AICL's Best Books of 2016

Comics and Graphic Novels:

• Nelson, Jonathan. (2016) The Wool of Jonesy. Native Realities, US
• Starr, Arigon (ed.). (2016) Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers, Native Realities, US
• Van Camp, Richard. (2016) Spirit, South Slave Divisional Education Council, Canada

Board Books:

• Robertson, David. (2016) When We Were Alone, HighWater Press, Canada*
• Smith, Monique Gray. (2016) My Heart Fills with Happiness, Orca Books, Canada*
• Van Camp, Richard. (2016) We Sang You Home, Orca Books, Canada*

Picture Books:

• Baker, Darryl. (2016) Kamik Joins the Pack. Inhabit Media, Canada.*
• Bruchac, Joseph. (2016) The Hunter's Promise: An Abenaki Tale. Wisdom Tales, US.  Update on Sep 30 2023: I (Debbie Reese) no longer recommend Bruchac's work. For details see Is Joseph Bruchac truly Abenaki?
• Herrington, John B. (2016) Mission to Space. White Dog Press, US
• Highway, Tomson. (2016) Dragonfly Kites. Fifth House, Canada*

For Middle Grades:

• Dupuis, Jenny Kay. (2016) I Am Not A Number. Second Story Press, Canada.*
• Erdrich, Louise. (2016) Makoons. HarperCollins. US*
• Rendon, Marcie. (2016). "Worry and Wonder" in Sky Blue Water: Great Stories for Young Readers. University of Minnesota Press, US

For High School:

• Dunn, Anne M. (2016) Fire in the Village. Holy Cow Press, US
• Nicholson, Hope (ed.). (2016) Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time, Bedside Press, Canada
• Van Camp, Richard. (2016) The Lesser Blessed (20th Anniversary Edition), Douglas & McIntyre, Canada.

Please share this page with teachers, librarians, parents--anyone, really--who is interested in books about Native peoples. As we come across additional books published in that year, we will add them to this list. If you know of ones we might want to consider, please let me know!

Recommended: YOU HOLD ME UP by Monique Gray Smith

Due out in October of 2017 is Monique Gray Smith's You Hold Me Up. Published by Orca, it is a picture book about ways that people can hold each other, and hold each other up, by helping each other, or playing together, or singing, or cooking. 

Smith's text is heartwarming! And the illustrations, by Danielle Daniel's, reflect Native people in the present day. 

Like My Heart Fills With Happiness, this new book by Smith is one that parents, grandparents, pre-school and elementary teachers, and librarians, will want to have on their shelves, but I encourage everyone to read Smith's note in back and -- if you don't already know about it -- learn all you can about residential schools in Canada, and boarding schools in the United States.