Native American Heritage Month #BOOKADAY Recommendations

Although I would love to highlight many of the new Native American picture books published this year, that will have to wait a few months yet since I’m on the Caldecott Committee for the 2026 award. I am not able to post about eligible 2025 picture books until after the awards are announced on January 26th, and since every book published in the U.S. with an illustrator who is an American citizen or resident is eligible for award consideration, it’s better to just avoid all of them for a little bit longer. But I don’t want us to forget about all of the wonderful picture books we’ve discovered in previous years we could still be sharing this month!

I have been posting a month’s worth of picture book read aloud recommendations for Native American Heritage Month since 2021. Below you will find all four years worth — 120 titles you could choose from — for sharing with children in your life that honor Native American cultures, peoples, and traditions.

It’s not just for November.
Native representation should be included in the books we highlight, recommend, read aloud, and share throughout the year.

The National Congress of American Indians explains the purpose of Native American Heritage Month.

“The month is a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people. Heritage Month is also an opportune time to educate the general public about tribes, to raise a general awareness about the unique challenges Native people have faced both historically and in the present, and the ways in which tribal citizens have worked to conquer these challenges.”

The research I did for my multicultural children’s literature course in my MLIS program, and what I have learned from Dr. Debbie Reese at American Indians in Children’s Literature, informs the lens I use when evaluating picture books with Indigenous characters. Even with this, being a cultural outsider, I will still make mistakes as I am constantly learning and growing my critical analysis perspectives.

The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), an incredible Smithsonian museum in Washington, D.C., has a checklist Worksheet for Selecting Native American Children’s Literature that is also super helpful! It focuses on five main areas of analysis: Authority, Accurate Representation, Tribal Specificity, Language, & Contemporary Life.

Books are not sacred; children’s hearts are.
Dr. Debbie Reese (tribally enrolled, Nambé Pueblo)
American Indians in Children’s Literature

We Need Diverse Books (WNDB) also has an initiative supporting Indigenous Reads Rising. It’s a fabulous resource to ensure you’re getting quality Native representation in your classroom along with advice to support educators.