Native American Indian Schools

A groundbreaking and deeply personal exploration of Tribal enrollment, and what it means to be Native American in the United States “Candid, unflinching . . . Her thorough excavation of the painful history that gave rise to rigid enrollment policies is a courageous gift to our understanding of...

Learn the true stories of Indian boarding school students and their families in this important historical book for young readers. This in-depth history examines letters to and from boarding schools, all compiled and edited by Dr. Brenda J. Child. Firsthand accounts reveal how profoundly entire...

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...

A biography of Jim Thorpe, the Native American sports icon and Olympic champion, that “goes beyond the myth and into the guts of Thorpe’s life, using extensive research, historical nuance, and bittersweet honesty” (Los Angeles Times), by the bestselling author of the classic biography When...

Bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian...

A Good Morning America Book Club Pick! From the instant New York Times bestselling author of Firekeeper’s Daughter and Warrior Girl Unearthed comes a daring new mystery about a foster teen claiming her heritage on her own terms. Ever since Lucy Smith’s father died five years ago; “home”...

A sweeping history of Native Americans’ fraught relationship with United States citizenship and their efforts to protect tribal sovereignty. Only Native Americans have held the political identity of being citizens of nations within a nation. After the American Revolution, they had to decide...

Winner of the U.P. Notable Books Award (2025) The impact of Indian boarding schools has been devastating for generations of Native Americans, and the aftershocks continue to affect their descendants today. Michigan was home to three: in Baraga, Harbor Springs and Mt. Pleasant. The last to close was Holy Childhood School of Jesus, in Harbor Springs, in 1983. Sharon Marie Brunner set out to intensively study the family history and boarding school experience of nine Native American survivors who attended either the Mt. Pleasant or Harbor Springs institutions. Each faced problems linked to the ...

Like thousands of Aboriginal children in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere in the colonized world, Xatsu'll chief Bev Sellars spent part of her childhood as a student in a church-run residential school. These institutions endeavored to "civilize" Native children through Christian teachings; forced separation from family, language, and culture; and strict discipline. In this frank and poignant memoir of her years at St. Joseph's Mission, Sellars breaks her silence about the residential school's lasting effects on her and her family and eloquently articulates her own path to healing.

In 1903, over 300 Indian children from across America lived at the Fort Shaw Indian Boarding School in a remote, isolated valley in Montana. Among the children were a handful of teenage girls, many who had only lived in tepees. They quickly learned to play basketball and resoundingly crushed all opponents, including men's and women's university teams. After the games, the girls recited Shelley and Longfellow, played mandolins and violins, sang, danced, and pantomimed.

Best known as a leader of the Indian takeover of Alcatraz Island in 1969, Adam Fortunate Eagle now offers an unforgettable memoir of his years as a young student at Pipestone Indian Boarding School in Minnesota. In this rare firsthand account, Fortunate Eagle lives up to his reputation as a "contrary warrior" by disproving the popular view of Indian boarding schools as bleak and prisonlike. Although Fortunate Eagle recognizes Pipestone's shortcomings, he describes his time there as nothing less than "a little bit of heaven."

"A heart-stomping, heart-stopping read. Unsentimental. Unforgettable. Astonishing. Brothers on Three captures the roar of a community spirit powered by blood history, loyalty, and ferocious love." —Debra Magpie Earling, author of Perma Red From journalist Abe Streep, the story of coming of age...

Discover three classic short stories for kids and children of all ages, taken from the myths and legends of Native American Indians: "The Maiden who loved a Fish"; "The White Canoe"; "The Star Wife". We are in dire need for a greater understanding of Native American cultures, and these stories provide the food for thought necessary for greater proximity.

A spine-tingling and terrifying roadtrip across America as four ragtag activists repatriating the bones of a Blackfeet boy sent to the infamous Carlisle Indian Industrial School battle terrible supernatural forces in this follow-up to The Only Good Indians. From the bestselling, multiple-award...

Big Family High School is a poignant and timely coming-of-age story about identity, loss, and the journey to self-discovery. Jason’s world is turned upside down when his family is torn apart and he and his sister are placed into foster care. Relocated to a new city with a new family, Jason is forced to leave behind everything he knew—his loved ones, his home, and his sense of belonging. But the hardest revelation is yet to come: Jason discovers that his entire life has been a lie—he is Indigenous. This shocking truth triggers a profound identity crisis that sends Jason spiraling out ...