Dawn Quigley (Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe)

Tara Audibert (Wolastoqey)

In the third book of the Jo Jo Makoons series, Jo Jo plans a winter Olympics-style event for her Ojibwe community. After noticing the healthy habits of her Mama, Kokum, and family cat, Mimi, she’s excited when her teacher announces that they’ll be learning about health. But a snowstorm closes everything on her Ojibwe reservation, so Jo Jo takes this opportunity to help her classmates and Elders by creating a healthy winter event.

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Malia Maunakea (Native Hawaiian)

This sequel follows Lei after the events of Lei and the Fire Goddess. Lei is exhausted after saving Kaipo—her best friend and ancestral guardian—from the traps of Pele the Fire Goddess, and saving her Tūtū’s house from being destroyed by lava. But rest is not on the horizon for Lei because Kaipo’s aumakua pendant is missing. If they don’t retrieve it, Kaipo will disintegrate. Lei and Kaipo team up with a talking bat and fashionista Kaukahi to retrieve Kaipo’s pendant before it’s too late. The journey, however, takes them to an invisible island where they discover a threat greater than the lost pendant: evil spirits who are out for blood.

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Traci Sorell (Cherokee Nation) and Charles Waters

With six alternative narratives told in verse, this story follows the students of a seventh-grade English class in Rye, Virgina, a suburb just outside of Washington D.C. Their English teacher creates a new assignment, which encourages them to debate and discuss whether or not Native American mascots are appropriate. The six middle-schoolers come from all different backgrounds, including Callie, a Cherokee Native citizen who recently moved from Oklahoma. But this debate doesn’t just affect students at this high school. It affects the entire community because their long-standing and beloved high school football traditions center around the Braves mascot.

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David A. Robertson (Norway House Cree)

Eleven-year-old Alex Robinson is a talented hockey player, but his life changes when his family relocates to the city for his father’s new job. Alex doesn’t feel like he fits in at school because his fellow classmates don’t understand his Indigenous culture. Alex is misunderstood, and he gets in trouble when he shows a simple gesture to his teacher, which is meant to be a sign of respect. When Alex joins his local hockey team, the Kodiaks, he’s undeniably one of the best players, but his Indigenous heritage is a target for bullying. While balancing wanting to fit in with embracing his identity, Alex must learn to trust that his teammates will stick up for him against other teams and their antagonistic comments.

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David A. Robertson (Norway House Cree)

In this Narnia-inspired Indigenous story, Morgan and Emily form a close relationship as they explore their new discovery: World’s End in Aski. Meanwhile, Eli grapples with his newfound ability to locate portals. When a startling turn of events takes them to Ministik, a village where animal beings are disappearing, the children are horrified to discover who’s responsible. Determined to help find the animal beings, Morgan and Emily team up with old and new friends. But the lines between the two worlds blur when details of a traditional legend come to light.

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Emily Bowen Cohen (Muscogee Creek Nation/Jewish)

As Mia adapts to her living situation with her mom and stepfather, she feels like an outsider in her new household and at her Jewish school. Mia longs for a connection with her Muscogee father, who lives in Oklahoma with his new family. But Mia’s mother refuses to talk about him, which only makes Mia wonder more about her Muscogee heritage. Mia decides to sell her bat mitzvah gifts so that she can secretly take a bus to Oklahoma and visit her dad.

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Christine Day (Upper Skagit)

When Wesley presents her poem for Indigenous Peoples’ Day, she is disheartened by the reaction from her teacher, leading her to wonder if her self-expression matters. Adding to Wesley’s dashed hopes, her plan to ask her crush to the school dance doesn’t go well. Since she’s unable to enroll in the Upper Skagit tribe due to the tribal laws of her family’s Nation, Wesley also grapples with not feeling “Native enough.” That’s until her community surrounds her with love and support during an intertribal powwow, and Wesley learns to embrace her unique place within the Native community.

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