using the keyword search and quotation marks. While the collection was originally designed for use by educators teaching grades K-12, the materials have been wildly popular for audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

Click here to access the American Indian Literature Resources for Educators: An Annotated Bibliography. This document includes the MN English Language Arts Standards for K-12, the grade level served, the title and author of the recommended book, and an annotation.

A printable version of the American Indian book list is also available.

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