Teachers who work with English as a Second Language learners will find ESL/ESOL/ELL/EFL reading/writing skill-building children's books, stories, activities, ideas, strategies to help PreK-3, 4-8, and 9-12 students learn to read.
American Indian Historical Fiction
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Additional recommendations are available from the American Indians in Children's Literature blog and Oyate website.
The historic novels on this list will take middle and high school readers back in time to the days before European explorers arrived in North America, to the French and Indian War, and to the early days of the Trail of Tears. These titles are highly recommended for literature and Social Studies discussions.
Hidden Roots
Hidden Roots tells the story of 11-year-old Sonny, a shy boy whose father's sudden rages are becoming more and more frequent. The love of his fragile mother, the support and protection of his Uncle Louis, and an unexpected friendship with a librarian help Sonny gain the confidence to confront hidden family secrets and discover the truth about his Native American roots, and the people in his family's past who tried to destroy their heritage. Set in upstate New York in the 1950s, Hidden Roots is a novel that illuminates a startling truth about our history as only Joe Bruchac can tell it. — Scholastic
Last Child
Product Description: Rosalie's biggest problem has been the constant tug-of-war between her white half and her Native American half. She even has two names: she is Rosalie to her Scottish father and Last Child to her Mandan mother. When a steamboat carries smallpox into Rosalie's world in 1837, however, the name Last Child takes on a new, tragic significance, and Rosalie must fight her way into adulthood against all odds.
Longwalker's Journey: A Novel of The Chocktaw Trail of Tears
Product Description: In 1831, ten-year-old Minko Ushi is part of the forced removal of his Choctaw people from their homeland in Mississippi to Indian Territory. Minko's father decides to travel ahead by foot, taking Minko and his beloved pony, Black Spot, with him. As he walks hundreds of miles across Arkansas Territory through howling snowstorms, Minko learns that his people are much like his stubborn little pony: They may suffer, but their spirit will never be broken.
Morning Girl
A peaceful, tropical world is the setting for this simple yet rich glimpse into the lives of a young sister and brother. Morning Girl and Star Boy grapple with timeless, universal issues such as experiencing simultaneous anger and love toward family members and the quest to discover the true self. Not until the epilogue do readers discover that the story takes place in 1492 and that the strange-looking visitors Morning Girl welcomes to shore are not as harmless as they may appear.
Spirit of the White Bison
A young bison growing up on the plains in the late 1800s faces peril at the hands of soldiers, who are destroying the great buffalo herds as a way to control native tribes. He is befriended by a native warrior and a white hunter who try to save him and his herd from annihilation.
Sweetgrass Basket
Mattie and Sarah are two Mohawk sisters who are sent to an off-reservation school after the death of their mother. Subject to intimidation and corporal punishment, with little hope of contact with their father, the girls are taught menial tasks to prepare them for life as domestics. How Mattie and Sarah protect their culture, memories of their family life, and their love for each other makes for a powerful, unforgettable historical novel.
The Porcupine Year
The struggle to survive provides the exciting action in this sequel to The Birchbark House and The Game of Silence, which takes place in 1852…Omakayas, now 12, feels the anguish of displacement as her family, driven from its beloved Madeline Island by white settlers, endures violent raids in the freezing winter and comes close to starvation in its search for a home. — Booklist
The Winter People
In a Quebec village during the French and Indian War, 14-year-old Saxso, an Abenaki, is caught in a struggle of survival and rescue when his mother and sisters are kidnapped during a massacre raid by the English Rangers…Through Saxso's own words, Bruchac leads readers through the boy's pursuit to save his family. He is also depicted as religious, with beliefs that are a mixture of Abenaki and Christian teachings. An excellent complement to Native American or French and Indian War units with high discussion potential. — School Library Journal
Waterlily (New Edition)
Product Description: When Blue Bird and her grandmother leave their family's camp to gather beans for the long, threatening winter, they inadvertently avoid the horrible fate that befalls the rest of the family. Luckily, the two women are adopted by a nearby Dakota community and are eventually integrated into their kinship circles. Published after Deloria's death, this novel offers a captivating glimpse into the daily life of the nineteenth-century Sioux.
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