American Indians in Children's Literature is pleased to share our annual year-end list of books we want you to know about. We'd like multiple copies of them to be in every classroom, school, and public library.

On October 27, 2023 CBC News published Who is the real Buffy Sainte-Marie? and The Fifth Estate did a segment, Investigating Buffy Sainte-Marie's claims to Indigenous ancestry. In Native networks, people were asking questions in the days leading to the broadcast.

the American Library Association announced its annual book awards. Below a list of the winners of the American Indian Library Association's Youth Literature Awards, given every two years (even-numbered years). Soon, all these books listed below will have the AIYLA seal on them! The photo below is from the AILA website and shows a selection of the books with their seals.

a thread of books by Native writers and illustrators slated for release in 2024.

As of today there are 29 different books, many of them challenged or banned in more than one location. The 29 books are by 31 different Native authors and illustrators from 22 distinct Native Nations.

Published in 2021 by Scholastic Press, it offers teachers a Native perspective--not just on Thanksgiving--but on history.

Kim Rogers (enrolled member of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes) told us that Just Like Grandma won the 2024 Charlotte Zolotow Award! Here's her screencap:

I recommend books in which Native kids see themselves. Native kids are at the center of my work. I imagine myself, back in a classroom, handing a child a book and saying "this author is from the same tribe you are from!" And then I imagine myself trying to figure out what to tell that child when I learn the person is not who I thought they were. I could ignore it but that wouldn't be ethical.

The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich. It was first published in 1999 by HyperionBooks for Children and according to WorldCat, there are now 37 editions. This year -- 2024 -- marks the 25th year since its initial publication.