5 Middle Grade Books To Read For Native American Heritage Month And Beyond
November is Native American Heritage Month. These five new middle grade books by Native American and Indigenous Canadian authors explore various topics, from residential schools to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, in fiction and nonfiction formats. They’re all wonderful books.
Buffalo Dreamer by Violet Duncan
This is a lovely middle grade novel centering two Cree girls in Alberta, Canada. Summer spends every summer on the reservation where her mom’s family lives. She and her little brother and cousin Autumn swim in the lake, collect sweetgrass, pick berries, and have a wonderful time. But this summer is a little bit different. Authorities have gathered around a former residential school—one where Summer’s grandfather had been kidnapped and taken to as a child—to scan the ground with new technology. They’ve discovered the bodies of Indigenous children buried there. Meanwhile, Summer begins having vivid dreams of the past about a girl, named Buffalo Dreamer, who runs away from the school when her friend Ann disappears. It’s a slim, fantastic novel.
Stealing Little Moon: The Legacy of the American Indian Boarding Schools by Dan SaSuWeh Jones
If your middle grader wants to investigate more about residential schools after reading Buffalo Dreamer, then check out this detailed and gut-wrenching middle grade nonfiction. It combines the author’s family history with nonfiction investigation. The author’s grandmother, Little Moon There Are No Stars Tonight, was forcibly taken from her family home by federal authorities when she was just four years old, and taken to a residential school to rid her of her Ponco culture and heritage. Jones traces her story from the time she was stolen to when the residential school was shut down during his lifetime. It’s a very informative read, and I recommend it for upper middle grade readers.
Red Bird Danced by Dawn Quigley
This is a beautiful, accessible middle grade novel-in-verse told from the perspectives of two Ojibwe tweens who live in a Native American urban housing community. Ariel’s aunt is missing, so she chooses to study the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) crisis for a school project. She’s also learning how to dance the jingle dance, though part of her wants to learn ballet. Tomah has a reading disability and struggles in school, though he hides the problem from teachers and his family. Words dance on the page. However, he’s an excellent storyteller and a valued member of his Native community because of it. He loves feeding the birds. Ariel and Tomah are friends, both slowly untangling what it means to be Native and their roles in their community.
Find Her by Ginger Reno
This is another amazing middle grade novel about MMIWG, though I would put it at a higher reading level than Red Bird Danced. It deals with a lot of very heavy, disturbing topics. Wren’s mother has been missing for five years, since Wren was seven. She lives with her police chief father (white) and grandmother (Cherokee), Wren’s mother’s mother. Wren is obsessed with finding her mother and keeps track of MMIWG information. She even sneaks through her father’s work files for clues he’s not telling them. When she’s not doing that, she volunteers at an animal shelter. When she discovers a dog that’s been shot and hears about similar animal cruelty incidents, she decides to investigate with a friend from school, who is being abused by his dad.
Native Voting Rights and Sovereignty by Cayla Bellanger DeGroat
This is a slim nonfiction addressing the past and present of Native American voting rights. Each chapter, only a few pages long, includes full-color photographs and reflective questions. I especially appreciate that Native Americans are depicted as present in today’s society, even when history is being discussed. This would be a great addition to upper elementary and middle school classroom libraries.
If you’re looking for more Native American middle grade books, check out these other lists: