Like many marginalized groups, Indigenous representation has been far too limited in books and media—and even when there was representation, the depiction was still incorrect, pushing stereotypes and doing more harm than good (I mean, we’re in the 2020s and there are still sports teams using Native caricatures and imagery for their mascots).
Even with the small steps towards rectifying this issue, there are still so many more Native and Indigenous stories needed in media, especially our literary world. As author Cynthia Leitich Smith said about the launch of Heartdrum, HarperCollins’s Native-focused publishing imprint, “Now is the time for positive, heartening change in the form of resonant representation across all age markets and formats. We have life-affirming, page-turning stories to share.”
Reading works by Indigenous authors is something we should do all year long, so what better time than right now to add these titles to your TBR? With these books, you won’t just be reading about the struggles and tragedies that come along with surviving the lasting effects of colonization, but the triumphs and celebrations that come with reclaiming one’s culture.
YA Books With Indigenous Characters
HEARTFELT, INNOVATIVE, AND GROUNDBREAKING STORIES
1. Legendary Frybread Drive-In, edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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.
2. The Others by Cheryl Isaacs
In this haunting sequel to her deliciously scary debut, Cheryl Isaacs (Mohawk) explores the sharp edges of lingering trauma and the bonds of love that heal us.
Only weeks ago, Avery pulled her best friend, Key, from the deadly black water. The cycle from her family’s Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) stories is finally broken, the black water is now a harmless lake, and her problems are far from supernatural: All Avery wants is a normal summer with Key, her now-boyfriend.
The trauma, however, casts a long shadow over the town. Some victims never returned. Terrifying memories threaten to resurface, but Avery pushes them down. Who she’s really worried about is Key. The two are supposed to be closer than ever—so why does he feel so distant?
Wracked by anxiety, Avery begins to see a chilling reflection in every mirror, one that moves on its own—and she’s not the only one. With her family’s safety in the balance, Avery must decide: Run away to the safety of normal life with Key, or return to lake’s edge and face her reflection, before her home is subsumed by darkness once and for all….
3. Looking for Smoke by K.A. Cobell
K. A. Cobell (Blackfeet) weaves loss, betrayal, and complex characters into a thriller that will illuminate and surprise readers until the final word.
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 found murdered.
Because the four members of the Giveaway group were the last to see Samantha alive, each becomes a person of interest in the investigation. And all of them—Mara, Loren, Brody, and Eli—have a complicated history with Samantha.
Despite deep mistrust, the four must now take matters into their own hands and clear their names. Even though one of them may be the murderer.
4. The Unfinished by Cheryl Isaacs
In her stunning debut, Cheryl Isaacs (Mohawk) pulls the reader into an unsettling tale of monsters, mystery, and secrets that refuse to stay submerged.
When small-town athlete Avery’s morning run leads her to a strange pond in the middle of the forest, she awakens a horror the townspeople of Crook’s Falls have long forgotten.
The black water has been waiting. Watching. Hungry for the souls it needs to survive.
Avery can smell the water, see it flooding everywhere; she thinks she’s losing her mind. And as the black water haunts Avery—taking a new form each time—people in town begin to go missing.
Though Avery had heard whispers of monsters from her Kanien’kéha:ka (Mohawk) relatives, she has never really connected to her Indigenous culture or understood the stories. But the Elders she has distanced herself from now may have the answers she needs.
When Key, her best friend and longtime crush, is the next to disappear, Avery is faced with a choice: listen to the Kanien’kéha:ka and save the town but lose her friend forever…or listen to her heart and risk everything to get Key back.
An unmissable horror novel for readers who devoured Trang Thanh Tran’s She Is a Haunting or Claire Legrand’s Sawkill Girls!
5. A Constellation of Minor Bears by Jen Ferguson
Award-winning author Jen Ferguson has written a powerful story about teens grappling with balancing resentment with enduring friendship—and how to move forward with a life that’s not what they’d imagined.
Before that awful Saturday, Molly used to be inseparable from her brother, Hank, and his best friend, Tray. The indoor climbing accident that left Hank with a traumatic brain injury filled Molly with anger.
While she knows the accident wasn’t Tray’s fault, she will never forgive him for being there and failing to stop the damage. But she can’t forgive herself for not being there either.
Determined to go on the trio’s postgraduation hike of the Pacific Crest Trail, even without Hank, Molly packs her bag. But when her parents put Tray in charge of looking out for her, she is stuck backpacking with the person who incites her easy anger.
Despite all her planning, the trail she’ll walk has a few more twists and turns ahead. . . .
Discover the evocative storytelling and emotion from the author of The Summer of Bitter and Sweet, which was the winner of the Governor General’s Award, a Stonewall Award honor book, and a Morris Award finalist, as well as Those Pink Mountain Nights, a Kirkus Best Book of the Year!
6. Rez Ball by Byron Graves
This compelling debut novel by new talent Byron Graves tells the relatable, high-stakes story of a young athlete determined to play like the hero his Ojibwe community needs him to be.
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 Jaxon’s former teammates on the varsity team offer to take Tre under their wing, he sees this as his shot to represent his Ojibwe rez all the way to their first state championship. This is the first step toward his dream of playing in the NBA, no matter how much the odds are stacked against him.
But stepping into his brother’s shoes as a star player means that Tre can’t mess up. Not on the court, not at school, and not with his new friend, gamer Khiana, who he is definitely not falling in love with.
After decades of rez teams almost making it, Tre needs to take his team to state. Because if he can live up to Jaxon’s dreams, their story isn’t over yet.
7. Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley
#1 New York Times bestselling author of Firekeeper’s Daughter Angeline Boulley takes us back to Sugar Island in this high-stakes thriller about the power of discovering your stolen history.
Perry Firekeeper-Birch has always known who she is – the laidback twin, the troublemaker, the best fisher on Sugar Island. Her aspirations won’t ever take her far from home, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. But as the rising number of missing Indigenous women starts circling closer to home, as her family becomes embroiled in a high-profile murder investigation, and as greedy grave robbers seek to profit off of what belongs to her Anishinaabe tribe, Perry begins to question everything.
In order to reclaim this inheritance for her people, Perry has no choice but to take matters into her own hands. She can only count on her friends and allies, including her overachieving twin and a charming new boy in town with unwavering morals. Old rivalries, sister secrets, and botched heists cannot – will not – stop her from uncovering the mystery before the ancestors and missing women are lost forever.
8. The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by Jen Ferguson
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 can still live alongside the bitterest truth.
Lou has enough confusion in front of her this summer. She’ll be working in her family’s ice-cream shack with her newly ex-boyfriend—whose kisses never made her feel desire, only discomfort—and her former best friend, King, who is back in their Canadian prairie town after disappearing three years ago without a word.
But when she gets a letter from her biological father—a man she hoped would stay behind bars for the rest of his life—Lou immediately knows that she cannot meet him, no matter how much he insists.
While King’s friendship makes Lou feel safer and warmer than she would have thought possible, when her family’s business comes under threat, she soon realizes that she can’t ignore her father forever.
9. Saints of the Household by Ari Tison
Saints of the Household is a haunting contemporary YA about an act of violence in a small-town–beautifully told by a debut Indigenous Costa Rican-American writer—that will take your breath away.
Max and Jay have always depended on one another for their survival. Growing up with a physically abusive father, the two Bribri American brothers have learned that the only way to protect themselves and their mother is to stick to a schedule and keep their heads down.
But when they hear a classmate in trouble in the woods, instinct takes over and they intervene, breaking up a fight and beating their high school’s star soccer player to a pulp. This act of violence threatens the brothers’ dreams for the future and their beliefs about who they are. As the true details of that fateful afternoon unfold over the course of the novel, Max and Jay grapple with the weight of their actions, their shifting relationship as brothers, and the realization that they may be more like their father than they thought. They’ll have to reach back to their Bribri roots to find their way forward.
Told in alternating points of view using vignettes and poems, debut author Ari Tison crafts an emotional, slow-burning drama about brotherhood, abuse, recovery, and doing the right thing.
10. Ready When You Are by Gary Lonesborough
A remarkable YA love story between two Aboriginal boys — one who doesn’t want to accept he’s gay, and the boy who comes to live in his house who makes him realize who he is.
It’s a hot summer, and life’s going all right for Jackson and his family on the Mish. It’s almost Christmas, school’s out, and he’s hanging with his mates, teasing the visiting tourists, avoiding the racist boys in town. Just like every year, Jackson’s Aunty and annoying little cousins visit from the city — but this time a mysterious boy with a troubled past comes with them. As their friendship evolves, Jackson must confront the changing shapes of his relationships with his friends, family and community. And he must face his darkest secret — a secret he thought he’d locked away for good.
11. Those Pink Mountain Nights by Jen Ferguson
In her remarkable second novel following her Governor General’s Award-winning debut, The Summer of Bitter and Sweet, Jen Ferguson writes about the hurt of a life stuck in past tense, the hum of connections that cannot be severed, and one week in a small, snowy town that changes everything.
Overachievement 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 side?
Dropping out of high school wasn’t smart—but it was necessary for Cameron. Since his cousin Kiki’s disappearance, it’s hard enough to find the funny side of life, especially when the whole town has forgotten Kiki. To them, she’s just another missing Native girl.
People at school label Jessie a tease, a rich girl—and honestly, she’s both. But Jessie knows she contains multitudes. Maybe her new job crafting pizzas will give her the high-energy outlet she desperately wants.
When the weekend at Pink Mountain Pizza takes several unexpected turns, all three teens will have to acknowledge the various ways they’ve been hurt—and how much they need each other to hold it all together.
12. Walking in Two Worlds by Wab Kinew
An Indigenous teen girl is caught between two worlds, both real and virtual, in the YA fantasy debut from bestselling Indigenous author Wab Kinew. Perfect for fans of Ready Player One and the Otherworld series.
In the real world, Bugz is a shy and self-conscious Indigenous teen who faces the stresses of teenage angst and life on the Rez. But in the virtual world, her alter ego is not just confident but dominant in a massively multiplayer video game universe.
Feng is a teen boy who has been sent from China to live with his aunt, a doctor on the Rez, after his online activity suggests he may be developing extremist sympathies. Meeting each other in real life, as well as in the virtual world, Bugz and Feng immediately relate to each other as outsiders and as avid gamers. And as their connection is strengthened through their virtual adventures, they find that they have much in common in the real world, too: both must decide what to do in the face of temptations and pitfalls, and both must grapple with the impacts of family challenges and community trauma.
But betrayal threatens everything Bugz has built in the virtual world, as well as her relationships in the real world, and it will take all her newfound strength to restore her friendship with Feng and reconcile the parallel aspects of her life: the traditional and the mainstream, the east and the west, the real and the virtual.
13. A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger
A Snake Falls to Earth is a breathtaking work of Indigenous futurism. Darcie Little Badger draws on traditional Lipan Apache storytelling structure to weave another unforgettable tale of monsters, magic, and family. It is not to be missed.
Nina is a Lipan girl in our world. She’s always felt there was something more out there. She still believes in the old stories.
Oli is a cottonmouth kid, from the land of spirits and monsters. Like all cottonmouths, he’s been cast from home. He’s found a new one on the banks of the bottomless lake.
Nina and Oli have no idea the other exists. But a catastrophic event on Earth, and a strange sickness that befalls Oli’s best friend, will drive their worlds together in ways they haven’t been in centuries.
And there are some who will kill to keep them apart.
14. Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
As a biracial, unenrolled tribal member and the product of a scandal, eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. Daunis dreams of studying medicine, but when her family is struck by tragedy, she puts her future on hold to care for her fragile mother.
The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, certain details don’t add up and she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into the heart of a criminal investigation.
Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, but secretly pursues her own investigation, tracking down the criminals with her knowledge of chemistry and traditional medicine. But the deceptions—and deaths—keep piling up and soon the threat strikes too close to home.
Now, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she’ll go to protect her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known.
This layered coming-of-age tale is about identity, grief, family, community, and love. The author’s use of the Anishinaabemowin language and culture paints a rich world and explores what it means to be an Ojibwe woman who knows her inner power.
15. Apple in the Middle by Dawn Quigley
Apple Starkington turned her back on her Native American heritage the moment she was called a racial slur for someone of white and Indian descent, not that she really even knew how to be an Indian in the first place. Too bad the white world doesnt accept her either. And so begins her quirky habits to gain acceptance.
Apple’s name, chosen by her Indian mother on her deathbed, has a double meaning: treasured apple of my eye, but also the negative connotation a person who is red, or Indian, on the outside, but white on the inside.
After her wealthy father gives her the boot one summer, Apple reluctantly agrees to visit her Native American relatives on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in northern North Dakota for the first time. Apple learns to deal with the culture shock of Indian customs and the Native Michif language, while she tries to find a connection to her dead mother. She also has to deal with a vengeful Indian man who loved her mother in high school but now hates Apple because her mom married a white man.
Bouncing in the middle of two cultures, Apple meets her Indian relatives, shatters Indian stereotypes, and learns what it means to find her place in a world divided by color.
16. House of Purple Cedar by Tim Tingle
“The hour has come to speak of troubled times. It is time we spoke of Skullyville.”
Thus begins Rose Goode’s story of her growing up in Indian Territory in pre-statehood Oklahoma. Skullyville, a once-thriving Choctaw community, was destroyed by land-grabbers, culminating in the arson on New Year’s Eve, 1896, of New Hope Academy for Girls. Twenty Choctaw girls died, but Rose escaped. She is blessed by the presence of her grandmother Pokoni and her grandfather Amafo, both respected elders who understand the old ways. Soon after the fire, the white sheriff beats Amafo in front of the town’s people, humiliating him. Instead of asking the Choctaw community to avenge the beating, her grandfather decides to follow the path of forgiveness.
And so unwinds this tale of mystery, Indian-style magical realism, and deep wisdom. It’s a world where backwoods spiritualism and Bible-thumping Christianity mix with bad guys; a one-legged woman shop-keeper, her oaf of a husband, herbal potions, and shape-shifting panthers rendering justice. Tim Tingle—a scholar of his nation’s language, culture, and spirituality—tells Rose’s story of good and evil with understanding and even laugh-out-loud Choctaw humor.
17. #NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women, edited by Lisa Charleyboy & Mary Beth Leatherdale
Whether looking back to a troubled past or welcoming a hopeful future, the powerful voices of Indigenous women across North America resound in this book.
With stories told through poems, essays, comics, photography, interviews, artwork, and more, this anthology uniquely captures and amplifies the powerful voices of Native women across the continent. Their strength is not only heard, but felt.
Unburdening themselves of hardships, generational pain, damage caused by abuse and stereotypes, and the dismissal of their history, this book is an act of reclamation. Resilient at its core, it honors and celebrates Indigenous women and their legacy in a beautiful and intricate telling.
18. Rain Is Not My Indian Name by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Fourteen-year-old Rain is dealing with the recent passing of her best friend and crush, Galen, as well as losing her mother years before. After months of solitude and grieving, she reemerges to the outside world when she’s dragged into joining her Aunt Georgia’s summer camp for Native American teens. There, she’s hired to photograph the camp by the local paper.
With a father stationed overseas, a brother drifting away from her, and the ugly darkness of small-town politics, we witness Rain’s struggles and efforts of fitting in with her heritage and her journey to self-discovery. Does she want to keep a professional distance from her fellow Native teens? And, though she is still grieving, will she be able to embrace new friends and new beginnings?
19. Hearts Unbroken by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Another book written by New York Times bestselling author, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Hearts Unbroken tells the story of newly single teenager Louise Wolfe. She has just broken up with her first boyfriend, who was unaware of her Muscogee heritage, after hearing him make racist comments about Native people.
Cue senior year, and the drama department’s production of Wizard of Oz causes undue controversy. Racism boils over when white parents in the small Kansas town rage over the diversity among the cast. Lou is paired with Joey to cover a story on the inclusive casting of the play, and though she finds her partner aggravating, she can’t help but also feel drawn to him.
As tensions mount at school, so does a romance between Lou and Joey—but as she’s learned, “dating while Native” can be difficult. In trying to protect her own heart, will Lou break Joey’s?
20. If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth
The year is 1975 and junior high school student Lewis “Shoe” Blake lives on the Tuscarora Indian reservation. He’s been placed in a nearby predominantly white school by a guidance counselor and wrestles with fitting in socially. No stranger to prejudice, Shoe has just about had it when he becomes the target of bully Evan Reininger.
When Shoe hears another student will be joining the class, he’s hoping for an Indigenous friend. Instead, he meets white military brat George Haddonfield, whose father has just been transferred to the base in town. An unexpected bond forges through their love and knowledge of music, but despite their budding friendship, Shoe still feels the need to hide parts of his life from his new friend.
This is a story about friendship, identity, and how to navigate the feeling of needing to suppress your culture in order to fit in.
21. Give Me Some Truth by Eric Gansworth
Another work by author Eric Gansworth, this time set in 1980 and told in two narratives.
Carson, a 17-year-old dreamer, wants one thing and that is to lead a rock band. He sets his eyes on winning the “Battle of the Bands” for a free trip to NYC. His gut tell him this is his opportunity to make it off the Tuscarora reservation.
With a heavy sense of time and setting, we are flung into the story when Derek, Carson’s older brother, comes into his room bearing a gunshot wound in the night, after a seemingly failed robbery of Custard’s Last Stand. A spark is ignited in Carson, and a social justice movement of great impact is set into motion.
Meanwhile, Maggi, or Magpie, has just moved back with her family and is relearning the ways of the rez. She’s dying to stop making the same traditional artwork her family sells to tourists (conceptual stuff is cooler), stop feeling out of place in her new (old) home, and stop being treated like a child. She might like to fall in love for the first time too.
Carson and Maggi—along with their friend Lewis—will navigate loud protests, even louder music, and first love in this stirring novel about coming together in a world defined by difference.
22. Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger
This mystery, noir, and fantasy hybrid is set in an Earth where paranormal beings walk among the rest of us.
Elatsoe—Ellie for short—is a Lipan Apache teen and lives in an alternate contemporary America shaped by the ancestral magics and knowledge of its Indigenous and immigrant groups. She possesses the inherited gift of raising the spirit of the dead. Her cousin loses his life and appears as a ghost to Ellie, declaring himself a victim of murder. And now it’s time for Ellie to find the truth.
Much more than a murder mystery and combining paranormal folklore with Indigenous identity, this story is about how our ancestors live on through the stories we pass down through generations.
23. Surviving the City by Tasha Spillet
Surviving the City is a graphic novel series written by Tasha Spillet, of Nehiyaw and Trinidadian heritage, and illustrated by Natasha Donovan, a member of the Métis nation.
Miikwan and Dez are best friends. Miikwan is Anishinaabe; Dez is Inninew. Together, the teens navigate the challenges of growing up in an urban landscape that can be so dismissive of Native people. They’re so close, they even completed their Berry Fast together.
However, when Dez’s grandmother becomes too sick, Dez is told she can’t stay with her anymore. With the threat of a group home looming, Dez can’t bring herself to go home and disappears. Miikwan is devastated, and the wound of her missing mother resurfaces.
Will Dez’s community find her before it’s too late? Will Miikwan be able to cope if they don’t?
24. The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
The Marrow Thieves follows a group of teens on their quest for survival in a post-apocalyptic North America demolished by global warming.
Humanity has nearly destroyed its world through global warming, but now an even greater evil lurks.
16-year-old French and his friends, Miig, Zheegwon, Wab, RiRi, Tree, Minerva, Chi-Boy, and Slopper, are on the run from the Recruiters, who are trying to capture them. Their goal? To harvest the bone marrow of indigenous people of North America, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost: the ability to dream.
In this dark world, Frenchie and his companions struggle to survive as they make their way up north to the old lands. For now, survival means staying hidden–but what they don’t know is that one of them holds the secret to defeating the marrow thieves. This story focuses on themes of the loss of culture, survival, and resilience, and teaches what it means to be a part of a community.
25. This Place: 150 Years Retold
A graphic novel anthology composed of 10 powerful stories, This Place invites you to explore the past 150 years through the eyes of Indigenous creators and their art.
Beautifully illustrated, these stories are an emotional and enlightening journey through Indigenous wonderworks, psychic battles, and time travel. See how Indigenous peoples have survived a post-apocalyptic world since Contact.
These accounts highlight Indigenous resistance and give an insight into how Native communities have sought to protect their people, promote their traditions, and continue to pass their teachings, despite the grip of colonialism.
26. A Girl Called Echo series by Katherena Vermette
A Girl Called Echo is a graphic novel series that begins with Pemmican Wars.
It follows 13-year-old Echo Desjardins, of Métis descent, as she struggles adjusting to a new life away from her mother, who has just been institutionalized. Lonely and alienated, her life begins to change after she starts experiencing vivid dreams one day in Mr. Bee’s history class. During Mr. Bee’s lecture, Echo finds herself transported to another time and place—a bison hunt on the Saskatchewan prairie—and back again to the present.
In the following weeks, Echo slips back and forth in time. She visits a Métis camp, travels the old fur-trade routes, and experiences the perilous and bygone era of the Pemmican Wars. Through space and time, Echo dives, quite literally, into her people’s history for the first time.
27. Shadows Cast By Stars by Catherine Knutsson
Two hundred years from now, blood has become the most valuable commodity on the planet—especially the blood of aboriginal peoples, for it contains antibodies that protect them from the Plague ravaging the rest of the world.
Sixteen-year-old Cassandra Mercredi might be immune to the Plague, but that doesn’t mean she’s safe—government forces are searching for those of aboriginal heritage to harvest their blood. When a search threatens Cassandra and her family, they flee to the Island: a mysterious and idyllic territory protected by the Band, a group of guerilla warriors—and by an enigmatic energy barrier that keeps outsiders out and the spirit world in. And though the village healer has taken her under her wing, and the tribal leader’s son into his heart, the creatures of the spirit world are angry, and they have chosen Cassandra to be their voice and instrument…
Incorporating the traditions of the First Peoples as well as the more familiar stories of Greek mythology and Arthurian legend, Shadows Cast by Stars is a haunting, beautifully written story that breathes new life into ancient customs.