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While we can barely believe it’s already November, there’s one important occasion we must all acknowledge: this month also marks Native American Heritage Month. The month, which aims to raise awareness around Native American struggles and history while celebrating their rich culture, is a moment for everyone, Native Americans and non-Native Americans alike, to come together and celebrate their culture and history.
So, as we begin the month in full swing, SheKnows partnered with Goodreads to compile a list of the top 11 must-read books from Native American authors. The list, which was based on how many of Goodreads’ members added the book to their want-to-read shelf, how many members rated the book, and the book’s overall rating, includes a wide variety of genres including YA novels, historical nonfiction, fantasy, and memoirs.
To find out more about these authors and their though-provoking books, and to add some books to your Amazon shopping cart, scroll below!
‘The Sentence: A Novel’ by Louise Erdrich
The Sentence, by Louise Erdirch, tells the story of Tookie, a Native American woman who got a job selling books after years of incarceration. Her job, however, gets much more complicated when one of their costumers, Flora, dies on All Souls’ Day and begins haunting the store. “[Tookie] must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation, and furious reckoning,” the description details.
‘Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology’, Edited by Shane Hawk & Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
Never Whistle at Night, which was edited Shane Hawk & Theodore C. Van Alst Jr., features a collection of short stories with one resounding theme: “the certainty that whistling at night can cause evil spirits to appear.” “These stories are a celebration of Indigenous peoples’ survival and imagination, and a glorious reveling in all the things an ill-advised whistle might summon,” the description reads.
‘Birding While Indian: A Mixed-Blood Memoir’ by Thomas C. Gannon
In this memoir by Thomas C. Gannon, Birding While Indian spans over 50 years of Gannon’s life as a part-Lakota inhabitant of the Great Plains. Stories of his life, which are told through his favorite pasttime of birding, include “Gannon’s traumatic time in an Indian boarding school in South Dakota, his mother’s devastation at racist bullying from coworkers, and the violent erasure colonialism demanded of the people and other animals indigenous to the United States.”
‘Council of Dolls: A Novel’ by Mona Susan Power
A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power tells the story of three women, Sissy, Lillian and Cora, from the 19th century to now through the dolls they carried. “A modern masterpiece, A Council of Dolls is gorgeous, quietly devastating, and ultimately hopeful, shining a light on the echoing damage wrought by Indian boarding schools, and the historical massacres of Indigenous people,” the description details.
‘Black Sun: A Novel’ by Rebecca Roanhorse
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse is an intricate and magical fantasy book set in Pre-Columbian Americas. The book follows a magical Sun Priest, the captain of a ship named Xiala and a blinded young man called Serapio right before the winter solstice and a solar eclipse happen to occur on the same day. “This epic adventure explores the decadence of power amidst the weight of history and the struggle of individuals swimming against the confines of society and their broken pasts,” the description details.
‘Calling for a Blanket Dance: A Novel’ by Oscar Hokeah
The novel Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah tells the story of Cherokee descendant Ever Geimausaddle through the voices of those around him. Among his many challenges are his father’s injury, his mother’s struggle to hold on to her job, his grandmother urging his family to move across Oklahoma and his grandfather hoping to reunite him with his heritage through traditional gourd dances.
‘Poet Warrior: A Memoir’ by Joy Harjo
In this memoir, titled Poet Warrior, readers will learn all about Joy Harjo, the first Native American to serve as U.S. poet laureate. “In absorbing, incantatory prose, Harjo grieves at the loss of her mother, reckons with the theft of her ancestral homeland, and sheds light on the rituals that nourish her as an artist, mother, wife, and community member, the description details.
‘Firekeeper’s Daughter’ By Angeline Boulley
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley follows a young Native American woman named Daunis Fontaine who’s thrust into going undercover to help the FBI find the source of a new lethal drug. “A beautifully told story that includes young love, high stakes mystery and the rituals of Native American culture,” Reese Witherspoon said in her announcement of the book in her book club. “I could not put it down!”
‘The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History’ by Ned Blackhawk
In The Rediscovery of America, author Ned Blackhawk aims to tell American history in a whole new light as he interweaves the importance and the struggles of Native Americans with the American history we’re all familiar with. For Blackhawk, “Indigenous history is essential to understanding the evolution of modern America.” ” A difficult but educational read,” writes one reviewer.
‘On the Savage Side: A Novel’ by Tiffany McDaniel
Inspired by the real-life unsolved murders of the Chillicothe Six, six women who were murdered in Chillicothe, Ohio, author Tiffany McDaniel tells the story of two twin sisters, Arcade and Daffodil, as they grapple with new fear after acquaintances in their small town show up dead in On the Savage Side. “Arcade’s promise to keep herself and her sister safe becomes increasingly desperate and the powerful riptide of the savage side becomes more difficult to survive,” the description details.
‘Elatsoe’ by Darcie Little Badger
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger tells the story of a young girl named Elatsoe (Ellie for short), who has the ability to raise the spirits of dead animals. When her beloved cousin dies in a car crash, her powers indicate that it was no accident and was a murder instead. Soon after, she embarks on a mission to find out what really happened. “[Elatsoe] combines mystery, horror, noir, ancestral knowledge, haunting illustrations, and fantasy elements,” the description reads.
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