For decades, students only learned about Native Americans in history class. They may have been taught the story of Squanto teaching the Pilgrims how to hunt, fish, and plant crops. Older students, if they were lucky, had more nuanced discussions about the atrocities committed by early explorers and settlers against Indigenous tribes or the horrors of the Trail of Tears.
Today, we’re seeing a shift as more people recognize that Native Americans aren’t a people who existed, but a people who still exist – living, learning, and often still fighting for respect and equality in this country. More and more states are celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day and in 1990 the month of November was dedicated as Native American Heritage Month. We feel the best way to celebrate is with authentic and heartfelt stories reflecting the diversity of the Indigenous experience in the United States and Canada. HarperCollins’ Heartdrum imprint is dedicated to bringing readers books that represent the present and future of Indian Country and the strength of young Indigenous heroes.
Download our Heartdrum Educator Guide by clicking below to learn how to use these amazing books in your school or library.
Need more help adding Native American voices to your library? Scroll down to explore some of our favorite titles.
Firefly Season
Written by the award-winning, bestselling author of Jingle Dancer, Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee), and filled with tender illustrations by Kate Gardiner (Nipmuck), this unforgettable, warmhearted picture book is for family and the friends who become family.
Piper feels grateful for visits with her relatives, especially for the time spent with her cousins in Cherokee Nation and Muscogee Nation during summer vacations, fishing on misty mornings and playing on firefly-filled evenings. Piper’s family lives a road trip away in Kansas City. So when a neighbor named Sumi moves in next door, Piper is excited to share her stories and seasons with a new friend.
The two are inseparable—until Piper’s family moves to another city. Their bond overcomes distance, and with time, Piper dreams up a plan to reunite with the people she loves most of all.
To Walk the Sky
Look to the sky!
High above the ground, generation after generation, Native workers called skywalkers have sculpted city skylines, balancing on narrow beams, facing down terrifying heights and heartbreaking loss. These skywalkers who dared to touch the heavens have built a legacy of landmarks all over the North American continent—and even today, there are Native Americans still climbing up among the clouds, brave enough to walk the sky.
With impactful and illuminating prose, Patricia Morris Buckley (Mohawk) tells the soaring story of the remarkable skywalkers, whose bravery and tragedies are warmly captured in moving watercolors by award-winning artist E. B. Lewis (Lenni-Lenape).
Bud Finds Her Gift
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass comes a beautiful and lushly illustrated tale celebrating gratitude, reciprocity, and finding our place in the natural world, ideal for sharing with the youngest readers.
When young Bud sees people bustling around, intent on their chores and their screens, she is certain they must be doing important things—and she wants to be included. But wise Nokomis, her grandmother, shows her that there is a different way to find belonging, one that relies on stillness and observing the natural world. As Bud discovers the freely given gifts of the Earth, she wonders if she has something important to give back: What is her gift?
Infused with warmth, humor, and insight, and beautifully illustrated by Naoko Stoop, the first picture book by renowned author and Indigenous ecologist Robin Wall Kimmerer inspires readers to treasure nature’s generosity and the gifts each one of us can share with the Earth.
Yáadilá!
Bahe and Dezba are helping their grandmother, Nali, move from her sheep camp home to their house. The family is packing up, carrying heavy boxes, and settling into a new life together, which isn’t always easy. At every frustration, they throw up their hands and exclaim, “Yaadila!” Good grief!
Bahe sees that this big change is hardest for Nali. But he has a secret plan. Whatever can he be doing with a bucket of water, all that yarn, and Dezba’s dollhouse?
In this heartwarming and quintessentially Navajo (Diné) story, author Laurel Goodluck (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Tsimshian) and illustrator Jonathan Nelson (Diné) together show a big change for an Elder made easier with a creative gesture of love and care.
Jo Jo Makoons: The Super-Scary Sleepover
There’s no “brave” without “afraid”! Jo Jo is back to face her fears, in her own special way, in the fifth book in the beloved Jo Jo Makoons chapter book series.
Spunky Ojibwe first-grader Jo Jo Makoons knows a lot about bravery and boldness. Her cat, Mimi, is very brave when she tries new foods, and Teacher is very bold when he wears his ugly ties to school.
When Jo Jo is invited to her very first friend sleepover, it’s her turn to be courageous! Only she’s not quite sure how. Especially when scary puppets and dolls hide around every corner…
Full of spooky fun and after-school mischief, Jo Jo Makoons celebrates an Ojibwe girl with a big heart who finds her courage through the people she loves.
The first book in the acclaimed Jo Jo Makoons series was an American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor Book; a best book of the year from Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, American Indians in Children’s Literature, and the Chicago Public Library; a Charlotte Huck Award Honor Book; and a Cooperative Children’s Book Center CCBC Choices selection.
Legendary Frybread Drive-In
Featuring the voices of both new and acclaimed Indigenous writers and edited by bestselling Muscogee author Cynthia Leitich Smith, this collection of interconnected stories serves up laughter, love, Native pride, and the world’s best frybread.
The road to Sandy June’s Legendary Frybread Drive-In slips through every rez and alongside every urban Native hangout. The menu offers a rotating feast, including traditional eats and tasty snacks. But Sandy June’s serves up more than food: it hosts live music, movie nights, unexpected family reunions, love long lost, and love found again.
That big green-and-gold neon sign beckons to teens of every tribal Nation, often when they need it most.
Featuring stories and poems by: Kaua Mahoe Adams, Marcella Bell, Angeline Boulley, K. A. Cobell, A. J. Eversole, Jen Ferguson, Eric Gansworth, Byron Graves, Kate Hart, Christine Hartman Derr, Karina Iceberg, Cheryl Isaacs, Darcie Little Badger, David A. Robertson, Andrea L. Rogers, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Brian Young.
In partnership with We Need Diverse Books.