Yahoo Lifestyle Goodreads And Parade Pick 26 Books For Native American Month
Goodreads and Parade pick 26 books for Native American Heritage Month, November 2024. Great books by Native American authors come out all year long and I’ve been highlighting titles each week and month and season. But in November I focus on them in particular by exploring the rich, diverse voices of Native American peoples. It’s a way to emphasize and celebrate the range and talent of these writers and their books in every genre, including fiction, history, thriller, romance, sci-fi, picture books and more.
Goodreads has done that as well, with a story highlighting 64 of the best titles from the last few years. I’ll spotlight some of the books Goodreads chose that we also name among the best of 2024. But why stop there? We’ll also toss in some of the titles we loved that Goodreads didn’t include. (To be fair, you have to stop somewhere and 64 books is a lot!)
Below we have 26 books, including our personal selections unique to this list and a clutch of books both Goodreads and Parade believe are great. Enjoy these picks and then head to Goodreads to discover even more great books. So let’s get reading!
Goodreads And Parade Pick 26 Books For Native American Heritage Month
Courtesy of Harper, Knopf Tin House Books
1. The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich
2. Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
3. Fire Exit by Morgan Talty
Author Louise Erdrich is a towering figure in fiction, so her every book is an event. That’s certainly the case for The Mighty Red, the story of people swept up in Great Recession of 2008, hoping to stay rooted to the land and find love amidst terrible upheaval.
Tommy Orange is just on his second book, so he’s got some catching up to do with Erdrich. Happily, Wandering Stars may not be a blockbuster like his debut There There, but critics agree the talent is real.
And Morgan Talty’s debut novel–following acclaim for his short story collection Night of the Living Rez–demonstrates Native American literature is enjoying a welcome surge in growth and attention.
Louise Erdrich is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. Tommy Orange is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. Morgan Talty is a citizen of the Penobscot Indian Nation.
The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich ($32; Harper) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange ($29; Knopf) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Fire Exit by Morgan Talty ($28.95; Tin House Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: Can You Match Your Favorite Celebrity With Their Book Club Pick for November 2024?
Courtesy of Flatiron Books, Harper, Random House
4. The Indian Card by Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz
5. By The Fire We Carry by Rebecca Nagle
6. Native Nations by Kathleen DuVal
Three works exploring identity, true crime and deep history offer compelling stories about the complexities of Native life.
The Indian Card tackles the fraught question of Native identity, why it’s so challenging and the racist roots that contributed to this moment. By the way, my descriptions of the authors’ identity mostly come word for word from their biographies for each book and are intended to honor the diversity of people and voices covered in the umbrella term “Native Americans.”
Rebecca Nagle delivers one of the best true crime works of the year with By The Fire We Carry. It reveals the gripping story of how a murder in a small town in the 1990s led to a Supreme Court case reaffirming Native Americans rights to the land they were “given” and forcibly removed to more than 100 years ago. A work of history, a courtroom thriller and a murder mystery all rolled up into one have this highly acclaimed by the mainstream press.
And Native Nations is a work of powerful history, covering 1000 years from the perspective of Native peoples. Kathleen DuVal rebalances the narrative with insights into how various Native leaders parried and thrusted when dealing with the Dutch, the French and others, affecting world trade and extending their power well into the 1800s.
Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. Rebecca Nagle is a citizen of Cherokee Nation. Kathleen DuVal is the only lead author on this list not of Native American descent. But historians and biographers often focus on backgrounds other than their own and empathy and respect for the stories of others is an important stance for all people. It’s vital Native Americans tell their own stories. But it’s also good to learn and retell the stories of people different from yourself, with an eye to avoiding cliches and misguided condescension, as DuVal does here.
The Indian Card by Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz ($29.99; Flatiron Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
By The Fire We Carry by Rebecca Nagle ($32; Harper) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Native Nations by Kathleen DuVal ($38; Random House) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Berkley
7. The Truth According To Ember by Danica Nava
Never underestimate the power of seeing yourself represented. Danica Nava’s acclaimed story shows a Chickasaw woman passing for white to finally get a job she yearned for. But that may be too high a price when she falls for an IT guy (and fellow Native) only to discover one lie leads to another and might spoil a chance at real fulfillment.
Danica Nava is an enrolled citizen of the Chickasaw Nation.
The Truth According To Ember by Danica Nava ($19; Berkley) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Bantam, Soho Crime, Holiday House, Heartdrum
8. Where They Last Saw Her by Marcie R. Rendon
9. Exposure by Ramona Emerson
10. Find Her by Ginger Reno
11. Looking For Smoke by K.A. Cobell
The indifference to missing and murdered Native women is a scandal that only recently broke through to white audiences via TV shows, news stories and especially work after work by mystery and thriller writers. Here are four more books that dramatize this crisis in thrillers and dramas acclaimed by critics.
Where They Last Saw Her may be the most praised, thanks to a central character named Quill who says enough is enough. Exposure is the second in a series about a forensic photographer who can see the ghosts of murder victims. The New York Times says author Ramona Emerson is growing by leaps and bounds after her successful debut.
And then we have two Young Adult novels tackling the same issue. But they are not the same for no two stories are the same. Find Her depicts a daughter who still dreams of her missing mother five years after life was upended and Looking For Smoke shows fitting into a new circle of friends becomes much harder when they’re all suspects in murder.
Marcie R. Rendon is a citizen of the White Earth Nation. Ramona Emerson is a Diné writer and filmmaker. Ginger Reno is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation. K.A. Cobell, Staa’tssipisstaakii is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation.
Where They Last Saw Her by Marcie R. Rendon ($18; Bantam) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Exposure by Ramona Emerson ($29.95; Soho Crime) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Find Her by Ginger Reno ($17.99; Holiday House) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Looking For Smoke by K.A. Cobell ($19.99; Heartdrum) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Harper, William Morrow
12. Whiskey Tender by Deborah Taffa
13. The Paranormal Ranger by Stanley Milford Jr.
Two very different memoirs. In Whiskey Tender, author Deborah Taffa unwinds the wildly complicated legacy of assimilation, forced education, the desire to “fit in” versus reclaiming or finding your identity in the first place. Stanley Milford Jr. faces very different challenges. As a Navajo Ranger, Milford found himself tasked with exploring crimes and incidents bordering on the inexplicable and supernatural. His stories about life as a paranormal Ranger–like Taffa’s memoir–include Native history and mythology and beliefs to show how incidents that seem bizarre to outsiders appear very different and even mundane when seen from a different world view.
Deborah Taffa is a citizen of the Quechan (Yuma) Nation and Laguna Pueblo. Stanley Milford Jr. is a Native American with parents of both Navajo and Cherokee descent.
Whiskey Tender by Deborah Taffa ($30; Harper) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Paranormal Ranger by Stanley Milford Jr. ($28.99; William Morrow) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Levine Querido; Sibylline Press; W.W. Norton and Company
14. Where Wolves Don’t Die by Anton Treuer
15. 1666 by Lora Chilton
16. Coexistence by Billy-Ray Belcourt
Three more works of fiction to explore.
Where Wolves Don’t Die is a coming of age story about a teen in Minneapolis who misses life among his friends and people on the rez Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation. BUt when Ezra becomes a suspect in a murder and his family knows justice is not in the cards, Ezra is banished even more: to a remote part of Canada with his grandfather.
1666 is a work of historical fiction that centers the strength and survival of two women enslaved and shipped to Barbados after the slaughter of their men in the Patawomeck Tribe of Virginia.
From the almost-erased Patawomeck Tribe to the double invisibility of being both Native and queer. The stories of Billy-Ray Belcourt feature men out of prison, men turning from dating apps to true love and and a mother’s yearning for her son, prompting Publishers Weekly to give starred rave to this collection about which they say “these wise and open-hearted stories astonish.”
Anton Treur is Professor of Objiwe at Bemidji State University and an officiant at Ojibwe tribal ceremonies. Lora Chilton is a member of the Patawomeck Tribe of Virginia. Billy-Ray Belcourt is a writer from the Driftpile Cree Nation.
Where Wolves Don’t Die by Anton Treuer ($18.99; Levine Querido) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
1666 by Lora Chilton ($17; Sibylline Press) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Coexistence by Billy-Ray Belcourt ($15.99; W.W. Norton and Company) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Android Press
17. As Many Ships As Stars by Weyodi Oldbear
Indians in space? Representation matters, everywhere. It matters in fantasy and sci-fi and video games and you name it. A long-running issue for Black people was how the future simply didn’t include them, not if you looked at sci-fi films and books. That has changed. But Native peoples? They barely existed in contemporary pop culture for so many years, except as grotesque stereotypes. That too is changing. So here we have the barely near-future story of a Numunu (Comanche) woman named Leia (!) barely getting by in Albuquerque. Rich folk are making like Musk and boarding ships to Marsl So Leia takes matters into her own hands, hijacks a ship along with friends and family and heads into the future.
Weyodi Oldbear is an enrolled voting citizen of the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma.
As Many Ships As Stars by Weyodi Oldbear ($19.99; Android Press) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Heartdrum, Berkley, S&S/Saga Press
18. The Unfinished by Cheryl Isaacs
19. Indian Burial Ground by Nick Medina
20. I Was A Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones
21. The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones
When you are demonized as the other and/or when you must struggle with the constant fear of attacks by monsters (guys cruising in a car down the street who yell insults at you, for example), life can be scary. So people of many communities find comfort, strangely enough, in tales of horror, stories that make those fears manifest.
In The Unfinished, the loner Avery realizes she must listen to her Elders in order to confront the literal monster threatening her small town. With Indian Burial Ground, Nick Medina upends all the cliches about…Indian burial grounds (hello, Poltergeist!) with the story of a young woman who leaves the rez, but the rez won’t leave her. And superstar author Stephen Graham Jones triumphantly finishes off his acclaimed Indian Lake Trilogy and delivers a Young Adult thriller from the perspective of a teen serial killer.
Cheryl Isaacs (Mohawk) celebrates her Kanian’kéha culture with this, her debut novel. Nick Medina is a member of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana. Stephen Graham Jones is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana.
The Unfinished by Cheryl Isaacs ($19.99; Heartdrum) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Indian Burial Ground by Nick Medina ($28; Berkley) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
I Was A Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones ($29.99; S&S/Saga Press) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones ($28.99; S&S/Saga Press) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Related: The 12 Best Taylor Swift Books Straight Out of Our “Wildest Dreams”
Courtesy of Scribner
22. The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer; illustrated by John Burgoyne
Robin Wall Kimmeer enjoyed one of the unlikeliest hits in years with her book Braiding Sweetgrass. A celebration of Indigenous wisdom, it proved a word of mouth sensation. Eleven years later, Kimmerer returns with The Serviceberry, out November 19. It too combines her sharp observations as a scientist (she has a PhD in plant ecology) with Native practices and insights. The result is a book that uses the humble serviceberry as a model for sustainable living and a way forward in alignment with nature.
Robin Wall Kimmerer is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.
The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer; illustrated by John Burgoyne ($20; Scribner; out November 19) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Heartdrum, Levine Querido
23. Red Bird Danced by Dawn Quigley
24. Sheine Lende by Darcie Little Badger; illustrated by Rovina Cai
Two middle grade books that grapple with the epidemic of missing women in Native communities, just like the mysteries and thrillers I tagged above.
In Red Bird Danced, a girl who loves ballet (but is stricken by the disappearance of her mother) and a boy who likes making jokes more than doing homework strike up a friendship in the inter-tribal housing complex of the city they live in. This is one of the most acclaimed kids’ books of the year, earning the highest praise from critics.
Sheine Lende is the prequel to the acclaimed best-seller Elatsoe. They both combine Native mythology and realistic parents and kids to tell fantastical tales about surviving in the real world. Here we get the backstory of the grandmother Shane. Here she’s a kid working with her mother (and their ghost dogs) to track down missing people. Some things, sadly, never change.
Dawn Quigley is a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe, North Dakota. Darcie Little Badger is a Lapan Apache writer.
Red Bird Danced by Dawn Quigley ($18.99; Heartdrum) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Sheine Lende by Darcie Little Badger; illustrated by Rovina Cai ($19.99; Levine Querido) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Courtesy of Little, Brown Books For Young Readers; Groundwood Books
25. Wings of an Eagle by Billy Mills and Donna Janell Bowman; illustrated by S.D. Nelson
26. Boozhoo!/Hello! illustrated by Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley; translated by Mary Ann Corbiere
To finish things off, two notable picture books.
Wings of an Eagle is the story of athlete Billy Mills, known to his people as Tamakhóčhe Theħíla of the Oglala Lakota. Mills competed in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and achieved one of the great upsets of all time by winning gold in the 10,000 metre run. His story is told in classic, heroic style here by Mills himself.
Boozhoo!/Hello! Offers striking images while introducing readers to familiar animals and concepts identified in both English and Anishinaabemowin.
Billy Mills is a member of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux) Tribe. Co-author Donna Janell Bowman is an ally. Illustrator S.D. Nelson is a member of the Standing Rock Tribe of the Dakotas. Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley is an Anishinaabe illustrator and member of Wasauksing First Nation. Mary Ann Corbiere is originally from Wikiwemikong First Nation and grew up speaking Anishinaabemowin, a language of the Ojibwe peoples.
Wings of an Eagle by Billy Mills and Donna Janell Bowman; illustrated by S.D. Nelson ($19.99; Little, Brown Books For Young Readers) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Boozhoo!/Hello! by Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley; translated by Mary Ann Corbiere ($19.99; Groundwood Books) Buy now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org
Need even more books? Head to Goodreads and dive into their picks naming some of the best works by Native American writers in the last five years.
Related: The 43 Best Mystery, Thriller and True Crime Books of 2024…so Far
