Collection of stories depicting Native life in urban and reservation settings.
North America
When Beaver Was Very Great: Stories To Live By
It happened in the long ago. . . . So begin many tales in this wonderful collection of traditional legends and recent writings by Ojibwe elder storyteller Anne Dunn. The short pieces range from folk tales of Native American origin myths (the antics of Beaver, Rabbit, Otter, Bear, and others) to nature writing and contemporary stories of peace, justice, and environmental concern. Brimming with insight, vibrant with strength and beauty, these indeed are stories to live by, for all ages. Divided into the four seasons of the year, many of the stories are perfect to be read aloud to children.
The Light On The Tent Wall: A Bridging (Native American Ser)
Mary Tall
Mountain is a Native writer whose “lantern voices seek to lead us out of the given darkness,” and “her work, like seasoned oak, is full of heat and fire, simplicity and compassion,” writes poet and scholar Alfred Robinson. The poems in this collection confront death and engage the sacred. Joy Harjo calls each poem “a track, and the series of tracks makes a bridge back to the ‘light on the tent wall,’ which is the sacred place of the songs, the stories that created us.”
The Old Man with the Otter Medicine
It is winter and the people are starving. There are no fish. They must seek the help of a medicine man to save them. The Man with the Otter Medicine tells of medicine power, the struggle for survival and an important part of the history and culture of the Dene people as it has been passed down through stories and legends for generations.
Salmon Boy: A Legend of the Sechelt People
Simple and compelling First Nations drawings illustrate this dynamic story that teaches respect for the environment and describes the life cycle of the salmon.
The Legend Of The Caribou Boy
A young boy is having trouble sleeping at night. He is being called to fulfill his destiny, a destiny which lives on today in the traditions and culture of the Dene people and their relationship to the caribou and the land on which they live.
Mayuk the Grizzly Bear: A Legend of the Sechelt People
This is a story of how one great-grandfather decides to give his great-grandson his special name in the Sechelt language. These traditional teaching legends come straight from the oral traditions of the Sechelt Nation.
The Cree (Lifeways)
Discusses the history, culture, beliefs, changing ways and notable people of the Cree.
My Name Is Seepeetza
Her name was Seepeetza when she was at home with her family. But now that she’s living at the Indian residential school her name is Martha Stone, and everything else about her life has changed as well. Told in the honest voice of a sixth grader, this is the story of a young Native girl forced to live in a world governed by strict nuns, arbitrary rules, and a policy against talking in her own dialect, even with her family. Seepeetza finds bright spots, but most of all she looks forward to summers and holidays at home. This autobiographical novel is written in the form of Seepeetza’s diary.
Shi-Shi-Etko
Shi-shi-etko, a Native American girl, spends the last four days before she goes to residential school learning valuable lessons from her mother, father, and grandmother, and creating precious memories of home.