SJPL Picks: Indigenous Voices in YA FictionLike this list

35 items

• The Unfinished

  Isaacs, Cheryl,

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  In this debut YA horror novel by Cheryl Isaacs (Mohawk), small-town athlete Avery is haunted by the black water and Unfinished beings of Kanyen’kehá:ka stories and must turn to the culture she hasn’t felt connected to in order to save her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Liar's Test

  Kwaymullina, Ambelin, 1975-

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  In a competition where seven girls from different guilds vie for the throne, Bell Silverleaf, a reluctant fifteen-year-old contender with a hidden talent for deception, intends to win and overthrow the kingdom, but finds she is not the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• I Was a Teenage Slasher

  Jones, Stephen Graham, 1972-

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  "1989, Lamesa, Texas. A small west Texas town driven by oil and cotton-and a place where everyone knows everyone else's business. So it goes for Tolly Driver, a good kid with more potential than application, seventeen, and about to be…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Earthdivers. Volume One, Kill Columbus

  Jones, Stephen Graham, 1972-

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  "The year is 2112, and it's the apocalypse exactly as expected: rivers receding, oceans rising, civilization crumbling. Humanity has given up hope, except for a group of Indigenous outcasts who have discovered a time travel portal in a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Billy Buckhorn and the Rise of the Night Seers

  Robinson, Gary, 1950-

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  "Cherokee teen Billy Buckhorn had no idea what was in store for him when Osage teen Lisa Lookout and her family showed up on his doorstep. A tribal prophecy, carried by their family for a thousand years, indicates Billy is the long-awaited…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Broken Blade

  Blair, Melissa, 1995-

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  "Keera is a killer. As the king's Blade and his most gifted assassin, she is called upon to hunt down a mysterious figure called the Shadow who is moving against the Crown. She tracks the Shadow into the magical lands of the Fae, but the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• My Good Man

  Gansworth, Eric, 1965-

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  When a mysterious assault lands the brother of his mother's late boyfriend in the hospital, Brian, a twenty-something Indigenous reporter, must pick up the threads of a life he's abandoned, returning to the Tuscarora reservation to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• House of Purple Cedar

  Tingle, Tim

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  Rose Goode, a Choctaw Indian girl living in pre-statehood Oklahoma, must endure a life plagued by white land-grabbers, who savagely beat her grandfather and burn down her school, an event in which she is the only student to survive.

• Elatsoe

  Little Badger, Darcie, 1987-

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  "Imagine an America very similar to our own. It's got homework, best friends, and pistachio ice cream. There are some differences. This America has been shaped dramatically by the magic, monsters, knowledge, and legends of its peoples,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Saints of the Household

  Tison, Ari,

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  When brothers Max and Jay help a classmate in trouble, they struggle with the consequences of their violent actions and worry they may be more like their abusive father than they thought, so the brothers turn to their Bribri roots to find…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Looking for Smoke

  Cobell, K. A.,

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  "When local girl Loren includes Mara in a traditional Blackfeet Giveaway to honor Loren's missing sister, Mara thinks she'll finally make some friends on the Blackfeet reservation. Instead, a girl from the Giveaway, Samantha White Tail, is…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Rez Ball

  Graves, Byron,

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  These days, Tre Brun is happiest when he is playing basketball on the Red Lake Reservation high school team—even though he can’t help but be constantly gut-punched with memories of his big brother, Jaxon, who died in an accident. When…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Those Pink Mountain Nights

  Ferguson, Jenny, 1985-

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  Over-achievement isn’t a bad word—for Berlin, it’s the goal. She’s securing excellent grades, planning her future, and working a part-time job at Pink Mountain Pizza, a legendary local business. Who says she needs a best friend by her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Warrior Girl Unearthed

  Boulley, Angeline,

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  With the rising number of missing Indigenous women, her family's involvement in a murder investigation and grave robbers profiting off her Anishinaabe tribe, Perry takes matters into her own hands to solve the mystery and reclaim her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Harvest House

  Smith, Cynthia Leitich,

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  When strange things start happening at night near a new, supposedly haunted, rural attraction, including a creepy man stalking young Indigenous women, Hughie Wolfe and his friends set out to discover the truth in order to protect…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Funeral Songs for Dying Girls

  Dimaline, Cherie, 1975-

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  Winifred has lived in the apartment above the cemetery office with her father, who works in the crematorium all her life, close to her mother's grave. With her sixteenth birthday only days away, Her habit of wandering the graveyard at all…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Ready When You Are

  Lonesborough, Gary,

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  Two First Australian teens fall for each other in secret. Summer on the Mish means plenty of time for 17-year-old Jackson to spend with his two best mates and girlfriend, Tesha. But try as he might, Jackson can’t perform during sex. He…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Summer of Bitter and Sweet

  Ferguson, Jen,

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  In this complex and emotionally resonant novel about a Métis girl living on the Canadian prairies, debut author Jen Ferguson serves up a powerful story about rage, secrets, and all the spectrums that make up a person—and the sweetness that…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Snake Falls to Earth

  Little Badger, Darcie, 1987-

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  Fifteen-year-olds Nina and Oli come from different words--she is a Lipan Apache living in Texas and he is a cottonmouth from the Reflecting World--but their lives intersect when Oli journeys to Earth to find a cure for his ailing friend…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Walking in Two Worlds

  Kinew, Wab, 1981-

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  When Bugz, who is caught between the worlds of life on the Rez and the virtual world, meets Feng, they form an instant bond as outsiders and gamers and must both grapple with the impact of family challenges and community trauma.