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By Katherena Vermette. 2023
NATIONAL BESTSELLER“The Circle is a polyphonic masterpiece.” —Erika T. Wurth, author of White HorseFrom the award-winning and #1 bestselling author…
of The Break and The Strangers comes a poignant and unwavering epic told from a constellation of Métis voices that consider the fallout when the person who connects them all goes missing The concept was simple. You sit a bunch of people in a circle—everyone who hurt, everyone who got hurt, all affected—and let them share. Some people, it helped them heal, for sure. Others went in angry and left a different kind of angry. Learned how the blame belonged on the system, the history, the colonizer, the big things that were harder to change than one bad person. The day that Cedar Sage Stranger has been both dreading and longing for has finally come: her sister Phoenix is getting out of prison. The effect of Phoenix’s release cascades through the community. M, the young girl whom she assaulted, is triggered by the news. Her mother, Paulina, is worried and her cousin is angry—all feel the threat of Phoenix’s release. When Phoenix is seen lingering outside the school to catch a glimpse of her son, Sparrow, the police get a call to file a report—but the next thing they know, she has disappeared. Amid accusations and plots for revenge, past grievances become a poor guide in a moment of danger, and the clumsy armature of law enforcement is no match for the community. Cedar and her and Phoenix’s mother, Elsie, continue down different paths of healing, while everyone in their lives form a circle around the chaos, the calm within the storm, and the beauty in the darkness. Fierce, heartbreaking, and profound, Vermette’s The Circle is the third and final companion novel to her bestsellers The Break and The Strangers. Told from various perspectives, with an unforgettable voice for each chapter, the novel is masterfully structured as a Restorative Justice Circle where all gather—both the victimized and the accused—to take account of a crime that has altered the course of their lives. It considers what it means to be abandoned by the very systems that claim to offer support, how it feels to gain a sense of belonging, and the unanticipated cost of protecting those you love most.By Melissa Allan. 2023
Brave Like the Buffalo is a children’s book with a message that will inspire all readers to face the storms…
in their life with the help of their support systems and with a brave mindset. Written by Melissa Allan and illustrated by Jadyn Fischer-McNab, this story uses a powerful animal, the buffalo, as a symbolic message and connection to Indigenous ways of knowing and being that helps to create a wonderful narrative rich with Indigenous ties and a heartwarming message around facing adversity. Brave Like the Buffalo is intended for audiences aged 0–6, to be used educationally as a way to intertwine Indigenous ways of knowing and being through story.By Nick Medina. 2023
Named a Most Anticipated Book by Barnes and Noble ∙ BuzzFeed ∙ GoodReads ∙ Book Riot ∙ CrimeReads ∙ Ms. Magazine ∙…
SheReads ∙ Amazon Editor's Pick ∙ Tor.com ∙ and more!A young Native girl's hunt for answers about the women mysteriously disappearing from her tribe's reservation leads her to delve into the myths and stories of her people, all while being haunted herself, in this atmospheric and stunningly poignant debut.Anna Horn is always looking over her shoulder. For the bullies who torment her, for the entitled visitors at the reservation&’s casino…and for the nameless, disembodied entity that stalks her every step—an ancient tribal myth come-to-life, one that&’s intent on devouring her whole. With strange and sinister happenings occurring around the casino, Anna starts to suspect that not all the horrors on the reservation are old. As girls begin to go missing and the tribe scrambles to find answers, Anna struggles with her place on the rez, desperately searching for the key she&’s sure lies in the legends of her tribe&’s past. When Anna&’s own little sister also disappears, she&’ll do anything to bring Grace home. But the demons plaguing the reservation—both ancient and new—are strong, and sometimes, it&’s the stories that never get told that are the most important. Part gripping thriller and part mythological horror, author Nick Medina spins an incisive and timely novel of life as an outcast, the cost of forgetting tradition, and the courage it takes to become who you were always meant to be.By Drew Hayden Taylor. 2024
INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLERA tragic plane crash that leaves two women stranded and fighting for their lives kicks off this sweeping…
and hilarious novel from award-winning writer Drew Hayden Taylor that blends thriller, murder mystery, and horror with humour and spectacle.Elmore Trent is a professor of Indigenous studies who finds himself entangled in an affair that's ruining his marriage; Paul North plays in the IHL (Indigenous Hockey League), struggling to keep up with the game that's passing him by; Detective Ruby Birch is chasing a string of gruesome murders, with clues that conspicuously lead her to both Elmore and Paul. And then there's Fabiola Halan, former journalist-turned-author and famed survivor of a plane crash that sparked a nationwide tour promoting her book. What starts off as a series of subtle connections between isolated characters quickly takes a menacing turn, as it becomes increasingly clear that someone—or something—is hunting them all.Taking tropes from the murder mystery, police procedural, thriller, and horror genres, Drew Hayden Taylor weaves a pulse-pounding and propulsive narrative with an intricate cast of characters, while never losing the ability to make you laugh.By Carleigh Baker. 2024
From one of the country&’s most celebrated new writers, a blistering collection of short fiction that is bracingly relevant, playfully…
irreverent, and absolutely unforgettable.There&’s a hole in the ozone layer. Are teenage girls to blame? Floods and wildfires, toxic culture, billionaires in outer space, or a purse-related disaster while on mushrooms—in today&’s hellscape world, there&’s no shortage of things to worry about. Last Woman, the new collection of short fiction by award-winning author Carleigh Baker, wants you to know that you&’re not alone. In these 13 brilliant new stories, Baker and her perfectly-drawn characters are here for you—in fact, they&’re just as worried and weirded-out as everyone else.A woman&’s dream of poetic solitude turns out to be a recipe for loneliness. A retiree is convinced that his silence is the only thing that will prevent a deadly sinkhole. An emerging academic wakes up and chooses institutional violence. A young woman finds sisterhood in a strange fertility ritual, and an enigmatic empath is on a cleanse. Baker&’s characters are both wildly misguided and a product of the misguided times in which we live. Through them we see our world askew and skewered—and, perhaps, we can begin to see it anew.Carleigh Baker&’s signature style is irreverent, but her heart is true—these stories delve into fear for the future, intergenerational misunderstandings, and the complexities of belonging with sharp wit and boundless empathy. With equal parts compassion and critique, she brings her clear-eyed attention to bear on our world, and the results are hilarious, heartbreaking, and startling in their freshness.By Anna Rose Johnson. 2024
Lucy, a spirited French-Ojibwe orphan, is sent to the stormy waters of Lake Superior to live with a mysterious family…
of lighthouse-keepers—and, she hopes, to find the legendary necklace her father spent his life seeking…Selena Lucy Landry (named for a ship, as every sailor&’s child should be) has been frightened of the water ever since she lost her father at sea. But with no one else to care for her, she&’s sent to foster with the Martins—a large Anishinaabe family living on a lighthouse in the middle of stormy Lake Superior. The Martin family is big, hard-working, and close, and Lucy—who has always been a dreamer—struggles to fit in. Can she go one day without ruining the laundry or forgetting the sweeping? Will she ever be less afraid of the lake?Although life at the lighthouse isn&’t what Lucy hoped for, it is beautiful—ships come and go, waves pound the rocks—and it has one major advantage: It&’s near the site of a famous shipwreck, a shipwreck that went down with a treasure her father wanted more than anything. If Lucy can find that treasure—a priceless ruby necklace—won&’t it be like having Papa back again, just a little bit? But someone else is hunting for the treasure, too. And as the lighthouse company becomes increasingly skeptical that the Martins can juggle Lucy and their duties, Lucy and the Martin children will need to find the necklace quickly—or they may not have a home at all.The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry is a timelessly sweet tale of found family from rising Ojibwe voice Anna Rose Johnson, author of NPR Best Book of the Year The Star That Always Stays. Perfect for fans of L.M. Montgomery and Karina Yan Glaser!"Lucy Landry is a charming and fanciful heroine reminiscent of Anne Shirley, who reminds us that even in dark times, we can be a light for others."—Alyssa Colman, author of Bank Street Best Book of the Year The Gilded GirlBy Waubgeshig Rice. 2023
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLERTwelve years after the lights go out . . . An epic journey to a forgotten homelandThe hotly…
anticipated sequel to the bestselling novel Moon of the Crusted Snow.In the years since a mysterious cataclysm caused a permanent blackout that toppled infrastructure and thrust the world into anarchy, Evan Whitesky has led his community in remote northern Canada off the rez and into the bush, where they&’ve been rekindling their Anishinaabe traditions, isolated from the outside world. As new generations are born, and others come of age in a world after everything, Evan&’s people are stronger than ever. But resources around their new settlement are drying up, and elders warn that they cannot stay indefinitely. Evan and his teenaged daughter, Nangohns, are chosen to lead a scouting party on a months-long trip down to their traditional home on the shores of Lake Huron—to seek new beginnings, and discover what kind of life—and what danger—still exists in the lands to the south.Waubgeshig Rice&’s exhilarating return to the world first explored in Moon of the Crusted Snow is a brooding story of survival, resilience, Indigenous identity, and rebirth.By Kirkpatrick Hill. 2000
A year they'll never forgetTen-year-old Frederika (Fred for short) doesn't have much faith that the new teacher in town will…
last very long. After all, they never do. Most teachers who come to their one-room schoolhouse in remote, Alaska leave at the first smell of fish, claiming that life there is just too hard.But Miss Agnes is different -- she doesn't get frustrated with her students, and she throws away old textbooks and reads Robin Hood instead! For the first time, Fred and her classmates begin to enjoy their lessons and learn to read and write -- but will Miss Agnes be like all the rest and leave as quickly as she came?By Tommy Orange. 2024
The eagerly awaited follow-up to Pulitzer Prize finalist Tommy Orange&’s breakout best seller There There—winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award, the…
John Leonard Prize, the American Book Award, and one of the New York Times Ten Best Books of the Year—Wandering Stars traces the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Industrial School for Indians through to the shattering aftermath of Orvil Redfeather&’s shooting in There There.Colorado, 1864. Star, a young survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre, is brought to the Fort Marion Prison Castle, where he is forced to learn English and practice Christianity by Richard Henry Pratt, an evangelical prison guard who will go on to found the Carlisle Industrial School for Indians, an institution dedicated to the eradication of Native history, culture, and identity. A generation later, Star&’s son, Charles, is sent to the school, where he is brutalized by the man who was once his father&’s jailer. Under Pratt&’s harsh treatment, Charles clings to moments he shares with a young fellow student, Opal Viola, as the two envision a future away from the institutional violence that follows their bloodline.Oakland, 2018. Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield is barely holding her family together after the shooting that nearly took the life of her nephew Orvil. From the moment he awakens in his hospital bed, Orvil begins compulsively googling school shootings on YouTube. He also becomes emotionally reliant on the prescription medications meant to ease his physical trauma. His younger brother Lony, suffering from PTSD, is struggling to make sense of the carnage he witnessed at the shooting by secretly cutting himself and enacting blood rituals which he hopes will connect him to his Cheyenne heritage. Opal is equally adrift, experimenting with Ceremony and peyote, searching for a way to heal her wounded family.Extending his constellation of narratives into the past and future, Tommy Orange once again delivers a story that is by turns shattering and wondrous, a book piercing in its poetry, sorrow, and rage—a masterful follow-up to his already—classic first novel, and a devastating indictment of America&’s war on its own people.By Amy M Bennett. 2019
A fall festival turns murderous in this haunting and wholly unforgettable sixth Black Horse Campground mystery from the author of…
A Summer to Remember. With a mix of Anglo, Native, and Hispanic cultures, the village of Bonney, New Mexico, has its share of folklore and legends, but no one has ever heard of the Ghost Girls before. Three high school girls have convinced their fellow students that they have powers, but now that they&’re graduating, new recruits are needed to carry on the tradition. One night, the Ghost Girls take a hopeful prospect to the cemetery, where they discover a missing kid—and a recently-deceased man. The child is Mark Jr., the son of Corrie&’s best friend. And the corpse? The high school principal. Mark had been causing so much trouble at school that he&’d been suspended, but Corrie can&’t believe he&’s a killer. As the village of Bonney gathers for the annual San Ignacio Fall Festival at the Black Horse Campground, Sheriff Rick Sutton and Det. J. D. Wilder uncover a web of bullying, hatred, and revenge—in which nothing is sacred. Not the school. Not the church. And definitely not Corrie&’s campground . . .By Beatrice Deer. 2021
One cloudless night, a fox falls to earth and comes across a family of humans. As the seasons change and…
they move their camp, she follows them, growing ever more intrigued by human ways—and especially by the oldest son, Irniq. When Irniq grows older and sets out hunting on his own, he is surprised to enter his tent one day and find the lamp lit, the tea made... and a strange woman who says she is his wife. Tired of being alone, Irniq welcomes the woman. But soon he grows curious and cannot stop himself from asking too many questions. Where did the fox pelt hanging in their tent come from? And why did the fox that had been following him suddenly disappear? Based on award-winning musician Beatrice Deer's powerful song "Fox," this graphic novel reinterprets a traditional Inuit story for a new generationBy Jose Angutinngurniq. 2021
One of the most terrifying creatures to be found in traditional Inuit stories is the nanurluk, a massive bear the…
size of an iceberg that lives under the sea ice. Its monstrous size and ice-covered fur make it an almost impenetrable foe. But when a lone hunter spots the breathing hole of the nanurluk on the sea ice near his iglu, he quickly uses his quick thinking and excellent hunting skills to hatch a plan to outsmart the deadly bear. Jose Angutingunrik, a gifted storyteller and respected elder from Kugaaruk, Nunavut, brings to life a story of the great nanurluk that has been told in the Kugaaruk region for generationsBy Amy M Bennett. 2013
The truth takes a detour in this cozy camping whodunit set in the beautiful New Mexico wilderness—first in the Black…
Horse Campground Mystery series. The Black Horse Campground, outside of Bonney, New Mexico, has been in Corrie Black&’s family for years. But since her father&’s death, she&’s been running it alone—along with her trusted employees and an eccentric group of year-rounders and regular visitors. In between spring break and summer is usually a downtime for Corrie and the campground, even with Bike Rally Weekend on the horizon. This April, however, peace and quiet are not an option. A disconcertingly attractive biker arrives, who arouses the suspicions of Corrie&’s childhood friend and one-time ex, Sheriff Rick Sutton. Then, one of Corrie&’s favorite guests is shot dead in his own RV, leaving his wheelchair-bound wife in the care of a son whom no one knew existed. And though Corrie is warned by Rick to stay out of his investigation, she can&’t sit by while her home and friends are threatened. And no one is more surprised than Corrie when she discovers that her little piece of paradise is brimming with secrets and scandals that put a gun in the hands of a most unlikely killer . . .By Amy M Bennett. 2019
Thanksgiving brings family, friendship, and foul play to New Mexico in this seventh Black Horse Campground mystery from the author…
of Fiesta of Fear. An unseasonably warm November is a financial boon to Corrie Black&’s campground, but her personal life has taken a hit. Her friend, recovering addict RaeLynn Shaffer, disappeared two months ago, after some funds from a church festival goes missing. Det. J. D. Wilder immediately suspects RaeLynn is behind the heist, creating a wall of tension between Corrie and the officer. Then, while jogging late one night, Wilder sees a body being dumped from a car. It&’s RaeLynn—and she&’s still alive. Drugged and beaten, she&’s whisked away from the village of Bonney for her own protection, and Corrie is warned that the criminal Shaffer family may be coming after her for turning RaeLynn against her own kin. With everyone on edge and the Shaffers under surveillance, it becomes clear that the family who has terrorized Bonney for years may now have something to fear. And to draw out the villain, Corrie is willing to use herself as bait . . .By Amy M Bennett. 2019
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water . . . Second in the Black Horse Campground Mystery…
series from the author of End of the Road. Every year, Corrie Black ushers in the summer season by opening the campground&’s pool and hosting a private party for employees and friends. This year is no different—except for the corpse found floating on the surface the next day . . . It turns out that a bunch of graduating high school seniors snuck onto the grounds late that night for a little private party of their own. After arguing with both her current and past boyfriends, Krista Otero never made it home. Suspicion falls on her bad-boy ex—especially when an autopsy shows that Krista was dead before she hit the water. With the Black Horse looking more like a crime scene than a campground, Sheriff Rick Sutton is up to his neck in suspects and motives. And it will take Corrie&’s compassion and courage to stop an undertow of evil from claiming even more victims . . .By Amy M Bennett. 2019
You can take the cop out of the big city, but you can&’t take the big city out of the…
cop, in this fourth Black Horse Campground mystery. Just as Corrie is getting used to having former Houston, Texas, narcotics detective J. D. Wilder as a campground employee, he officially becomes a member of the Village of Bonney Police Department. Aside from a recent crime spree at the Black Horse, not much is going on in town, giving Wilder a chance to go over some cold cases. In the past fifteen years, three women have gone missing, exactly five years apart. What has amounted to nothing more than a local urban legend becomes Wilder&’s new obsession—with Corrie offering some much-needed background information. As he&’s digging into the neighborhood&’s recent history, trouble from his own shows up, forcing the shadowy past into a deadly confrontation with a clear and present danger . . .By Amy M Bennett. 2017
The murder of a conman turns Corrie Black from sleuth to suspect in this third Black Horse Campground mystery from…
the author of No Lifeguard on Duty. Corrie and her Black Horse employees are celebrating their first &“No Vacancy&” day of the summer, when an anonymous note arrives and puts a damper on the festivities. It warns Corrie that if she doesn&’t close the campground on Saturday her life will be in danger. Though Sheriff Rick Sutton and former undercover narcotics detective J. D. Wilder begin an investigation, Corrie will do anything to protect her friends and livelihood. But when one of her guests is stabbed to death, his true identity makes her a suspect in his murder. Corrie never could have guessed that the victim was a former friend of her late father, a man known for his land-swindling schemes and string of wives across the southwest. His murder reveals decades-old secrets and lies that will make Corrie question everything she thought she knew about her parents and her past.By Kathleen Grissom. 2023
The New York Times bestselling author of the book club classics The Kitchen House and Glory Over Everything returns with…
a sweeping and &“richly detailed story of a woman caught between two cultures&” (Sandra Dallas, New York Times bestselling author) inspired by the real life of Crow Mary—an Indigenous woman in 19th-century North America.In 1872, sixteen-year-old Goes First, a Crow Native woman, marries Abe Farwell, a white fur trader. He gives her the name Mary, and they set off on the long trip to his trading post in Saskatchewan, Canada. Along the way, she finds a fast friend in a Métis named Jeannie; makes a lifelong enemy in a wolfer named Stiller; and despite learning a dark secret of Farwell&’s past, falls in love with her husband. The winter trading season passes peacefully. Then, on the eve of their return to Montana, a group of drunken whiskey traders slaughters forty Nakota—despite Farwell&’s efforts to stop them. Mary, hiding from the hail of bullets, sees the murderers, including Stiller, take five Nakota women back to their fort. She begs Farwell to save them, and when he refuses, Mary takes two guns, creeps into the fort, and saves the women from certain death. Thus, she sets off a whirlwind of colliding cultures that brings out the worst and best in the cast of unforgettable characters and pushes the love between Farwell and Crow Mary to the breaking point. From &“a tremendously gifted storyteller&” (Jim Fergus, author of The Vengeance of Mothers), Crow Mary is a &“tender, compelling, and profoundly educational and satisfying read&” (Sadeqa Johnson, author of The Yellow Wife) that sweeps across decades, showcasing the beauty of the natural world, while at the same time probing the intimacies of a marriage and one woman&’s heart.By Byron Graves. 2023
This compelling debut novel by new talent Byron Graves tells the relatable, high-stakes story of a young athlete determined to…
play like the hero his Ojibwe community needs him to be. These days, Tre Brun is happiest when he is playing basketball on the Red Lake Reservation high school team—even though he can’t help but be constantly gut-punched with memories of his big brother, Jaxon, who died in an accident. When Jaxon's former teammates on the varsity team offer to take Tre under their wing, he sees this as his shot to represent his Ojibwe rez all the way to their first state championship. This is the first step toward his dream of playing in the NBA, no matter how much the odds are stacked against him. But stepping into his brother’s shoes as a star player means that Tre can’t mess up. Not on the court, not at school, and not with his new friend, gamer Khiana, who he is definitely not falling in love with. After decades of rez teams almost making it, Tre needs to take his team to state. Because if he can live up to Jaxon's dreams, their story isn’t over yet. This book is published by Heartdrum, an imprint that publishes high-quality, contemporary stories about Indigenous young people in the United States and Canada.By Christine Day. 2023
A thoughtful and heartfelt middle grade novel by American Indian Youth Literature Honor–winning author Christine Day (Upper Skagit), about a…
girl whose hopeful plans for Indigenous Peoples’ Day (and plans to ask her crush to the school dance) go all wrong—until she finds herself surrounded by the love of her Indigenous family and community at an intertribal powwow.Wesley is proud of the poem she wrote for Indigenous Peoples’ Day—but the reaction from a teacher makes her wonder if expressing herself is important enough. And due to the specific tribal laws of her family’s Nation, Wesley is unable to enroll in the Upper Skagit tribe and is left feeling “not Native enough.” Through the course of the novel, with the help of her family and friends, she comes to embrace her own place within the Native community.Christine Day's debut, I Can Make This Promise, was an American Indian Library Association Youth Literature Award Honor Book, was named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus, School Library Journal, the Chicago Public Library, and NPR, and was also picked as a Charlotte Huck Honor Book. Her sophomore novel, The Sea in Winter, was an American Indian Library Association Youth Literature Award Honor Book, as well as named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus and School Library Journal. We Still Belong is an accessible, enjoyable, and important novel from an author who always delivers.