Established in 2006 by Dr. Debbie Reese of Nambé Pueblo, American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) provides critical analysis of Indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books. Dr. Jean Mendoza joined AICL as a co-editor in 2016. (Site redesign on January 8, 2025)
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American Indians in Children's Literature is pleased to share our annual year-end list of books we want you to know about. We'd like multiple copies of them to be in every classroom, school, and public library. (Download AICL's 2023 Year In Review pdf if you wish.)
Our emphasis is books by Native writers and illustrators whose Nations are on the continent we know as North America. Most are ones that came out in 2023. In some way, they've touched our hearts as parents of Native children or as former school teachers who want children to have accurate and honest books about Native peoples.
For each book, we list the Tribal Nation of the author/illustrator and we encourage you to use that information when reading the book. For example, in the picture book category you'll see A Letter for Bob by Kim Rogers. We encourage you to introduce the book by saying something like:
"This is A Letter for Bob. It is written by Kim Rogers, an enrolled member of the Wichita Affiliated Tribes. The illustrations are by Jonathan Nelson. He's Diné."
You'll modify that according to the way you're using the book. The main point is that we want you to be tribally specific. That means you specify the author and illustrator's Tribal Nation. If possible, show students the websites of the author/illustrator and of their Tribal Nations.
Now, it is important to say a few things about claims to Native identity. In October of 2023, Native people in the US and Canada were shocked to learn that an iconic singer, Buffy Sainte-Marie, is not Native. People who follow Native news media know that–in the past few years–there have been several expose’s of individuals who assert a Native identity and use that identity in their professional or academic work. It touches children’s literature, too. In 2023, we withdrew our recommendations of books by Buffy Sainte-Marie, Joseph Bruchac, Marge Bruchac, James Bruchac, and Art Coulson (click on their names for details). One way that investigations of such claims begin is by someone noticing that the ways a person asserts that identity shifts over time in problematic ways. The shift may be in the tribal nation(s) being claimed, or by shifts in language used to make the claim.
Sometimes, however, a change marks an effort to be more accurate. Using Debbie as an example, she used to say “Nambé Pueblo” but now says “Nambé Owingeh” because “Pueblo” is an externally imposed word, while Nambé and Owingeh are Tewa words (Tewa is the language spoken at Nambé). She also says she is “tribally enrolled” because she meets the requirements at Nambe to be included on the tribal census. Her father and grandmother are enrolled at Nambé. Her mother is from Ohkay Owingeh; her mother’s father is from Hopi. Debbie does not list either one in her email signature line because she grew up at, and is enrolled at, Nambé. In a biographical statement, she might include both because they are part of her life and experiences as a Native woman. She would have a lot more to say about Ohkay Owingeh because she spent a lot of time there as a kid and very little time at Hopi.
In some cases, the membership or citizenship requirements of a person’s Nation mean that a person’s child cannot be included on a tribal census but they are considered part of the community. We encourage you to read Christine Day’s note in We Still Belong. Her main character cannot be enrolled in the Nation her mother is enrolled in.
There are hundreds of Tribal Nations, which means there are hundreds of ways in which a person’s nation decides who its citizens are. We are not suggesting that there is a single ‘best’ way of stating a Native identity. Indeed, we learn more about Native identity each year. This year, we learned that some Tribal Nations issue ‘descent’ cards to children of family members who–like the character in Christine Day’s book–can’t be enrolled in their mother’s Nation. Many Nations have moved away from “blood quantum” requirements to lineage. We encourage you to read an interview that NPR did with Elizabeth Rule (she is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and her book, Indigenous DC, is on our list this year in the Crossover section).
You will also see “not Native” because there are non-Native writers (like John Coy and Debby Dahl Edwardson who are on last year’s list, or Charles Waters on this year’s) whose writing includes Native content or characters in respectful ways. Several books on this year’s list also are illustrated by non-Native artists.
Before moving on to our list, we want to note that claims – like the one made by Buffy Sainte-Marie – have a harmful impact on Native people who were disconnected or removed from their Native families and communities. Across North America, there are Native people trying to find their way home. It is not an easy process. For many it is full of obstacles put there by agencies that sought to destroy Native Nations. When false claims are called out, people who are trying to find their families and those who are trying to build relationships with their families may feel vulnerable and fearful of being challenged about their search. That vulnerability is an unseen harm done by false claims.
In our list you will find an author’s Tribal Nation in parenthesis after their name. We use an author’s identity as they name it (and the spellings/capitalizations of their personal names) on their own website (sometimes we write to them to ask for clarification). If they do not have a website, we use what their publisher uses. We are happy to make edits as needed! Let us know.
Though our list is organized by age/grade levels, we encourage you to use picture books with readers of any age, and we want every teacher and librarian to read all the books. They are far better than the books most people read in their childhood. These will help you understand who Native people really are. We welcome your questions and comments about these introductory paragraphs, or the books we list, below.
And join us in celebrating the growing number of books we list each year!* Many win awards, and the range of what we’re all able to read is outstanding! Across genre, format, and author/illustrator’s Tribal Nations, Native literature is something to pay attention to!
Any person who publicly identifies as Cherokee has initiated a public discussion about their identity. It is appropriate to ask such persons to explain the verifiable basis upon which they are claiming a Cherokee identity.
An advocacy group devoted to amplifying the voices of Indigenous women says Buffy Sainte-Marie, a musician known for decades of Indigenous activism, appears to have engaged in a great deception regarding her origins as an Indigenous Sixties Scoop Survivor.
As much as anyone, I want the allegations of her deception and dishonourable conduct to be untrue. I want her to stay firmly on the pedestal I and many others have put her on. But the evidence against her, as hard as it is to say, does not look good. And now I'm reeling, as are all Buffy fans, especially Indigenous ones like me.
Whether we like it or not, at least part of the truth has been revealed. It is up to Indigenous people to make sense of it, to reconcile our pain and disbelief, and to figure out how to move forward with care and respect for one another's responses to these revelations. That's our burden, one that the CBC, or any major news outlet, does not have to carry. They can move on to the next story.
Tim Johnson, an Ohsweken resident and the artistic producer for Celebration of Nations held annually at the Performing Arts Centre in St. Catharines, said Sainte-Marie's deception about her Indigenous identity has caused incalculable reputational and financial damage to authentic Indigenous musicians.
"When you are a Juno Award-winning artist, opportunities open for you both in terms of notoriety, income and prestige," said Johnson, a Mohawk, Wolf Clan, from Six Nations of the Grand River.
The Canadian government has stripped Buffy Sainte-Marie of one of the country's highest honors [Order of Canada], after a 2023 news report found she had fabricated claims of Indigenous ancestry.
Buffy Sainte-Marie has been a strong supporter and advocate for Canadian music, and we acknowledge the past contributions she has made to our organization. However, CARAS’ mandate is to educate, develop, celebrate, and honour Canadian artists. Maintaining the integrity of this process is essential to ensuring the organization continues to fulfill its purpose.
...the ship arrived in Wampanoag territory at the village of Meeshawm, in what is now known as Provincetown, Massachusetts.
The English commonly used the labels "Indians" or "savages" to describe the multiple nations of peoples and cultures they encountered in America. "Savages" was incredibly demeaning. Even though the terms were inaccurate and dehumanizing, they became familiar in English terminology. Today the language has changed and generalized terms like "American Indian," "Native American," "First Nation," "Indigenous," or 'Native" are all in use. However, Native peoples prefer to be called by their tribe or nation whenever possible.
