Children's literature written or illustrated by American Indians

Like any people, American Indians have a long history of using the oral tradition to tell
stories that pass along their history and culture from one generation to the next. As
noted in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, in the entry "Native
American Children's Literature," as far back as 1881, Native authors published stories
for children, many that countered stereotypical portrayals. These stories appeared in
magazines and books.

• In January 1881, Susette LaFlesche of the Omaha tribe wrote “Nedawi” for a
children’s magazine called St. Nicholas. Her Omaha name was Inshata Theumba,
which translated into English, is Bright Eyes. Her story, “Nedawi” is about life in
an Omaha hunting camp, told from the perspective of a young girl.
• Several stories by Charles Alexander Eastman appeared in St. Nicholas in 1893
and 1894. They were later published in a book called Indian Boyhood (1902,
1933, 1971), which was a favorite in Boy Scout programs. Eastman was a
Dakota Indian, and his Dakota name was Ohiyesa.
• In 1931, Luther Standing Bear’s autobiographical My Indian Boyhood (1931) was
published. He was Lakota; his Lakota name was Ota K’te. He wrote two other
books that describe traditional Lakota culture: My People the Sioux (1928) and
Land of the Spotted Eagle (1939).
• I am a Pueblo Indian Girl (1939) was written by thirteen-year-old Louise Abeita,
an Isleta Pueblo girl known to her people as E-Yeh-Shure, which translates to
Blue Corn. In it, she writes about daily aspects of Pueblo Indian life and culture.
The illustrations in the book were watercolors painted by Native artists like Allan
Houser whose work would eventually become renowned internationally.

American Indian illustrators, too, sought to counter these stereotypical images. During
the 1940s, the United States. Bureau of Indian Affairs published a series of bilingual
readers known as the “Indian Life Readers,” for use in the U.S. Government Boarding
and Day Schools. Most of the books were written by non-Native author Ann Nolan
Clark, but illustrated by Native artists from the tribe the reader was about. For
example, Hoke Denetosisie said:

"The nature of the series, being concerned with Navajo life, called for illustration
genuine in every sense of the word. I had to observe and incorporate in pictures those
characteristics which serve to distinguish the Navajo from other tribes. Further, the
setting . . . had to change to express local changes as the family moved from place to
place. The domestic animals . . . had to be shown in a proper setting just as one sees
them on the reservation. The sheep could not be shown grazing in a pasture, nor the
horses in a stable, because such things are not Navajo." (Bader, 1976, p. 162)

One of the readers, initially called Third Grade Home Geography, was published by a
mainstream press in 1941, retitled In My Mother’s House. It is about life in Tesuque
Pueblo, and it is illustrated by Pueblo artist Velino Herrera.

In the 1950s, other Native people wrote books for children. D’Arcy McNickle’s historical
novel, Runner in the Sun, was published in 1954. It is about a teenager being trained
to lead his people. McNickle was Chippewa Cree. Pablita Velarde of Santa Clara Pueblo
retold and illustrated stories told to her by her grandfather in Old Father, the
Storyteller, published in 1960. She is also a world renowned artist.
During the 1970s, the American Indian Historical Society published a magazine for
children titled The Wee Wish Tree. In it were short stories, poems, and essays written
by American Indians, many of them children. Also during that time, the Council on
Interracial Books for Children was instrumental in publishing the work of Virginia
Driving Hawk Sneve, a Rosebud Sioux. She wrote High Elks Treasure in 1972, When
Thunders Spoke in 1974, and The Chichi Hoohoo Bogeyman in 1975. Sneve was
awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2000.

Simon Ortiz’s prose poem The People Shall Continue was published in 1977. It covers
the history of American Indians from creation to the present day, but also includes
content omitted or glossed over in other narratives about the settlement of the United
States. Ortiz includes the forced removal of Native peoples from their homelands, the
brutal periods of early government-controlled boarding schools, and the social
movements of the 1960s. Ortiz is from Acoma Pueblo.

In the 1980s, the prolific Abenaki author, Joseph Bruchac, began writing his books for
children. In 1985, The Wind Eagle and Other Abenaki Stories was published. It was
followed by picture books, traditional retellings, historical and contemporary fiction,
biography and autobiographical works. His young adult thriller, Skeleton Man, received
the Sequoyah Book Award in 2004.

In the 1990s, many Native authored books for children were published, including the
work of Michael Dorris (Modoc), Louise Erdrich (Ojibwa), Joy Harjo (Creek), Michael
Lacapa (Apache/Hopi/Tewa), Gayle Ross (Cherokee), Cynthia Leitich Smith (Creek),
Joseph McLellan (Nez Perce), N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa), Cheryl Savageau
(Abenaki/Metis), Jan Waboose (Anishinaabe), and Bernelda Wheeler (Cree). Of
significance are the books Native authors write that portray the lives of modern day
Native people. One author of this genre is Cynthia Leitich Smith. Among her books are:

• Jingle Dancer (2000)

• Rain is Not My Indian Name (2001), and
• Indian Shoes (2002).

In 2007, Sherman Alexie will join the growing list of Native authors writing for children,
with the release of his book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. It will be
published by Little, Brown.
 Notable American Indians
Native Americans bios, from Alexie to Wovoka
• Sherman Alexie, writer
• Paula Gunn Allen, Pueblo-Sioux poet, novelist,
critic
• Elias Boudinot, Cherokee leader in the
American Revolution
• Joseph Brant, Mohawk chief
• Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Northern Cheyenne
chief and U.S. senator from Colorado
• Billy Bowlegs (Holata Micco), Seminole leader
• Black Elk, Oglala Lakota holy man
• Black Hawk, Sauk Leader
• Black Kettle, Cheyenne chief
• Canonicus, Narragansett chief
• Captain Jack, Modoc subchief
A-G | H-M | O-R | S-W
• Handsome Lake, Seneca religious leader
• Hendrick, Mohawk chief
• Hiawatha, Onondaga chief
• Ishi, Last Yahi tribesperson
• Joseph, Nez Percé chief
• Betty Mae Jumper, Seminole Indian tribal
leader and publisher
• Keokuk, Sac and Fox chief
• Winona LaDuke, Ojibwa activist and writer
• Edmonia Lewis, Ojibwa sculptor
• Sacheen Littlefeather, Yaqui (ancestry) actress
• Little Turtle, Miami chief
• James Logan, Mingo chief
• Cochise, Apache chief
• Cornplanter, Seneca chief
• Crazy Horse, Oglala Sioux chief
• Charles Curtis, Kaw senator and vice president
of the United States (1929-33)
• Delaware Prophet, Native American religious
leader
• Vine Deloria, Jr., Leading Standing Rock Sioux
scholar, writer and activist
• Michael Dorris, Modoc (ancestry) writer
• Louise Erdrich, Ojibway (ancestry) writer
• Gall, Sioux chief
• Geronimo, Apache political leader
• Lone Wolf, Kiowa chief
• Mangas Coloradas, Apache chief
• Wilma Mankiller, Cherokee chief
• María Martínez, Tewa Pueblo potter
• Massasoit, Wampanoag chief
• Russell Means, Lakota activist and actor
• Alexander McGillivray, Creek chief
• William McIntosh, Creek chief
• Miantonomo, Narragansett chief
• Billy Mills, Sioux athlete
• N. Scott Momaday, Kiowa and Cherokee poet,
author, scholar, and painter
• Samson Occom, Mohegan clergyman
• Opechancanough, Pamunkey Indian chief
• Osceola, Seminole leader
• Quanah Parker, Comanche chief
• Leonard Peltier, Ojibwa and Lakota activist
• Pocahontas, Powhatan peacemaker
• Pontiac, Ottawa chief
• Popé, Pueblo medicine man
• Powhatan, Powhatan chief
• Red Cloud, Oglala Sioux chief
• Red Jacket, Seneca chief
• Ben Reifel, Sioux activist and U.S.
representative from South Dakota
• Louis Riel, Métis leader
• Robbie Robertson, Mohawk songwriter and
guitarist
• Will Rogers, Cherokee actor and humorist
• John Ross, Cherokee chief

• Sacajawea, Shoshone interpreter

• Buffy Sainte-Marie, Cree activist, songwriter,
singer, and artist
• Samoset, Algonquin leader
• Seattle, Suquamish Indian leader
• Sequoyah, inventor of the Cherokee syllabary
• Shawnee Prophet, Shawnee religious leader
• Leslie Marmon Silko, Laguna Pueblo poet and
novelist
• Jay Silverheels, Mohawk actor
• Sitting Bull, Sioux chief
• Smohalla, Wanapun chief and religious leader
• Squanto, Pawtuxet interpreter
• Wes Studi, Cherokee actor
• Maria Tallchief, Osage ballerina
• Tecumseh, Shawnee chief
• Catherine Tekakwitha, Mohawk holy woman
• Jim Thorpe, Sac and Fox Olympian
• John Trudell, Sioux musician, poet, activist
• Uncas, Mohegan chief
• Victorio, Apache chief
• Nancy Ward (Nanye-hi), Cherokee leader and
"Beloved Woman"
• William Weatherford, Creek chief
• Wovoka, Paiute religious leader

Native American Indian

Authors & Illustrators:
Picture Books

Books listed here are either by North Native American Indian authors or illustrators or both,
including books that also feature non-Indian authors and Native illustrators. Where tribal
affiliations are known, they are noted. Our intent is not to be all-inclusive but rather to
highlight.

traditional stories within contemporary

MUSKRAT WILL BE SWIMMING by Cheryl Savageau (Abenaki-French Canadian), illustrated by

Robert Hynes, featuring a Seneca traditional story retold by Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki)
(Northland, 1996).
THE STORY OF THE MILKY WAY, A CHEROKEE TALE by Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki) and Gayle Ross
(Cherokee) with paintings by Virginia A. Stroud (Cherokee-Creek) (Dial, 1995).
stand-alone stories
A BOY CALLED SLOW by Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki), illustrated by Rocco Baviera (Philomel,
1995).
CIRCLE OF WONDER: A NATIVE AMERICAN CHRISTMAS STORY by N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa)
(Clear Light, 1993).

CRAZY HORSE'S VISION by Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki), illustrated by S.D. Nelson (Lakota) (Lee &
Low, 2000).

CROSSING BOK CHITTO: A CHOCTAW TALE OF FRIENDSHIP AND FREEDOM by Tim Tingle
(Choctaw), illustrated by Jeanne Rorex Bridges (Cherokee)(Cinco Puntos, 2006).
FOX SONG by Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki), illustrated by Paul Morin (Philomel, 1993).

THE GOOD LUCK CAT by Joy Harjo (Creek) and illustrated by Paul Lee (Harcourt, 2000).
GRANDMOTHER'S PIGEON by Louise Erdrich (Chippewa), illustrated by Jim La Marche (Hyperion,
1996).

JINGLE DANCER by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Creek), illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-
Hwa Hu (Morrow, 2000).

LESS THAN HALF, MORE THAN WHOLE by Kathleen Lacapa (Mohawk-English-Irish) and Michael
Lacapa (Apache-Hopi-Tewa), who also is the illustrator (Northland, 1994).
A MAN CALLED RAVEN by Richard Van Camp (Dogrib) with pictures by George Littlechild (Plains
Cree) (Children's Book Press, 1997).
SKYSISTERS by Jan Bourdeau Waboose (Ojibway), illustrated by Brian Deines (Kids Can Press,
2000).
SONGS OF SHIPROCK FAIR by Luci Tapahonso (Navajo), illustrated by Anthony Chee Emerson
(Navajo)(Kiva, 1999).
TWO PAIRS OF SHOES by Esther Sanderson (of the Pas Reserve, living in Winnipeg), illustrated
by David Beyer (Cree) (Pemmican, 1998).
A WALK TO THE GREAT MYSTERY by Virginia A. Stroud (Cherokee-Creek) (Dial, 1995).

WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR MOCCASINS by Bernelda Wheeler (Cree-Saulteaux-Scottish-French)

and illustrated by Herman Bekkering (Peguis Publishers, 1982 (now called Portage & Main
Press).).
WHITE BEAD CEREMONY: MARY GREYFEATHER GETS HER NATIVE AMERICAN NAME by Sherrin
Watkins (Shawnee-Cherokee), illustrated by Kim Doner (Council Oak, 1994).

songs and traditional stories

CAN YOU HEAR WIND SING YOUR NAME? AN ONEIDA SONG OF SPRING by Sandra De Coteau Orie
(Oneida) and illustrated by Christopher Canyon (Cherokee)(Walker, 1995).
 THE MUD PONY retold by Caron Lee Cohen and illustrated by Shonto Begay (Navajo)(Scholastic,
1992).

illustrated non-fiction
THIS LAND IS MY LAND by George Littlechild (Plains Cree)(Children's Book Press, 1993).

THE PEOPLE SHALL CONTINUE by Simon Ortiz (Acoma) and illustrated by Sharol Graves
(Children's Book Press, 1998).

TALLCHIEF: AMERICA'S PRIMA BALLERINA by Maria Tallchief (Osage) with Rosemary Wells,
illustrated by Gary Kelly (Viking, 1999).

photo essays

CHILDREN OF NATIVE AMERICA TODAY by Yvonne Wakim Dennis (Cherokee) and Arlene
Hirschfelder with a forward by Buffy Sainte-Marie (Charlesbridge, 2003).

CLAMBAKE: A WAMPANOAG TRADITION (from WE ARE STILL HERE: NATIVE AMERICANS TODAY)
by Russell M. Peters (Wampanoag) with photographs by John Madama (Lerner, 1992).

DRUMBEAT HEARTBEAT: A CELEBRATION OF POWWOW (from WE ARE STILL HERE: NATIVE

AMERICANS TODAY) written and photographed by Susan Braine (Ansiniboine, Fort Peck
Reservation), illustrations by Carly Bordeau (Anishinabe, White Earth, Minnesota)(Lerner,
1995).

FOUR SEASONS OF CORN: A WINNEBAGO TRADITION by Sally M. Hunter (Ojibway) with

photographs by Joe Allen (Lerner, 1996).

GRANDCHILDREN OF THE LAKOTA by LaVera Rose (Rosebud Sioux) with photographs by Cheryl
Walsh Bellville (Carolrhoda, 1998).

ININATIG'S GIFT OF SUGAR: TRADITIONAL NATIVE SUGARMAKING (from WE ARE STILL HERE:
NATIVE AMERICANS TODAY) by Laura Waterman Wittstock (Seneca) with photographs by Dale
Kakkak (Menominee) and illustrations by Carly Bordeau (Anishinabe)(publication information?).
KINAADLDA: A NAVAJO GIRL GROWS UP (from WE ARE STILL HERE: NATIVE AMERICANS TODAY)
by Monty Roessel (Navajo). LAKOTA HOOP DANCER by Jacqueline Left Hand Bull (Sicangu
Lakota Nation) and Suzanne Haldane with photographs by Suzanne Haldane (Lerner, 1993).
THE SACRED HARVEST: OJIBWAY WILD RICE GATHERING (from WE ARE STILL HERE: NATIVE
AMERICANS TODAY) by Gordon Regguinti (Leech Lake Band Ojibway) with photographs by Dale
Kakkak (Menominee) and a forward by Michael Dorris (Modoc)(Lerner, 1992SHANNON, AN
 OJIBWAY DANCER (from WE ARE STILL HERE: NATIVE AMERICANS TODAY) by Sandra King (Red
Lake band of Ojibway), photographs by Catherine Whipple (Lakota)(publication information?).

SONGS FROM THE LOOM: A NAVAJO GIRL LEARNS TO WEAVE (from WE ARE STILL HERE: NATIVE
AMERICANS TODAY) by Monty Roessel (Navajo)(Lerner, 1995).

A STORY TO TELL: TRADITIONS OF A TLINGIT COMMUNITY (from WE ARE STILL HERE: NATIVE
AMERICANS TODAY) by Richard Nichols (Tewa Pueblo) with photographs by D. Bambi Kraus
(serves as an elected board member of the 13th Regional Corp., an Alaskan Native for-profit
corporation created by the Alaskan Native Claims Settlement Act)(Lerner, 1998).

University of Virginia's etext project has people busily scanning old books whose copyrights have
expired -- mostly early 20th-century, some 19th. I've picked out the Native ones. Also included here are
articles e-textified, mostly from the late 19th and early 20th century.

About the Authors: Some biography and history -- who they were, what they wrote, what
was going on at the time.

Old Indian Days: TOC chapter by chapter Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa), a Dakota
Wahpetonwan (Sioux) was raised by his tribal grandmother in the traditional way, in Minnesota
until he was 15. He then attended school and college, and became a physician -- the only one
available to the survivors of Wounded Knee, in 1890. You can also download the entire book, a much
bigger file. First published in 1907, currntly in print as ?Dover, or University of Oklahoma Press
paperback.

• Indian Boyhood: TOC -- By Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa), Wahpetonwan Dakota. Culture of

an undisturbed eastern Woodland Sioux tribe, some stories. Table of contents for chapter by
chapter reading. You can also download the whole book, a much longer file. First published as
2 slightly different books in 1902 (revised 1913). Currently in print as a Dover paperback.
• The Soul of the Indian: TOC -- By Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa), Wahpetonwan Dakota.
Table of contents for chapter-by-chaper reading. He tries to show early 20th century readers
that his Indian relatives are human beings with rich spiritual lives (shouldn't be massacred). He
was in private practice in St. Paul by this time, having been pushed out of the government's
Indian Health Service because of his advocacy that Indian people should not be massacred, as
the survivors he treated at Wounded Knee had been. You can also download the whole book, a
much longer file. First published in 1911; currently in print as a Dover paperback.

Old Indian Legends: TOC -- Zitkala-Sha (Red Bird), or Gertrude Bonnin. Born in 1876 to a
Yankton-Nakota Sioux mother, she was an accomplished writer, musician and orator. See her
biography) This is a chapter by chapter (story by story) link to her 1901 book of ohunkankan,
traditional stories. Or you can download the whole thing a much longer file. The book was illustrated
by Angel De Cora (Hinook-Mahiwi-Kiinaka), a talented painter (who also wrote short stories) of the
same period. It is currently in print as a University of Nebraska Press paperback, 1985.

The sequence of stories below, (and some other writings) e-textified from their original turn-of-
the-century magazine publication were combined as a book, American Indian Stories, in 1921
when Bonin had become a political activist. University of Nebraska Press reissued this, and her
1902 legends collection simultaneously, in 1985, as Bison paperbacks.

• Impressions of an Indian Childhood: -- Zitkala-Sha, 1900 publishes an article on recollections

of the culture in which she was born and her girlhood days.
• The School Days of an Indian Girl: 1900. Another article carrying her life forward through a
typical government Indian boarding school's approach to "civilizing" the young students.
• An Indian Teacher Among Indians: , 1900. Zitkala-Sha explores almost the only job available
for an educated Indian woman of her time.
• The Soft-Hearted Sioux, -- Harpers' 1901. This story was denounced by Zitkala-Sha's
government-backed employer as "morally bad" in an editorial in March, 1901 not long after
her story was published in the prestigious Harpers' magazine. Why? Read it and take a guess.

• Why I Am a Pagan: 1902 -- Zitkala-Sha picked up on literature, art, music, oratory -- but they
didn't make a Christian of her. Later, she and her Yankton Nakota husband were to become
advocates for all Indian people in Washington, lobbying for better deals.
• The Trial Path: 1901 -- A short story, where Zitkala-Sha shows (via a tale told by her grandma)
how traditional law and order functioned among her people.

-- Indian Superstitions and Legends, By Simon Pokagon, Michigan Potawotami,

1898. This has abbreviated material from 2 books of Algonquian legends
(Potawotami are related to this large language group) published after his
death. This title was undoubtedly imposed by white publishers; he probably titled it
spiritual beliefs or something like that -- see distortion below of his World's Fair
speech title. Pokagon lived to see his novel, Queen of the Woods/O-Gi-Maw-Kwe
Mit-I-Gwa-Ki in print (1899) just before he died.

• Simon Pokagon on Naming the Indians: 1897 various Indian geographical names
• An Indian on the Problems of His Race: Pokagon, 1895, land, booze, racism. Urges that Indian
land be protected from white buyers.
• The Future of the Red Man: Pokagon, 1897, as Pokagon sees it, Indian people (if educated) will
become assimilated, otherwise they'll die out.
• Review of Simon Pokagon at World's fair 1893, Written in 1898. Contains Pokagon's speech,
reprint of "Red Man's Greeting" (1893) -- Pokagon had titled this "Red Man's Rebuke", which
they changed to "Greeting"; and "An Indian's Observations on the Mating of Geese," an 1896
essay that is naturalistic or scientific observational, and also metaphorical. The article's white
author calls him "an interesting representative of a vanishing race" as if he were a speciment,
rather than a writer and thinker..

Black Elk Speaks -- Black Elk, Oglala Lakota. Table of contents and a couple of chapters of this
famous book, with intro by Vine Deloria Jr. From th University of Nebraska Press website. See
Book Review of this very influential book. John G. Neihardt's daughter (who took the notes her
father used in compiling Black Elk's book) has new info to contribute also.
 Remaining Causes of Indian Discontent, Cherokee writer John M. Oskison, 1874-1947, North
American Review 1907, writes about problems as a very acculturated person (living in New
York) saw it. Oskinson's writings mostly were not about Indians or Indian life. He wrote dime
novel type westerns, potboiler stories -- and one more sensitive Western novel (Three Brothrs), in
which the Indian themes are very muted, but often the downfall of mixed-blood, acculturatd
characters comes about from forgetting that respect for the land is their heritage.

• Friends of the Indian.: Oskinson, 1905, Indians need to vote, if they are to have any political
influence over their destinies. Oskison describes the abandonment of several court cases started
by Indians to pursue rights and land claims. He says that a few Congressmen could get more
done than all the "friends" -- he's responding to a specific meeeting of such a group.
• The Quality of Mercy, : A Story of the Indian Territory by John Oskison. This is typical of
Oskison's commercial potboiler-stories. He wrote potboiler dime novels and stories like this for
his living.. Rarely were Indians more than minor characters in pulp Westerns.
• The Biologist's Quest: -- John Oskison story, 1901. A little less of a potboiler (but still typical
pulp). There's an interesting Indian character, but the story centers on the biologist who is
defeated by the desert.

Voices from a Troubled Land -- an on-line book composed almost entirely of

interviews/translations of statements, testimony and letters from Navajo elders who have been
(are still being) forced to relocate from parts of the partitioned Navajo-Hopi Joint Use area
(Black Mountain) where they have lived for over 100 years. The underlying cause is Peabody Coal,
mining the sacred mountain. Many photos.

• Navajo government's Position Papers -- on the Navajo-Hopi Land Use dispute, collected by 4th
World Documentation Project.
• Would like to link to or get Hopi position papers. I heard they are unhappy at all the Internet
publicity given the Navajo side, but find nothing relevant on several sites about Hopi. If
anyone's in contact with their Council, they can send me a disk or you arrange to email it, and
I'll put it on this server and link-to it here, and on a Tribes -- Nations

page I'm working on.

-- Myths and Legends of the Sioux 38 stories collected in childish, bowdlerized forms by Marie
McGlaughlin, a U.S. Army wife of some Indian ancestry (she was on the Army payroll too,
prepared those bad McGlaughlin rolls for hubby and the government), published in a S.D.
newspaper in 1916, loved by white South Dakotans for nearly a century as examples of primitive childish
Injun thinkin'.

• The Legend of the Peace Pipe as Marie McGlaughlin tells it in Myths and Legends of the Sioux.
Compare this short, sanitized, homogenized, bowdlerized kiddie story version with the two more
recent tellings from real traditional people here. This should tell you McGlaughlin's myths are in
no sense authentic.
• John Fire Lame Deer in 1967 told this story of the coming of the sacred Pipe to the Lakota people.

• Joseph Chasing Horse Oglala elder told this version of the coming of the sacred Pipe in 1994 on
the occasion of an elders' gathering where the White Buffalo Calf had been born in Wisconsin, as
prophesied.