Winners of 2018 American Indian Library Association's Youth Literature Award!

Every two years, the American Indian Library Association's Youth Literature Award committee selects books to receive its awards in three categories: Picture Book, Middle Grade Book, and Young Adult Book. From books published in 2016 and 2017, these are the winners! 

An important note: every single one is from a small press--where editors know what they're doing. In 2016 and 2017, "the Big Five" published a lot of books that purport to be about Native peoples, but they are not written by Native people. In one explicit or subtle way or another, they fail to provide Native children with mirrors. 

Books presented here, however, are exquisite. I highly recommend you get them for your classroom, school, or home library. Some of the books are ones where several people were involved. Look up each name! Get to know what they do! Visit the websites of these publishers! Promote and share their work, wherever you see it.

Here they are, in one image. Twelve books, but the creative work of almost 100 different Native people! 

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Best Picture Book is Shanyaak'utlaax: Salmon Boy (2017), published by the Sealaska Heritage Institute. The book is edited by Tlingit speakers Johnny Marks, Hans Chester, David Katzeek, and Nora Dauenhauer and Tlingit linguist Richard Dauenhauer and illustrated by Michaela Goade. (Please see "A Watery World" -- an interview of illustrator, Goade.)

Picture Book Honors went to:

Black Bear Red Fox (2017), written and illustrated by Julie Flett (Cree/Métis). Native Northwest.

I'm Dreaming of...Animals of the Native Northwest (2017), written by Melaney Gleeson-Lyall (Musqueam, Coast Salish) and illustrated by First Nations artists. Native Northwest.

All Around Us (2017), written by Xelena González (Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation) and illustrated by Adriana M. Garcia. Cinco Puntos Press.

Mission to Space (2016), written and illustrated by John Herrington (Chickasaw). White Dog Press.

Fall in Line, Holden! (2017), written and illustrated by Daniel W. Vandever (Diné). Salina Bookshelf, Inc.

Best Middle Grade book is Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers, Volume 1 (2016), published by Native Realities, edited by Arigon Starr (Kickapoo) and featuring the work of Theo Tso (Las Vegas Paiute), Jonathan Nelson (Diné), Kristina Bad Hand (Sičháŋǧu Lakota/Cherokee), Roy Boney Jr. (Cherokee), Lee Francis IV (Laguna Pueblo), Johnnie Diacon (Mvskoke/Creek), Weshoyot Alvitre (Tongva), Renee Nejo (Mesa Grand Band of Mission Indians), and Michael Sheyahshe (Caddo).

Middle Grade Honor Book is The Wool of Jonesy, Part 1 (2016) written and illustrated by Jonathan Nelson (Diné). Native Realities.

Best Young Adult Book is #Not Your Princess: Voices of Native American Women (2017), published by Annick Press, edited by Lisa Charleyboy (Tsilhqot’in) and Mary Beth Leatherdale. Art, poems, stories, and photographs by Aza Erdrich Abe (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe), Claire Anderson (Taku River Tlingit), Joanne Arnott (Métis/mixed blood), Monique Bedard Aura Last (Haudenosaunee Oneida), Gwen Benaway (Anishinaabe and Métis), Nathalie Bertin (Franco-Métis), Stephanie Big Crow (Tsuu T'ina Nation), Maria Campbell (Métis), Tenille Campbell (Dene/Métis), Imajyn Cardinal (Cree/Dene), Adrianne Chalepah (Kiowa/Apache), Lianne Marie Leda Charlie (descendant of the Tagé Cho Hudan, Northern Tutchone-speaking people of the Yukon), Chief Lady Bird - Nancy King (Potawatomi and Chippewa from Rama First Nation with paternal ties to Moose Deer Point), Dana Claxton (Hunkpapa Lakota), Clear Wind Blows Over the Moon (Cree First Nations), Francine Cunningham (Cree/Métis), Danielle Daniel (Métis), Jessica Deer (Mohawk), Rosanna Deerchild (Cree), Sierra Edd (Diné), Kelly Edzerza-Bapty (Tahltan Nation of Telegraph Creek), Ka'ila Farrell-Smith (Klamath/Modoc), Melanie Fey (Dine), Isabella Fillspipe (Oglala Lakota), Julie Flett (Cree/Métis), Nahanni Fontaine (Anishinaabe), Karlene Harvey (Tsilhqot'in, Carrier, and Okanagan nations), Hazel Hedgecoke (Sioux/Hunkpapa/Wendat/Métis/Cherokee/Creek), Rayna Hernandez (Lakota), Linda Hogan (Chickasaw), Wakeah Jhane (Penatuka and Yaparucah bands of Comanche, and Blackfeet and Kiowa), Helen Knott (Dana Zaa and Heniyawak from Prophet River First Nation), Brigitte Lacquette (Ojibwe, Cote First Nation), Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe/Ojibwe), Cecilia Rose LaPoint (Ojibway/Métis), Gloria Larocque Campbell Moses (Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation), Winona Linn (Meskwaki), Shelby Lisk (Tyendinaga Mohawk Nation), Ashton Locklear (Lumbee), Darian Lonechild (White Bear First Nation), Lee Maracle (Sto:lo Nation), Madelaine McCallum (Cree/Métis), Tiffany Midge (Hunkpapa Lakota), Saige Mukash (Cree), Pamela J. Peters (Navajo), Ntawnis Piapot (Piapot Cree Nation), Natanya Ann Pulley (Diné), Zondra Zoey Roy (Cree/Dene/Métis), Shoni Schimmmel (Umatilla), Leanne Betasmosake Simpson (Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg), Janet Smylie (Cree/Métis), Tasha Spillett (Cree/Trinidadian), Patty Stonefish (Lakota/German/Russian/French/Polish/Mexican/HUMAN), DeLanna Studi (Cherokee), Jen VanStrander (Western Band of Cherokee), Tania Willard (Secwepemc Nation), Tanaya Winder (Southern Ute, Shoshone, and Paiute Nations), and AnnaLee Rain Yellowhammer (Hunkpapa/Standing Rock Sioux). 

Young Adult Honor Books are:

The Marrow Thieves (2017), written by Cherie Dimaline (Métis). DCB (submitted by Orca Books).

Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time: An Indigenous LGBT Sci-Fi Anthology (2016), edited by Hope Nicholson, including stories by Anishinaabe authors Grace L. Dillon, Niigaan Sinclair, and Nathan Adler; Richard Van Camp (Dene/Tłı̨chǫ), Cherie Dimaline (Métis), David A. Robertson (Swampy Cree), Daniel Heath Justice (Cherokee), Darcie Little Badger (Lipan Apache), Gwen Benaway (Annishinabe/Mètis), Mari Kurisato (Ojibwe Nakawē), and Cleo Keahna (Ojibwe/Meskwaki). Bedside Press.

Fire Starters (2016), written by Jen Storm (Ojibway); illustrated by Scott B. Henderson and colorist Donovan Yaciuk. HighWater Press.

Members of the committee: 
Naomi Bishop, Chair (Akimel O'odham/Pima)
Sunny Real Bird (Apsaalooke Crow Tribe)
Linda Wynne (Tlingit/Haida)
Ofelia Zepeda (Tohono O'oodham)
Janice Kowemy (Laguna Pueblo)
Janet Mumford
Lara Aase