Recent Books with Indigenous Representation

It's been four years in prison since Jade Daniels last saw her hometown of Proofrock, Idaho, the day she took the fall, protecting her friend Letha and her family from incrimination. Since then, her reputation, and the town, have changed dramatically. There's a lot of unfinished business in Proofrock, from serial killer cultists to the rich trying to buy Western authenticity. But there's one aspect of Proofrock no one wants to confront...until Jade comes back to town. The curse of the Lake Witch is waiting, and now is the time for the final stand.

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The Art of Making: Rediscovering the Blackfoot Legacy is a captivating entry into Jared Tailfeathers' journey of cultural reclamation. Accompanied by his family and loyal dogs, Tailfeathers delves into his Indigenous heritage through hands-on, land-based exploration. The book traces the evolution of the Blackfoot Confederacy, examining its trade routes, resources, and interactions pre- and post-1800s. It provides intricate details of Blackfoot connections with nature, neighbouring First Nations Peoples, and their rich legacy in tool-making, textiles, and artistic expression. Tailfeathers' quest began in 2019, driven by a deep desire to reacquaint himself with his cultural and historical identity as a Blackfoot man navigating a post-colonial world. This book is a journey into the heart of Blackfoot culture, told by a man who walks the ancestral trails with his dogs.

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Elmore Trent, professor of Indigenous studies, who finds himself entangled in an affair; Paul North plays in the Indigenous Hockey League, struggles to keep up with the game; Detective Ruby Birch is chasing a string of gruesome murders, with clues that leading to both Elmore and Paul. And then there's Fabiola Halan, famed survivor of a plane crash. What starts off as a series of subtle connections between isolated characters quickly takes a menacing turn, as it becomes increasingly clear that someone - or something - is hunting them all.

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"Told in the voice of a boy and his father by turns, this book takes a thoughtful and heartfelt look at the emotional toll of a child being taken from their family and community to attend residential school. While the child's internal monologue expresses his fear, confusion, and loss, the father's monologue conveys his own sadness, fears, and hopes for the future of his child. The narrative gives voice to the things left unsaid between a parent and child experiencing this heart-rending separation. Upon his return to his community, when father and son are reunited, they must start the long process of reconnection. Based on the author's family history of residential school separation, this book provides a unique perspective on the difficult cycle of loss, reconnection, and regaining hope for the future."-- Provided by publisher.

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When Martin and Tawny's children disappeared, the couple barreled into the desert to track them down at any cost. Instead, they ran afoul of another group of rovers who claimed to be saving the world by traveling through a cave portal to the year 1492 to prevent the creation of America-an idea that defied belief until the grieving parents were lured into the cave and vanished in time and space. Now alone, Tawny must adapt to the wild marshlands of prehistoric Florida, circa 20,000 BC, and the breathtaking and bloodthirsty megafauna are the least of her problems when she's caught in a war between a community of native Paleo-Indians and an occupying Solutrean force. Tawny's odds of survival are in free fall, but she's a mother on a mission...and she's holding on to hope that the cave brought her here for a family reunion.

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Chronicles the changes brought upon a beloved family tree that must be uprooted and planted on new land.

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Have fun learning the names for animal groups of the West Coast with a sturdy board book featuring the illustrations of Indigenous artist Roy Henry Vickers. Bright blocks of colour and tactile embossed pages bring the natural world of the wild West Coast to life. Accompanied by a rhythmic, rhyming text, this board book will entertain babies, toddlers, and adults alike as they discover that orcas leap and dive in a pod, a bunch of sea lions are called a bob, geese make up a wedge, a swamp full of croaking frogs form a chorus, a jumble of jellies are called a bloom--and more! A Flock of Seagulls, A Chorus of Frogs is a vibrant addition to the award-winning First West Coast Book series, perfect for storytime and supporting language development in babies and toddlers.

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"When 17-year-old June wakes up alone and confused on a hill after—well, she can’t really remember—she quickly finds herself unable to leave. While exploring the boundaries of her new reality, people from her life arrive, reintroducing June to memories she's forgotten. When it becomes clear that something bad has happened, June must come to terms with everything left unsaid before time runs out while making a monumental decision: stay or go."

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As she wakes up one dull morning, Kaiah feels as cold and grey as the day. She longs to be with her grandmother again. Kaiah's life doesn't feel right without her. But through Kaiah's treasured bead box and the beauty it holds she is with her grandmother, in a garden that is full of colour and love.

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For generations, Indigenous People have known that their family members disappeared, many of them after being sent to residential schools, “Indian hospitals” and asylums through a coordinated system designed to destroy who the First Nations, Métis and Inuit people are. This is one of Canada’s greatest open secrets, an unhealed wound that until recently lay hidden by shame and abandonment. The Knowing is the unfolding of Canadian history unlike anything we have ever read before. Award-winning and bestselling Anishinaabe author Tanya Talaga retells the history of this country as only she can—through an Indigenous lens, beginning with the life of her great-great grandmother Annie Carpenter and her family as they experienced decades of government- and Church-sanctioned enfranchisement and genocide.

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Restoration ecology is grounded in an idea that we must return the natural world to an untouched, pristine state, placing humans in a godlike role--a notion at odds with Indigenous histories of purposeful, reciprocal interaction with the environment. This disconnect sent Dr. Grenz on a personal journey of joining her head (Western science) and her heart (Indigenous worldview) to find a truer path toward ecological healing. In Medicine Wheel for the Planet, building on sacred stories, field observations and her own journey, Dr. Grenz invites readers to share in the teachings of the four directions of the medicine wheel: the North, which draws upon the knowledge and wisdom of elders; the East, where we let go of colonial narratives and see with fresh eyes; the South, where we apply new-old worldviews to envision a way forward; and the West, where a relational approach to land reconciliation is realized.

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"A picture book celebrating Métis culture."-- Provided by publisher.

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The first book published by an Indigenous author in Canada is George Copway's Life, History, and Travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh (1847), in which he offers an autobiographical account of his life and experiences, details the changing landscape of his homeland, recounts Ojibwe customs, traditions, and history, and critiques settler society's exploitation of Indigenous people and territory. Copway's autobiography was incredibly successful: it went through seven editions within a year of its publication and was expanded and republished in 1850 under the title Recollections of a Forest Life. This edition features an afterword by Deanna Reder and will compare the differences between early versions of this classic, as a way to think through discussions that are still pertinent today including: the editing history of Indigenous texts; culturally appropriate reading strategies; the influence of Indigenous epistemologies, and in this case Anishnaabe-specific worldviews; and the ways in which autobiography was and continues to be a preferred Indigenous intellectual tradition. Also included in this volume is information about George Copway as a member of the Nineteenth Century Ojibway literary coterie, in the context of his ancestors, his peers, and the work of Anishinaabe writers today.

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"Ariel and Tomah have lived in the city's intertribal housing complex all their lives. But for both of them, this Dagwaagin (Autumn) season is different than any before. From his bench outside the front door of his building, Tomah watches his community move around him. He is better at making people laugh than he is at schoolwork, but often it feels like his neighbor Ariel is the only one who really sees him, even in her sadness. Ariel has always danced ballet because of her Auntie Bineshiinh and loves the way dance makes her feet hover above the ground like a bird. But ever since Auntie went missing, Ariel's dancing doesn't feel like flying. As the seasons change and the cold of winter gives way to spring's promise, Ariel and Tomah begin to change too as they learn to share the rhythms and stories they carry within themselves"-- Provided by publisher.

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"Tracing Louis Riel’s metamorphosis from traitor to Canadian hero, Braz argues that, through his writing, Riel resists his portrayal as both a Canadian patriot and a pan-Indigenous leader. After being hanged for high treason by the Canadian state in 1885, the Métis politician, poet, and mystic has emerged as a quintessential Canadian champion. The Riel Problem maps this representational shift by examining a series of watershed cultural and scholarly commemorations of Riel since 1967, from a large-scale opera about his life, through the publication of his extant writings, to statues erected in his honour. Braz also probes how aspects of Riel’s life and writing can be problematic for many contemporary Métis artists, scholars, and civic leaders. Analyzing representations of Riel in light of his own writings, the author exposes both the constructedness of the Canadian nation-state and the magnitude of the current historical revisionism when dealing with Riel."-- Provided by publisher.

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"Eli, Morgan and Emily embark on their most dangerous mission yet, to save the kidnapped animal beings of Ministik and to ensure that these terrible deeds will never happen again. Accompanied by Arik and Mahihkan, as well as the remaining Bird Warriors, they journey across the Flatlands toward the Land of the Sleeping Giant, in search of a long-lost cave where the Green Stars are said to be. The valuable gems are rumored to have great power, which Eli and Morgan will need to overcome an evil they've not faced before. As they draw ever closer, Eli develops more of his powers and learns new revelations about his mother."-- Provided by publisher

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Nina is a Lipan girl in our world. She's always felt there was something more out there. She still believes in the old stories. Oli is a cottonmouth kid, from the land of spirits and monsters. Like all cottonmouths, he's been cast from home. He's found a new one on the banks of the bottomless lake. Nina and Oli have no idea the other exists. But a catastrophic event on Earth, and a strange sickness that befalls Oli's best friend, will drive their worlds together in ways they haven't been in centuries. And there are some who will kill to keep them apart

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"Leah Myers may be the last member of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe in her family line, due to her tribe's strict blood quantum laws. In this unflinching and intimate memoir, Myers excavates the stories of four generations of women in order to leave a record of her family. Beginning with her great-grandmother, the last full-blooded Native member in their lineage, she connects each woman with her totem to construct her family's totem pole: protective Bear, defiant Salmon, compassionate Hummingbird, and perched on top, Raven. As she pieces together their stories, Myers weaves in tribal folktales, the history of the Native genocide, and Native mythology. Throughout, she tells the larger story of how, as she puts it, her "culture is being bleached out," offering sharp vignettes of her own life between White and Native worlds"-- Provided by publisher.

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Drawing on a rich family archive as well as the anthropological work of her late great-grandmother, LaPointe explores themes ranging from indigenous identity and stereotypes to cultural displacement and environmental degradation to understand what our experiences teach us about the power of community, commitment, and conscientious honesty. Unapologetically punk, the essays in Thunder Song segue between the miraculous and the mundane, the spiritual and the physical, as they examine the role of art-in particular music-and community in helping a new generation of indigenous people claim the strength of their heritage while defining their own path in the contemporary world.

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When Russell tries to share exciting news with his large, Native family, he struggles with being heard, but after he ventures out on his own he realizes how much he loves his family.

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Ember Lee Cardinal's job search is not going well. So she gets "creative" with a lie. No one wanted Native American Ember, but white Ember has just landed her dream accounting job. Despite her unease over the no-dating policy at work, Ember and Danuwoa Colson, the IT guy and fellow Native, start to see each other secretly. But when they're caught in a compromising position, a scheming colleague blackmails Ember. As the manipulation continues to grow, so do Ember's lies. She must make the hard decision to either stay silent or finally tell the truth, which could cost her everything.

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Colorado, 1864. Star, a young survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre, is brought to the Fort Marion Prison Castle, run by Richard Henry Pratt the evangelical prison guard who will go on to found the Carlisle Industrial School for Indians. Oakland, 2018. Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield is barely holding her family together as she is equally adrift as she searches for a way to heal her wounded family. This novel traces the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Industrial School for Indians through to the shattering aftermath of Orvil Redfeather's shooting in "There There."

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In Niigaan Sinclair's debut collection of stories, observations, and thoughts about Winnipeg, read about the complex history and contributions of this place alongside the radical solutions to injustice and violence found here, presenting solutions for a country that has forgotten principles of treaty and inclusivity. Sinclair uses the story of Winnipeg to illuminate the reality of Indigenous life all over what is called Canada. This is a book that demands change and celebrates those fighting for it, that reminds us of what must be reconciled and holds accountable those who must do the work.

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