Native Americans

The following list of books and resources can be used by both the teacher and the students in the studying of Native Americans. Through my search for literature on Native Americans I have found that there are several approaches that can be taken while studying Native Americans. The teacher and students could do anything from studying about a specific Native American tribe and their ways of life to studying Native American tales and legends and developing one of their own. Their are a wide variety of books in several different genres, so chances are there is something for every student. It is important for students to learn about and come to understand Native Americans and their history because they did make a great impact on the world we live in. I think that also by teaching students about Native Americans they can come to understand diversity and the different ways of life that people had in the past and still do have in certain cultures today. There are endless possibilities with doing a Native American unit and hopefully these books and resources can guide you in the right direction and inspire students to learn about a culture that we sometimes forget about.

This book gives young readers a new perspective on the French and Indian war. A young boy, Saxso, has his village attacked and many of his people are killed and held hostage. It is up to him to bring these people back.

Shaw, Janet. Meet Kaya: An American Girl. Middleton, WI: Pleasant Company
Publications, 2002.

A young Native American girl, Kaya, wishes to be the best horsewoman in her village. With this goal she ends up putting herself in danger. It is a good book for young girls because they can relate to Kaya, however as they read they will come to understand a bit about living in a native American village and family.

A boy named Ray lives in the windy city in current day. He is close to his grandfather and it is him who shows him about their Seminole-Cherokee heritage. With their talks he learns to love both his life in Chicago but also the traditions of past generations in his family.

A Native American girl and her father go on a magical nighttime canoe ride and encounter loons, as well as other lake creatures. It shows the reader the relationship that Native Americans have with nature. I think that it is important to show students the relationship that the Native Americans had with nature because in contemporary times we have much different perceptions of nature.

Mora, Pat. The Night the Moon Fell. Toronto, Canada: Groundwood Books/Douglas & McIntyre, 2000.

This story definitely has a whimsical feel to it due to the outstanding illustrations. The story brings in a lot of nature, in the motif of moon and stars. I think that this book is a fun way for younger children to understand how Native Americans related to the nature around them and how it was an important part of their lives. The story is basically about the moon, named Luna, and the things that she encounters. The moon is shattered into many pieces and nature has to put her back together because they need her to shine her light on them. A very cute book and the pictures are wonderful.

Bruchac, Joseph and Thomas Locker. Between Earth and Sky. San Diego, CA: Harcourt
Brace & Company, 1996.

A Native American boy listens to his uncle retell several legends and tales about the sacred places of his people. Through these tales the boy learns that everything living and that surrounds him should be treated with the utmost respect. This is a good book to use because it shows students some of the things that Native Americans believe in and the respect that they have for their surroundings.

Bruchac, Joseph and Gayle Ross. The Girl Who Married the Moon. USA: Bridgewater
Books, 1994.

This book has several short legends and tales from North American Native Americans. It is divided into tales from the Northeast, Southeast, Northwest and Southwest. I thought that this was a good book to use because it shows that there were many different types of Native Americans in North American and they all have different beliefs.

Raczek, Linda. Stories from Native North America. Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn Company,
1996.

This book includes several tales from the Native American culture of North America. Within each of the stories there is also informational snippets, as well as activity ideas, a glossary and a page of further information. This book was good all around because it is something that is fun to read, but is educational and helps the reader to become in touch with the Native American culture.

London, Jonathan and Joseph Bruchac. Thirteen Moons on Turtles Back. New York:
Philomel Books, 1992.

This does a wonderful job of celebrating the seasons of the Native Americans through poems. It also shows readers how the Native kept track of the seasons through watching the moons. No, they didn’t have watches or calendars back then.

This biography explores the life of the great Native American leader, Sitting Bull, taking the reader through battles he fought, his surrender and death. It features maps, chronology and glossary. It is a good book because it makes students aware that the Native Americans had an impact on the country that we live in and there were great leaders in times long ago to us.

This is a biography about a Native American woman who acted as an interpreter during the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It includes information of her childhood, capture and reunion with her brother. This book shows some of the contact that the Native Americans had with people outside of their culture. It is also important for all students to know that Native American women made an impact, as well.

Egger-Bovet, Howard and Marlene Smith-Baranzini. USKids History: Book of the American
Indians. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1994.

This book offers information about the day-to-day lives, customs and beliefs of Native Americans in North America. It contains detailed illustrations of clothing, spiritual figures, writing and housing of several Native American tribes. It is a good book because it contains just about every aspect of the Native American life and contains instructions for creating models of what they created.

This book also contains in depth information about all aspects of the Native Americans lives. It was very well written and easy to follow, it contains both photographs and drawn illustrations. Again there are easy to follow activities for the children to use to make Native American objects.

Haslam, Andrew and Alexandra Parsons. Make it Work: North American Indians. New
York: Thomas Learning, 1995.

This book contains several ideas on how to make learning about Native Americans a hands-on approach. As well as giving ideas for projects that can be incorporated into a Native American unit, it also has information about several aspects of the Native American culture and a glossary of terms used within the culture.

This is a book centered on photography. It contains real life photographs of daily life, ceremonies, Indians in their environments and portraits. This is a good book to present in a Native American unit because it brings reality to the topic and allows students to see Native Americans and the things that make up their culture.

Lima, Carolyn W. and John A. Lima. A to Zoo: Subject Access to Children’s Picture Books.
Westport, CN: Bowker-Greenwood, 2001.

This was definitely a resourceful reference book. It had all sorts of topics and several lists of children’s books pertaining to the topic following the heading. It gave me an idea of certain authors who have written several books about the topic I was researching. A MUST HAVE, doing a project such as this.

Brown, David K. The Children's Literature Web Guide. 16 Apr. 2001. University of Calgary. 17 Nov.
2003 < http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown>

This website has several resources for teachers, parents and storytellers. It gives the user access to literature on-line as well as resources to look at in other forms of print. The site contains a discussion board and contact information of the author for any questions that a user may have.

Whitson, Kathy J. Native American Literatures: An Encyclopedia of Works, Characters, Authors, and
Themes. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 1999.

This resource includes articles on individual authors, individual works, on important characters in works and on several other aspects of Native American literature. I thought that this would be a good book for a teacher to use because it can point them in a direction of what kind of literature can be used while implementing a Native American unit.

www.elmhurst.lib.il.us - The official site of the Elmhurst Public Library, they have many resources to
offer anyone looking for books on Native Americans, as well as many other
topics.

www.teach-nology.com - This site offers several creative lesson plan ideas incorporating the theme of
Native Americans. It also has a search engine which allows the user to browse
for other lesson plans on several other topics