Fantastic Adventures
Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
Lately, Nizhoni Begay has been able to detect monsters, like that man in the fancy suit who was in the bleachers at her basketball game. Turns out he’s Mr. Charles, her dad’s new boss at the oil and gas company, and he’s alarmingly interested in Nizhoni and her brother, Mac, their Navajo heritage, and the legend of the Hero Twins. Nizhoni knows he’s a threat, but her father won’t believe her. When Dad disappears, Nizhoni and her friends are thrust into a rescue mission that can only be accomplished with the help of Diné Holy People. Their aid will come at a price: the kids must pass a series of trials in which it seems like nature itself is out to kill them. If they can reach the House of the Sun, they will be outfitted with what they need to defeat the ancient monsters Mr. Charles has unleashed. But it will take more than weapons for Nizhoni to become the hero she was destined to be.
The Barren Grounds by David Robertson
Morgan and Eli, two Indigenous children forced away from their families and communities, are brought together in a foster home in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They each feel disconnected, from their culture and each other, and struggle to fit in at school and at their new home — until they find a secret place, walled off in an unfinished attic bedroom. A portal opens to another reality, Askí, bringing them onto frozen, barren grounds, where they meet Ochek (Fisher). The only hunter supporting his starving community, Misewa, Ochek welcomes the human children, teaching them traditional ways to survive.
Sisters of the Neversea by Cynthia Leitich Smith
In this magical, modern twist on Peter Pan, stepsisters Lily and Wendy are spirited away to Neverland by a mysterious boy and must find a way back to the family they love.
Historical Fiction
The Star that Always Stays by Anna Rose Johnson
When fourteen-year-old Norvia moves from Beaver Island to Boyne City in 1914, she has to contend with a new school, a first crush, and a blended family, but she also must keep secret her parents’ divorce and her Ojibwe heritage.
Weird Rules to Follow by Kim Spencer
It’s the 1980’s. Mia and her best friend, Lara, have known eah other since kindergarten. But even thought they both live in the same cul-de-sac in the coastal fishing town of Prince Rupert, Mia’s life is very different from her non-Indigenous, middle class neighbor. Lara lives with her mom, dad and little brother in a big house with two cars in the driveway. Mia lives in a shabby wartime house that is full of relatives– her churchgoing grandmother, binge-drinking mother and a rotating number or aunts, uncles and cousins. Their differences never matter to the two friends, but Mia begins to notice how people treat her differently just because she is Indigenous. Teachers, shopkeepers, even Lara’s parents– they all seem to have decided who Mia is without getting to know her first.
Stone River Crossing by Tim Tingle
Martha Tom knows better than to cross the Bok Chitto River to pick blackberries. The Bok Chitto is the only border between her town in the Choctaw Nation and the slave-owning plantation in Mississippi territory. But crossing the river brings a surprise friendship with Lil Mo, a boy who is enslaved on the other side. When Lil Mo discovers that his mother is about to be sold and the rest of his family left behind, Martha Tom has the answer: cross the Bok Chitto and become free.
