Native American/First Nations Recommendations (Kinder-2nd)

Hi!

My best friend is going to start teaching her first class in August, and she's looking for books for younger children. The class she's teaching is made up of 90% Native American kids, so she's looking specifically for Native American fairy tales, and general kidlit that doesn't feature a white protagonist (She has plenty of those).

Thanks in advance for any recs you may have. :)

Tell her to look at Paul Goble's work. He does lovely work. I was at a panel discussion once, where a Native American author was complaining about white authors trying unsuccessfully to present Native American tales and artwork. She looked at one of Goble's books and couldn't find a single error. She said he got everything right.

I am especially fond of his Iktomi stories.

I'd suggest a visit to Debbie Reese's blog:
http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/ & http://www.oyate.org/books-to-avoid/index.html

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is terrific.

Thanks for your help so far! Oyate, in particular, is an amazing website. And I loved The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, even if it's a little old for her class.

Louise Erdrich's Little Frog series is written for the juvenile age market. The first book is The Birchbark House.

Michael Dorris' Morning Girl is a slim little book about life just before the arrival of Columbus.

Scott O'Dell I think wrote several with Native Americans as main characters, most notably Island of the Blue Dolphins.

Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin
When Clay Sings by Byrd Baylor
The Rough Face Girl by Rafe Martin

Look under Native American Mythology in Children's books on Amazon. There are some wonderful series there with books in the k-2 age range.

I remember thinking that The Mud Pony was a very charming tale, as well as The Girl who Loved Wild Horses.

Jingle Dancer is another good one -- not mythology so much, but a more modern Native American story.

I don't recall the reading level, but she might try The boy who made dragonfly : a Zuni myth by Tony Hillerman.

Good morning,

Please do ask her to visit my website. She's working with young children, and from my site, there's a link to an article I wrote called Teaching Young Children about Native Americans.

Some of my doctoral training was in early childhood education. I studied with Lilian Katz.

Paul Goble's Iktomi stories are inappropriate. Get a copy of A BROKEN FLUTE: THE NATIVE EXPERIENCE IN BOOKS FOR CHILDREN and read the essay there about him. The person who write it is Doris Seale. She is Lakota.

Ask her also, or maybe get it for her as a gift!!! A copy of LESSONS FROM TURTLE ISLAND. It is designed as a teacher resource book, lesson plans and the like, for use in early childhood classrooms. Lessons are based on children's books.

Oh! I was trying to figure out how to place a link in my reply, got distracted, and hit "submit" without adding the link.

americanindiansinchildrensliterature.net

I've written for School Library Journal and Horn Book. In November, SLJ published an article I wrote that includes my recommended books by elem/middle/high school.

i used to work as teacher for little children too

Well, these might be more advanced than desired (I can't remember when I first read them...) but Peter Dickinson's "the Kin" quartet: Suth's Story, Noli's Story, Po's Story, and Mana's Story, might be possibilities.