Teresa Wouters (Métis)

Set on a fictional reserve in the early 2000s, sixteen-year-old Josh’s life is steeped in Cree culture. He’s proud of his participation in powwows, and he has deep respect for his elders. Josh is also faced with poverty and the looming presence of a gang called the Warriors. Josh’s dad was the leader of the Warriors until he was sent to prison, and his older brother inherited their father’s position. So, when Josh drops out of high school, his mother urges him to graduate and not join the Warriors. But then his older brother is killed by a rival gang, and Josh is on the verge of becoming a full-fledged member. Can his family and community intervene before Josh follows the notorious legacy of his father and brother?

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Angeline Boulley (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians)

Daunis Fontaine is a biracial teen and an unenrolled tribal member of the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She’s excited for a new start at college, especially since she has never felt like she fits in. Her plans, however, are put on hold when she starts caring for her fragile mother. During this time, one positive thing happens: she meets Jamie, the charismatic new recruit for her brother’s hockey team. Daunis feels like Jamie is hiding something, and her suspicions are confirmed when she witnesses the shocking murder of her best friend, Lily. FBI agents approach Daunis, informing her that the murder is connected to a lethal new drug. Reluctant, yet determined to protect her community, Daunis goes undercover for the FBI, using her knowledge of chemistry and Ojibwe traditional medicine to uncover the seller behind the drug.

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Eric Gansworth (Onondaga Nation)

In 1992, Brian is a twenty-something reporter for his small city newspaper called Niagara Cascade. Since he’s the only Native person in the newsroom, he’s stuck with writing about crime that takes place on the Tuscarora Indian Reservation. But the next crime, a roadside assault, hits close to home. Brian knows the victim—it’s Tim, who is the brother of Brian’s mother’s late boyfriend. When Brian returns to the Rez, he has flashbacks that transport him to the 1970’s when he was an adolescent living through racism and poverty on the reservation. Brian’s flashbacks serve as a coming-of-age journey as he reevaluates his identity and navigates the balance between his Haudenosaunee and American lives.

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Nahanni Shingoose (Saulteaux)

An eighteen-year-old recent high school graduate, River is part Ojibwe and part white, which leads to her being teased about her mixed heritage. Although River has grown up on a farm in Ontario with her white mother and stepfather, she decides to spend her summer in Winnipeg with her Indigenous father and grandmother. There, River learns what it’s like to be an “urban Indian” living on the reserve, and she gains a deep respect for her culture’s traditions and lands. She also observes multi-generational hardships, such as Indigenous gangs and the aftermath of the residential school system. But her respect for her culture is quickly overshadowed by a painful mistake. When River drunkenly posts a photo during the powwow’s afterparty, the social media incident angers the community and sparks a debate about River’s right to identify as Indigenous.

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Drew Hayden Taylor (Curve Lake First Nation Ojibway)

Michael Wyatt

Tiffany is a sixteen-year-old Anishinaabe teen living on the Otter Lake reservation. She’s dealing with a lot: her father is concerned about her grades, her mother has left to start a life with a new partner, and her white boyfriend makes racist comments about her Native heritage. When Tiffany’s father rents out their basement to Pierre L’Errant, the family doesn’t know the truth: L’Errant is a vampire returning to his tribal home after spending centuries in Europe. Tiffany and her family grow suspicious of their new house guest, especially when he has a conversation with their grandmother, who is the only known fluent speaker of their Anishinaabe language. When Tiffany flees into the woods one night, overcome by her life circumstances, she encounters L’Errant and learns about the history of their ancestors.

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Jen Ferguson (Michif/Métis)

Louisa “Lou” Norquay is an 18-year-old Métis girl who lives in a Canadian prairie town. As Lou’s mother travels to sell her beadwork at powwows, Lou must work at the family’s ice cream shack with her ex-boyfriend and her ex-best friend. But the family’s business—and livelihood—is threatened when Lou’s white biological father is released from jail and begins to follow her around town. Not only are family secrets revealed during this pivotal summer, Lou also transitions into adulthood with the discovery of her demisexuality and the embrace of her Native culture.

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Angeline Boulley (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians)

Ten years after the events of Firekeeper’s Daughter, this standalone novel follows Perry Firekeeper-Birch. She’s a troublemaker twin and a talented fisher who is content with a future that doesn’t stray away from Sugar Island. Forced to do a summer internship, Perry is mentored by her tribe’s museum director about the repatriation of Ojibwe artifacts, but everything changes when Perry learns about the remains of an ancestor named “Warrior Girl.” Up until this point, Perry has been under the impression that NAGPRA is a federal law which aids in returning ancestral remains and sacred items to their descendants. However, the law isn’t perfect: the local university has found legal loopholes in NAGPRA so that they can wrongly keep Warrior Girl and other ancestors’ remains under their possession. Feeling that the legal system has failed to uphold justice, Perry teams up with her friends and her twin sister to plan a heist that will bring their ancestors back home.

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