PETER AND THE SECRET OF RUNDOON

by Dave Barry (4th+)

Peter, the Starcatchers, and the Lost Boys are on another adventure. They believed Lord Ombra to be dead but are now thinking maybe he did not die at Stonehenge as they believed. Something is about to happen. No one is sure what but they all know that it must be stopped, whatever it is. Peter’s adventure begins when a group called the Scorpions, so called for using scorpion poison on their weapons when they fight, attacks the Mollusk village. Meanwhile, Molly has found out that over the years the Starcatchers had been warned when the next Starstuff would fall, but not this last time when it fell in Scotland. The Starcatchers were just lucky enough to get it before the Others did. But why were they not warned?After digging around, Molly finds that it has something to do with Peter and his lost family as well as the city of Rundoon where Peter was headed on the ship in Peter and the Starcatchers. Read Peter and the Secret of Rundoon, the third book in this trilogy to find out what happens to Peter, the Starcatchers and the Lost Boys, as well as the starstuff.

INKHEART

by Cornelia Funke (4th+)

Meggie and her father Mo were inseparable. Then one night a stranger shows up at their door and yet her father seems to know who he is. Suddenly, he becomes very secretive and this stranger is calling him Silvertongue. Meggie finds herself swept into a world of fictional characters who have come to life and who require her father for some strange reason. It seems that several years ago Mo, or Silvertongue as he is called by these characters, read aloud from a book called Inkheart and the characters from the story came to life in his living room. These characters that came forth however were not good people. He does not have the ability to send them back and so they have been living in his world, terrorizing people. Now they are after Mo and his daughter Meggie, trying to get him to read from more books to bring them riches and continue with their evil ways. Will they get what they want from Silvertongue or will Maggie be able to help her father get free of them. Read Inkheart by Cornelia Funke to find out.

PICTURES OF HOLLIS WOODS

by Patricia Reilly Giff (5th +)

Hollis Woods is: the place a baby was abandoned, the baby’s name, an artist, a mountain of trouble, now a 12-year-old girl who’s been in so many foster homes, she can hardly remember them all. Hollis even ran away from the Regans, the one family that offered her a home. But Hollis now has Josie, an elderly artistic woman, who makes Hollis feel wanted and needed. Josie, however, is becoming more and more forgetful every day. Hollis is afraid someone will find out and take her away, and who knows what they’ll do with Josie. Well, Hollis isn’t about to let that happen. She’ll run away again, only this time with Josie. But as Hollis plans their escape, she thinks about her summer with the Regan family, a summer so special it almost hurts to remember it. Hollis can run away, but she can’t escape her memories. What will happen when her memories catch up with her?

NUMBER THE STARS

by Lois Lowry (5th +)

Ten-year old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think about life before the war. But it’s now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching in their town. The Nazis won’t stop. The Jews of Denmark are being “relocated,” so Ellen moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be party of the family. Then Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission. Somehow she must find the strength and courage to save her best friend’s life. There’s no turning back now.

JOURNAL OF AUGUSTUS PELLETIER-THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION, 1804

My Name is America (5th +)

May 13, 1805
I can’t quite believe I am all here because it’s just short of a miracle that parts of me aren’t floating around in the gut of a grizzly bear….It was the biggest grizzly ever! Least, biggest I’d see….it was me who was right in that bear’s sights, directly between him and the water….I almost made it into the canoe but fell into the water….I took a huge gulp of air and dove. It wasn’t that deep and I swear I felt that bear’s claw on my moccasin. I scraped my chin on the rocky bottom but I just kept swimming. Go deep! Go deep! The words pounded in my head. Maybe that bear won’t smell me if I’m deep.

ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS

by Scott O’Dell (5th +)

In the Pacific there is an island that looks like a big fish sunning itself in the sea. Around it, blue dolphins swim, otters play, and sea elephants and sea birds abound. Once, Indians also lived on the island. And when they left and sailed to the east, one young girl was left behind. This is the story of Karana, the Indian girl who lived alone for years on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. Year after year: she watched one season pass into another and waited for a ship to take her away. But while she waited, she kept herself alive by building shelter: making weapons, finding food, and fighting her enemies, the wild dogs. It is not only an unusual adventure of survival, but also a tale of natural beauty and personal discovery.

HOPE WAS HERE

by Joan Bauer (5th +)

When 16-year-old Hope, waitress extraordinaire, moves cross-country to Wisconsin with her aunt Addie to run the Welcome Stairways Diner, Hope isn’t sure she’ll fit in. But she quickly finds herself involved in the small town’s mayoral race, as G.T., owner of the diner, surprises everyone with his entry into the race. After all, G.T. has leukemia. And his opponent is the previously undefeated longtime mayor. Some think G.T. is crazy, but Hope sees the goodness and power in him. Will everyone else see it too?

EVERYTHING ON A WAFFLE

by Polly Horvath (5th +)

The town of Coal Harbour knows that Primrose Squarp’s parents were lost at sea in a storm. Everyone believes this except Primrose herself. She knows deep inside her heart that they will come back. Meanwhile, she lives with her Uncle Jack. Things don’t go all that smoothly. Primrose has a few accidents, and the school counselor is worried that Primrose is not facing reality about her parents. But she also has a friend who owns a restaurant where everything is served on a waffle.

CRISPIN: THE CROSS OF LEAD

by Avi (5th+)

The thirteen-year-old boy has always been called “Asta’s son.” but after his mother’s death, he learns from the local priest that his real name is Crispin. Before Crispin can find out more about his identity, the priest is murdered and Crispin is blamed. Declared a “wolf’s head,” who can be killed by anyone, Crispin searches through 14th-century England to find who he really is.

SINGLE SHARD, A

by Linda Sue Park (5th+)

Imagine that you want to be good-really good-at something. But you’re too poor to get the equimpment you need to practice. Say you feel like you could be a great basketball player, but you don’t have shoes, or access to a basketball court, or even a ball. That’s like the situation that Tree-Ear is in. He’s living in Korea, hundreds of years ago. He’s an orphan, he’s homeless, and he’s so poor that he lives under a bridge with a friend, and forages for food. But very often, he goes to hide in the trees outside Min the potter’s workshop, to watch Min at work. Min is a master. He workds slowly, but when he does finish, his work is better than anyone’s. Tree-Ear imagines, while he watches, that someday-if he could ever get clay, if her were everable to work on a potter’s wheel-he could make pottery like that. And then one day, Min is away, and Tree-Ear can’t resist going into his workshop to see the finished pieces. While Tree-Ear is busy looking at all of the pottery pieces, Master Min returns home to find him snooping about. Can things get any worse for Tree-Ear?

THIEF, THE

by Megan Whalen Turner (5th+)

Because of his bragging—and his great skill at thievery --Gen lands in the King’s Prison, shackled to the wall of his cell. After months of isolation, kept sane only by his sharp intelligence, Gen is released by none other than the King’s Scholar, the Magus, who believed he knows the site of an ancient treasure. The Magus needs the best thief in the land to help him steal it, and that thief is Gen. To the Magus, Gen is simply a tool. But Gen is a survivor and a trickster—and he has ideas of his own. The surprise ending will leave you breathless!

WESTING GAME, THE

by Ellen Raskin (5th+)

One fateful day, sixteen people gather for the reading of Samuel W. Westing’s will. To their surprise, the will turns out to be a contest, challenging the heirs to find out who among them is Westing’s murderer. Forging ahead, through blizzards, burglaries, and bombings, the game is on. Only two people hold all the clues. One of them is a Westing heir. The other is you!

RUBY HOLLER

by Sharon Creech (4th+)

Dallas and Florida have been dubbed the ‘trouble twins.’ They have been shuffled between foster families and orphanages all their lives, longing only for a loving place to call home, though mistrustful that one exists for the likes of them. Tiller and Sairy are an eccentric older couple whose children are grown and long gone, and they’re each restless for one more big adventure while their bodies are still spry enough to paddle a river or climb a mountain. Ruby Holler is the beautiful, mysterious place that changes all their lives forever. When Tiller and Sairy invite Dallas and Florida to stay
with them and keep them company on their adventures, the magic of the Holler takes over, and the two kids begin to think that maybe, just maybe the old folks aren’t so bad.

HOLES

by Louis Sachar (4th+)

Stanley Yelnat’s trouble began when he stole Clyde “Sweet Feet” Livingston’s tennis shoes. Well, he didn’t really steal them and his troubles actually went back much further to his no-good-dirty-rotten- pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather, but none of that mattered now that he was stuck at Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention center that was really a dried up lake in Texas without even a trace of green. What the camp did have was rattlesnakes, deadly yellow-spotted lizards, inmates with names like Armpit, X-Ray, and Zero, and a warden who was way beyond nasty. The next 18 months for Stanley Yelnats were not going to be fun. Every day Stanley and the other inmates each had to dig a hole in the lake 5 feet deep by 5 feet wide. The only relief came if you dug up something that interested the warden. If this happened, they you might get to take the rest of the day off. Two weeks into his sentence, Stanley did discover something and the warden was interested, but Stanley never got the rest of the day off. What did Stanley find and how did he survive those long hot days at Camp Green Lake? Read Holes to find out why.

EAR, THE EYE, AND THE ARM

by Nancy Farmer (4th+)

The three children of the wealthy and powerful General Matsika steal out of the house on a forbidden adventure—and promptly disappear. their parents call in the best detectives in Africa, or at least the most unusual: the Ear, the Eye and the Arm, whose exposure to nuclear waste has given them powers far beyond those of other human beings. Their mission takes them to the underbelly of the city, where truth and lies are often the same; to the toxic and dangerous Dead Man’s Vlei, ruled by the tyrannical She-Elephant; to the swaying top of the luxurious Mile-High MacIlwaine Holtel. Yet the children stay just out of their reach. The evils of the past, the technology of the future, criminals with plans far beyond what anyone can imagine— can the Ear, the Eye and the Arm snatch the Matsika children from the heart of it all?

NORY RYAN'S SONG

by Patricia Reilly Giff (5th+)

Nory Ryan’s family has lived on Maidin Bay for generations. This yeaer, however, a terrible blight attacks the potatoes, and her family is split apart by the great hunger that overtakes Ireland. Nory’s mother died years before, her Older sister Maggie has gone to America, and Da is away on a fishing boat. There are no coins for food, and Lord Cunningham, the landlord, is threatening to take their home. with bold determination, Nory Ryan searches for a way to save her family from starvation and get everyone to America.

BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA

by Katharine Paterson (4th+)

Jess Aarons’ greatest ambition is to be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. He’s been practicing all summer and can’t wait to see his classmates’ faces when he beats them all. But on the first day of school, a new kids, a new girl, boldly crosses over to the boys’ side of the playground and outruns everyone. That’s not a very promising beginning for a friendship, but Jess and Leslie Burke become inseparable. It doesn’t matter to Jess that Leslie dresses funny, or that her family has a lot of money-but no TV. Leslie has imagination. Together, she and Jess create Terabithia, a magical kingdom in the woods where the two of them reign as king and queen, and their imaginations set the only limits. But when there is an accident at Terabithia, what will happen to the two of them?

HOOT

by Carl Hiaasen (4th+)

Roy Eberhardt doesn’t give a “hoot” about living in his new home state of Florida. His family moves often, so he’s used to being the new kid in school, but this time is different. He misses his last home in Montana and isn’t interested in anything in Florida until he sees “the boy at the school bus stop.” The boy that catches Roy’s attention is just a typical boy about his own age. What’s different about him is that he’s running away from the school bus instead of towards it. Plus, the boy has no books, no backpack, and even no shoes. Roy is intrigued by the mystery surrounding the boy, so he starts to follow him. In his chase to find out about the secretive stranger, Roy encounters poisonous snakes with sparkles on their tails, alligators in toilets, a girl who bites a hole in his bicycle tire, burrowing owls, and trouble with the police. Will Roy ever find out who the mysterious boy is and what he’s up to? Does Roy ever learn to enjoy living in Florida? Find out by reading Hoot by Carl Hiaasen.

HOUSE OF THE SCORPION

by Nancy Farmer (4th+)

Matteo Alacran was not born; he was harvested. His DNA came from El Patron, lord of a country called Opium—a strip of poppy fields lying between the United States and what was once called Mexico. Matt’s first cell split and divided inside a petri dish. Then he was placed in the womb of a cow, where he continued the miraculous journey from embryo to fetus to baby. He is a boy now, but most consider him a monster—except El Patron. El Patron loves Matt as he loves himself, because Matt is himself. As Matt struggles to understand his existence, he is threatened by a sinister cast of characters, including El Patron’s power-hungry family, and he is surrounded by a dangerous army of bodyguards. Escape is the only chanceMatt has to survive. But escape from the Alacran Estate is no guarantee of freedom, because Matt is marked by his difference in ways he doesn’t even suspect.

JOEY PIGZA SWALLOWED THE KEY

by Jack Gantos (4th+)

Joey Pigza is wired, really wired. His doctors call it ADD, or Attention Deficit Disorder. Joey just knows that it’s hard for him to control himself. He doesn’t mean to get in trouble: He just wondered how the pencil sharpener worked and didn’t thin before he stuck his finger in…And he knew he shouldn’t run with scissors, but he didn’t mean to cut his classmate’s nose. Then there was the incident with his house key. It might sound funny to us, but it’s not funny for Joey. His teacher says that if his behavior doesn’t improve, he’ll get sent to a special school. Can Joey behave? And how does he get rid of the key in his stomach? Find out for yourself when you read Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key.

BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE

by Kate DiCamillo (3rd+)

Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni has just moved to Naomi, Florida. Her mom has left their family, her father’s been hiding in his old “turtle shell,” and all she wants is a friend. And that’s when she meets Winn-Dixie, a stray dog she rescues at the local grocery store. Having Winn-Dixie for a dog is great. She starts to meet people in town, her father starts poking out of his shell, and India Opal begins to understand why her mother may have left. All this happens because of Winn-Dixie.

SCHOOL STORY, THE

by Andrew Clements (3rd+)

Who knows more about school than someone who’s right there, five days a week, nine months a year? Do you think you know what school is like more than anyone else? Well, Natalie, an aspiring writer, thinks so. She hears that her mom’s publishing company is looking to find and publish stories set in schools. Natalie is inspired to write a novel set in school to practice writing, but when her best friend Zoe reads it, Zoe decides to scheme a plan to get it published. but how can Natalie have her mom read it fairly, without thinking “just a kid” wrote it? So Natalie changes her name on her manuscript and Zoe takes on a new identity to become Natalie’s-I mean Cassandra Day’s-agent. A book agent helps shop around an unpublished book to publishing houses to try to find one that will publish the book. So, does Natalie’s mom even read the manuscript? Does it get published? You’ll want to read The School Story to discover all the crazy ways Zoe and Natalie work to get the manuscript into the right hands—and hopefully to get it published.

SHILOH

by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (3rd+)

Shiloh, an adorable beagle, runs away from his neglectful owner and is found by a young boy named Marty. Marty knows Shiloh belongs to someone else but it determined to save the dog from more neglect. Against the wishes of the dog’s owner and his father, Marty risks everything to protect the dog and make him his own.

WITCHES, THE

by Roald Dahl (3rd+)

‘A REAL WITCH is easily the most dangerous of all living creatures on earth.’ That’s a pretty horrifying thought. More horrifying still is that real witches don’t even look like witches. They don’t ride around on broomsticks. They don’t even wear black cloaks and hats. They are vile, despicable, scheming harridans who disguise themselves as nice, ordinary ladies. So how can you tell when you’re face to face with one? Read this story and you’ll find out all you need to know. You’ll also meet a real hero, a wise old grandmother and the most gruesome, grotesque gang of witches imaginable.

STONE FOX

by John Reynolds Gardiner (3rd+)

Little Willy has a big job to do. When his grandfather falls ill it is up to Willy alone to save their farm from the tax collector. But where can a ten-year-old get five hundred dollars in a hurry? Then Willy sees the poster for the National Dogsled Race. The race pits Willy against the best dog teams in the country, including the Indian Stone Fox and his five beautiful Samoyeds, who have never lost a race. And Stone Fox wants the prize money as badly as Willy does. Willy’s dog, Searchlight, is every bit as fast as the competition, and Willy knows the terrain better than anyone. But can one boy and one dog be a match for the unbeatable Stone Fox?

TALE OF DESPERAUX, THE

by Kate DiCamillo (3rd+)

Desperaux Tilling is a mouse in love. He is madly in love with the princess, Pea. Everywhere he goes no one seems to want him and they are constantly trying to stop him. Roscuro is a rat who lives in darkness but desperately wishes to live in the light. And Miggery Sow is a slow witted serving girl with one simple yet impossible wish. What do these characters all have in common? They are about to venture out on a journey into dark dungeons, fantastic castles, and eventually will meet each other on their grand adventure. What will happen when all of the characters meet up? Read The Tale of Desperaux to find out.

RAIN IS NOT MY INDIAN NAME

by Cynthia Leitich Smith (5th+)

Cassidy Rain Berghoff never imagined that the one special New Years Eve with her best friend Galen would end in tragedy. Dealing with loss is very difficult for her and she finds herself cut off from the rest of the world. That is until she is hired by the town paper to take pictures of the Indian camp her aunt has just begun. During this job, Rain finds herself stuck between joining friends and peers at Indian camp or staying professional while taking photos for the paper. Will she be able to reconnect with her friends in the camp after her loss and isolation?

WHALE RIDER

by Witi Tame Ihimaera (4th+)

How would you feel if the day you were born your grandfather stated he would have nothing to do with you, just because you were a girl instead of a boy. Here begins the tale of Kahu and the Whale Rider. Being born a girl, Kahu tries everything to gain the affections of her grandfather, the chief of their New Zealand tribe. Though her grandfather is successful in having nothing to do with her he is about to find that he has made a mistake in searching for a male all this time to uphold family tradition. He is forced to see that not only does Kahu have a gift that allows her to communicate with
whales but she may be the one to save everything and move the tribe towards their intended future. Hold on for this experience with Kahu, Whale Rider.

RANGE ETERNAL, THE

by Louise Erdrich (1st+)

A young girl recalls her memories of the Range Eternal stove they had in their house that fought off the Windigo, the ice monster. It was also where her mother and her would spend time cooking together. This stove was a large part of their life until a newer stove came along and this changed a lot.

SHI-SHI-ETCO

by Nicola I. Campbell (K+)

Shi-Shi-Etco means “she loves to play in the water” Shi-Shi-Etco is leaving her native family to go to an Indian Residential school far away with all of the other children. She will not see her family for several months, maybe even years. Her family helps her to collect memories before she leaves to always keep with her.

MALIAN'S SONG

by Marge Bruchac (2nd+)

Malian loves spending time with her family, like when she learns to fish from her father. Her Abanaki family lives in a French built town. Some of the town and her family have set up winter camp in a ravine over from the town. During a celebration, a stranger shows up and warns of an attack on the town at next dawn. Many people are saved by being at winter camp but many die also. One of those who does not make it back to camp is Malian’s father.

**Based on the 1759 Roger’s Raid, an English attack made by Major Robert Rogers on St. Francis Abanaki community.

INDIAN SHOES

by Cynthia Leitich Smith (3rd+)

Ray Halfmoon prefers hightops, but he gladly trades them for a nice pair of moccasins for his grandpa. After all its Grandpa Halfmoon whose always there to help Ray get in and out of scrapes-like the time they were forced to get creative after a homemade haircut made Ray’s head look like a lawn mowing accident. There’s also that almost embarrassing moment at a friends wedding involving missing clothing. Grandpa is always there for everyone, but especially Ray.

GOOD LUCK CAT, THE

by Joy Harjo (K+)

This is the story of the nine lives of a cat. Woogie is one of those cats who when you pet them good things happen. He is a good luck cat. However, Woogie is quick to go through her nine lives. From sleeping in the wrong places to hunting and boys who are not nice she goes through eight lives during the story. Then Woogie disappears. Where did she go? Will she come back?

GIRL WHO SWAM WITH THE FISH: AN ATHABASCAN LEGEND

by Michelle Renner (1st+)

A young Athabascan girl watches every year for the salmon to return while her family prepares for them. They will catch, prepare, and store the fish for winter. One day when the fish return, the young girl wishes to get a better look. Leaning closer she falls in with the king salmon and becomes one. While living as a fish she learns secrets from the fish that will keep them coming back. These she shares with her family when she returns.

ALICE YAZZIE'S YEAR

by Ramona Maher (2nd+)

This story takes us through one year in the life of an eleven year old Navajo girl named Yazzie. It goes month by month mentioning trips to Disneyland, celebrating Christmas, losing a friend, and making a Halloween costume among much more. Throughout everything Yazzie is learning and showing that beauty is everywhere and beauty is happiness.

**Gives the Navajo word for each month and an explanation of what they mean in the back.

WHEN THE WORLD ENDED; HOW HUMMINGBIRD GOT FIRE; HOW PEOPLE WERE MADE; RUMSIEN OHLONE STORIES

told by Linda Yamane E 398.2 Y (2nd+)

When the World Ended is the story of five very different birds from the Eagle to a hummingbird who work together to bring back the earth from being underwater. It tells of how one eagle feather helped to rid the world of all of the water and how the eagle is never to be hurt because without him what kind of world might we have now. The second short story, How Hummingbird Got Fire tells of the hummingbird’s journey to bring fire back to the world after the water was gone and how this task turned his throat bright red. The third story, how People Were Made, tells of how the birds along with the help of some badgers created people from clay and rock.

THREE LITTLE SHEEP, THE

by Seraphine G. Yazzie
Navajo by Peter A. Thomas

This story is similar to The Three Little Pigs except instead of three little pigs and a wolf it is three little sheep and a coyote. The three little sheep leave home and eventually wind up back together as the coyote chases each destroying houses along the way. It tells about each type of house built - a tepee, a Hogan, and a grass hut and what they are made of.

GOOD RAINBOW ROAD, THE

by Simon J. Ortiz (4th+)
Written in Keres, English, and Spanish

This tale begins with a village named Oak Place and the drought problem the village was having. The village no longer received any water or snow. All plants, and food that was planted were dying. Even the Oak trees for which the village was named were beginning to die without water. The people of the village held a meeting to try and figure out why they were no longer getting any water from their streams or lakes. One older woman suggested sending two young boys up the mountain to speak with the Shiwana, spirit of rain and snow, to tell her of their troubles without water. On their journey the two brothers chosen, encounter high winds, dry lands where nothing is living, tall mountains, and hardest of all-a deep canyon filled with molten lava that halts their journey forward. While thinking of how to get across the lava pit, the youngest brother notices a blind woman heading right for the pit. He saves her and in turn she helps him make a rainbow bridge across the canyon. The brothers continue their journey with new and sacred knowledge.

SWEETGRASS BASKET

by Marlene Carvell (4th+)

Two Mohawk sisters, Mattie and Sarah, are taken away to a boarding school because they are told it is what would be best for them. Together, they endure great hardships and punishment at their new boarding school. They have teachers that they like and those that they don’t. They work and do chores. Sometimes they eat, they sleep, and they march everywhere. The headmistress, Mrs.’s Dwyer seems to be out to get them for anything and everything.

MY NAME IS SEEPEETZA

by Shirley Sterling (4th+)

Seepeetza is the name that Martha Stone is called at home on her ranch. As she turned six years old however, just as any other American Indian child, she is taken to an Indian residential boarding school where nothing of her Indian family can be kept. All of the Indian students at this school must cut their hair, they have to go by their English name, and they are not allowed to speak the language of their family or carry on any of the traditions. One of the only times that any of the children or Seepeetza are allowed to go home is at Christmas. The school is run by strict and unhappy nuns. The rules they must follow are biased and unfair,
and when broken their are severe consequences. This is the story of one girl among many American Indian children who were forced into residential boarding schools and how she dealt with everything that happened while there.

GIFT HORSE: A LAKOTA STORY

by S.D. Nelson (2nd+)

A young boy in a Lakota camp is given a “Gift Horse” from his father. This horse, which he names Storm because of its color and markings, is to become his best friend. The Lakota people name this young man Flying Cloud because of the clouds of dust he and Storm leave behind them everywhere they go. While Flying Cloud moves from boyhood into manhood, Storm is always there. When a group of Crow warriors one night steals some of the Lakota horses, including Storm, the Lakotas as well as Flying Cloud are furious. They go on a raid to not only get their horses back but to also steal as many of the Crow horses as they possibly can. When Flying Cloud and his “Gift Horse” are reunited they continue to create memories that will live with the Lakota people.

EAGLE SONG

by Joseph Bruchac ( 3rd+)

Danny Bigtree has just moved to the city of Brooklyn with his mother and father. His mother has gotten a job at the American Indian Community House in Manhattan and his father works as an ironworker wherever he can get jobs. So far Danny is not liking the move, he misses the Mohawk Reservation and the surround area. His new school in Brooklyn is not working out for him either. He doesn’t seem to fit in with the other kids. The kids in his class call him “Chief” and tease him about being indian, something he is very proud of. Can he find the courage to stand up for himself and make the best of what he has in Brooklyn?

WHEN THUNDERS SPOKE

by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve (4th+)

Norman Two Bull is a fifteen year old who lives on a Dakota Reservation with his parents. His grandfather encourages him to climb to the top of a sacred butte, the Butte of the Thunders, where young boys used to go for their vision quests. Norman will be searching for agates while trying to avoid rattlesnakes and rock slides. While searching, he comes across an ancient stick, a coup stick, which has the power to make strange and unusual things happen. When these strange and unusual things begin to happen, Norman finds himself thinking not only of the money he can get for the agates found on the wakan, or holy hill, but about the mysterious coup stick as well. Can
Norman come to understand the wakan as his grandfather sees it or will money be what he associates with the hill?

WINTER PEOPLE, THE

by Joseph Bruchac (4th+)

In 1759 there was a war going on between the British and the French and the Abanaki tribe has joined on the side of the French. On a night of celebration, a whisper from the bushes warns a young man, Saxso, that the British are preparing to attack the Abanaki village that night. All of the Abanaki warriors, as well as their French partners, are out looking for the British and it seems the British has snuck in behind them. So, at the age of fourteen, Saxso must warn the village and help to get his mother and sisters out of harms way. After the British attack and everyone looks at the destruction that has been left behind, many find family members missing, including Saxso. His mother and sisters are nowhere to be found. When a woman from the tribe says she saw them being taken by the British as captives, Saxso sets out to track them and bring them back. While other Abanaki warriors have set out to find and kill the British, Saxso’s only goal is to find his family and return them to the village safely. Will he be able to track down his mother and sisters in time and will he survive to return to the village with them? To find out read this thrilling story of one young man and his journey to rescue his family.

LITTLE DUCK-SIKIHPSIS, THE

by Beth Cuthand (1st+)
Cree by Stan Cuthand

A little mud duck wants to become a Cree dancer because he doesn’t feel like he belongs anywhere. So he gets himself all dressed up and heads for the Cree camp. When he gets there however, he cannot communicate with the Cree people, nor can they communicate with them. He soon finds that perhaps he is not supposed to be a Cree dancer and so heads back to his pond. The little mud duck finds that he fits in the best with other mud ducks of his kind and finally finds where he needs to be.

BIRCHBARK HOUSE, THE

by Louise Erdrich (4th+)

Omakayas and her family live on the land her people call the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker. Every summer they build a new birchbark house; every fall they go to ricing camp to harvest and feast; they move to the cedar log house before the first snows arrive, and celebrate the end of the long, cold winters at maple-sugaring camp. While all of this is going on, Omakaya fights with he little brother Pinch, takes care of and adores her baby brother Neewo, and looks up to her older sister Angeline. Everything is changed when a visitor comes into their camp one night. This visitor leaves behind invisible death. Overcome with hurt and grief, Omakayas must survive and listen to her surroundings to finally understand her true calling.

SKY

by Pamela Porter (3rd+)

In 1964 eleven-year-old Georgia lives with her grandparents, Paw Paw and Gramma, on the edge of the Blackfeet Reservation. That spring it rains and rains, and one afternoon the creek behind their house suddenly becomes a wall of water, washing away everything the family owns – their house, their barn and even Daisy, the only stuffed animal Georgia has ever had. Through sheer determination, Georgia and her grandparents gradually rebuild their lives, but it is when Georgia finds Sky – a foal that somehow survived the flood – that the family begins to find meaning again despite their losses.

PUSHING UP THE SKY

Seven Native American Plays for Children
By Joseph Bruchac (2nd+)

Plays include:
Gluskabe and Old Man Winter Abenaki
Star Sisters Ojibway
Possum’s Tail Cherokee
Wihio’s Duck Dance Cheyenne
Pushing Up the Sky Snohomish
The Cannibal Monster Tlingit
The Strongest One Zuni

Lists characters and non-speaking roles. Includes ideas for props and scenery-how they should really look. Also ideas for costumes, clothing and such that would actually be worn by that tribe. The plays include pronunciation for native languages with the English translation of what it means.

EMMA AND THE TREES

by Lenore Keeshig-Tobias (K+)
Ojibway translation by Rose Nadjiwon

When her mother wants to go to the grocery store, Emma shows just how much she does not like that idea by crying nonstop. Her mother tries everything she can think of to get Emma ready to go to the store and to stop crying. Looking up at the sky in defeat, Emma’s mother gets an idea when she sees the trees overhead waving in the wind. From that day forward Emma is friends with the trees everywhere and she speaks to them as they speak to her. Enjoy this story and then see how you too can speak with trees and have them speak back.

CRAZY HORSE'S VISION

by Joseph Bruchac (2nd+)

Crazy Horse was not born Crazy Horse. His name when he was younger was Curly for his head of curly hair. As Curly grew older he found himself leading and helping others. When the white people began to move across Lakota land trouble began to brew and the Lakota chief was killed. At this point Curly decided he needed to do something, so he went on a spiritual quest for a vision to help him understand. As he later learned, his vision was one of him again helping and leading the Lakota people. When told of this vision, Curly’s father Tashunka Witco (or Crazy Horse in English) passed on his name to his son. So Curly became Crazy Horse, leader and defender of the Lakota people. His name stood for the bravest of all the Lakotas.