New & Upcoming Indigenous Books: Winter 2023 Edition
Winter is one of the best times to slow down, keep warm and share stories. Check out these new and upcoming releases by Indigenous authors from January to March 2023!
Where possible for Indigenous authors and illustrators, I have included their nation next to their name in brackets.
Books for children
Father Eagle and the Hunter by Alfreda Beartrack-Algeo (Lower Brule Lakota Nation, Kul Wicasa Oyate)
Check out this title in mid-February 2023.
About the book: "The hunter was tired of only finding berries and seeds to feed his hungry village, so he decided to look far and wide for some meat to bring them. When he spotted a tall tree, he climbed to the top and discovered a nest with three eaglets. [...]
Hearing the warning cries of the eaglets, Father Eagle flew to their rescue. Father Eagle flew to their rescue. Father Eagle told the hunter that if he did not take the eaglets, he would ask the Great Spirit to help the village..."
Smile So Big by Sunshine Quem Tenasco (Anishinaabe), illustrated by Chief Lady Bird (Chippewa and Potawatomi)
Check out this book in early March 2023.
About the book: "When Challa comes home in tears after being teased about her smile, her mom gives her a special gift. It's a magic mirror -- shiny, beaded and beautiful -- passed on from her mom, and from her djo djo before her.
Challa's mom tells her that when anyone looks into the mirror, they will see their true self. There's just one rule: Everyone has to say what they see in the reflection."
Biindigen! Amik Says Welcome by Nancy Cooper (Anishinaabeg), illustrated by Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley (Anishinaabeg)
Check out this title in mid-March 2023.
About the book: "It's a special day for Amik the beaver and her little sister, Nishiime. Their cousins are coming to visit! Amik is excited, but Nishiime feels nervous about meeting new people, and when the cousins finally arrive, Nishiime disappears."
Books for teens
The Everlasting Road by Wab Kinew (Anishinaabeg)
This title is available to borrow now. This is the second book in the Floraverse series. You can check out the first book, Walking in Two Worlds.
About the book: "The boundaries between the virtual and the real world become ... blurred for a young Indigenous girl. After losing her older brother to cancer, Bugz returns to the Floraverse. She's been working on a bot named Waawaate, who looks and acts like the brother she is missing. Disturbances in the Floraverse cannot be ignored and Bugz begins to realize that her Waawaate bot is growing ... beyond her control."
The Roan Stallion by Alfreda Beartrack-Algeo (Lower Brule Lakota Nation, Kul Wicasa Oyate)
Check out this title in early February 2023. This is the second book in the Big Heart series. You can check out the first book, The Land Grab : The Legend of Big Heart.
About the book: "It's 1929 and times are hard for Alfred's Lakota family on the Dakota prairie. Alfred knows his grandfather could use a new tractor, so with the help of his friends and the roan stallion, he makes plans to win the prize money at the annual White River Relay Race. [...] Even though the odds are against Alfred and his team, something in the grandstand catches his eye on the day of the race, and that changes everything. Can Alfred's determination and prayers carry them through to win?"
Books for adults
VenCo by Cherie Dimaline (Métis)
Check out this title in mid-February 2023.
About the book: "Lucky St. James, orphaned daughter of a bad-ass Métis good-times girl, is barely hanging on to her nowhere life when she finds out that she and her grandmother, Stella, are about to be evicted from their apartment. Bad to worse in a heartbeat. Then one night, doing laundry in the building's dank basement, Lucky feels an irresistible something calling to her. Crawling through a hidden hole in the wall, she finds a tarnished silver spoon depicting a story-book hag over letters that spell out S-A-L-E-M."
Bad Cree by Jessica Johns (Cree)
This title is available now.
About the book: "Mackenzie, a Cree millennial, wakes up in her one-bedroom Vancouver apartment clutching a pine bough she had been holding in her dream just moments earlier. When she blinks, it disappears. But she can still smell the sharp pine scent in the air, the nearest pine tree a thousand kilometres away ..."
Don't Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones (Blackfoot)
Check out this title in early February 2023. This is the second book in the Indian Lake Trilogy. You can check out the first book, My Heart is a Chainsaw.
About the book: "Four years after her tumultuous senior year, Jade Daniels is released from prison right before Christmas when her conviction is overturned. But life beyond bars takes a dangerous turn as soon as she returns from Proofrock. Convicted Serial Killer, Dark Mill South, seeking revenge for thirty-eight Dakota men hanged in 1862, escapes from his prison transfer due to a blizzard, just outside of Proofrock, Idaho.
Dark Mill South's Reunion Tour began on December 12th, 2019, a Thursday.
Thirty-six hours and twenty bodies later, on Friday the 13th, it would be over."
Did you place a hold or check out any of these titles? Tell us in the comments below!
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