(3) K-3 An Indigenous girl is distraught when the dress she’s making for a special ceremony rips. Bizzy’s grandmother shows her the regalia the girl’s great-grandmother wore, pointing out a problem with the beading: “...it’s the Pomo way to leave one little flaw in everything you make.” She advises the girl to “dance fast” to keep others from noticing the mistake. Gibbons’s message about avoiding perfectionism is not heavy-handed, and her digital illustrations are humorous. A note about the Pomo people is appended.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Jackie Traverse. Daniel's (Sometimes I Feel like a Fox; Sometimes I Feel like a River) latest offering invites readers to commune with trees. Short first-person verses assign attributes to twelve different trees ("Sometimes I feel like a maple, / full and most generous... / Sometimes I feel like a birch, / smooth and fresh, anew"), following the cycle of the year from early spring to late winter. Traverse's lush acrylic and gouache illustrations never depict a tree in its entirety, with the tops always breaking the edge of the page. This choice suggests that art cannot fully capture the trees' majesty and en-courages readers to imagine what lies beyond the confines of the page, reinforcing Daniel's core concept that there is more to trees than meets the eye. Back matter offers thumbnail images of each tree, restating their names and highlighting the attributes Daniel's verses assigned to them--generosity for the maple, optimism for the birch, and so on. A closing author's note begins, "Like my Algonquin ancestors, I believe that trees are ­sentient beings with spirits who can feel things," prompting readers to reflect on what they, in turn, feel as they consider this Indidenous perspective and how it inspired this book.

Reviewer: Megan Dowd Lambert | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(3) K-3 I Like to Read series. A grandfather tells his grandson about two small animals who love Tewa'á:raton (lacrosse). Mouse and Squirrel are rebuffed when they ask to join Team Four Legs and Team Wings. But Eagle has an idea that lets the flightless duo soar, leading Team Wings to victory and to Mouse’s and Squirrel’s new names: Bat and Flying Squirrel. Crisply rendered illustrations reward repeat readings. Mohawk author-illustrator David (Who Will Win?, rev. 3/23) offers beginning readers another entertaining Indigenous tale; helpful information precedes the story.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Gardiner Kate. When Francis's family plants Gaawaandagoonce ("little spruce" in Ojibwemowin) in her grandmother's garden located alongside Gichigamiing (Lake Superior), the tree and baby Francis are almost the same height. The two grow together: "While Francis learned to walk on two little feet, the spruce tree walked in her own way -- stretching her roots out into the ground, where they talked to roots of other trees." Grandma knows that "trees, like people, are stronger together," which is why Gaawaandagoonce was planted near older spruces. Drouillard's inviting text naturally weaves information about trees' root systems and species' interconnectedness into a story about adjusting to change. When Francis's grandparents eventually need to move from their Grand Portage home, the family brings the little spruce to Francis's aunt's house. They carefully and lovingly transplant the tree, but acclimating is tough. Slowly, she connects with the other spruces and begins to feel at home again. Children who have had to move to a new place will relate to Francis and Little Spruce. The gouache and colored-pencil drawings' limited palette is a good match for the text's contemplative tone. An author's note explains that the story is based on a real spruce tree, and Drouillard discusses the importance of land and the significance of its loss for the Ojibwe people. Two Anishinaabe uses for white spruce and a glossary of the Ojibwemowin words included in the story are also appended.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2024

(3) K-3 Race to the Truth series. Illustrated by Bridget George. A white girl teaches readers about the colonization and land dispossession of Native Americans. She sings a song taught to her by her Anishinaabe friend’s grandmother that rebuts Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" anthem. Visits to iconic landmarks help her understand Indigenous peoples’ historical claim to the “living,” “sacred” American land--including her backyard. Fairbanks’s unvarnished text pairs well with George’s full-color digital illustrations, which portray diverse Native traditions, clothing, and housing. A necessary reminder of Native American resilience, endurance, and land rights.

Reviewer: Summer Edward

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Hwei Lim. Arnaq (the Inuktitut word for woman) is inveigled into an unhappy marriage by a shapeshifting shaman. While rescuing her by boat, Arnaq’s father is frightened into drowning her, whereupon she transforms into the vengeful spirit of the sea. This intriguing retelling of the Inuit marine goddess's origin story includes gory details and sends complex messages about women's roles, needs, and impact that seem too inconclusive for young readers. Earth-toned digital watercolor illustrations dramatize the artic setting. Back matter includes an afterword and a pronunciation guide/glossary.

Reviewer: Summer Edward

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Devon Holzwarth. As cold weather gives way to spring, the monarch butterfly migration begins, and Lucia's papa commences his own journey north. The forested region near the Mexican state of Michoacan is home to Lucia and her family (who are implied, from the back matter, to be Mazahua Indigenous people of the region) and to millions of monarchs, which hibernate there during winter months. Through lyrical text, Harmony describes the parallel journeys of the butterflies and migrant farm workers like Papa, who travel miles "across rivers and mountains" with a guiding sense of purpose; as he reassures his daughter: "When the weather turns cold and the monarcas return, our winged ancestors will guide me home." Lush greens of regional flora frame almost every page and ground the connection between nature and people. The illustrations -- rendered in gouache, watercolor, pencil, crayon, and digital elements -- capture the flitting motion of the monarchs, shifting viewpoints to allow readers to admire their patterned wings or marvel at the specks of orange flying en masse. An author's note detailing the monarch migration and the butterfly's cultural significance in the region; a Spanish glossary; and a "How Can We Help?" section are appended. Concurrently published in Spanish as Un aleteo de esperanza.

Reviewer: Jessica Agudelo | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Aly McKnight. A young girl and her family eagerly prepare for and take part in the Jingle Dress dance, an Anishinaabe tradition established during the 1918 1919 influenza pandemic. Havrelock's (Saddle Lake Cree Nation) straightforward text incorporates vivid sensory imagery ("buckles shine, beads glimmer"; "Mom's warm fingers slide through my hair") and realistic details ("Everyone gets a big shot of hair spray!"), and evokes both the contemporary and the traditional while capturing the narrator's excitement. McKnight's (Shoshone-Bannock) colorful watercolor and graphite illustrations focus on the family and the regalia, and include such details as the different colors of black in a girl's braids; the variety of Indigenous people's hair colors and textures; the jingles on dresses that sway so convincingly you can almost hear them; and a red handprint covering the mouth of a woman watching the dance, signifying her solidarity with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People. Back matter gives more information about this century-old ritual of healing and thanks, including its significance in the wake of COVID-19 with its devastating effect on Native communities. A moving portrayal of how Jingle Dress dancers "dance for those who can't."

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight. A Native boy learns about the kinship between plants and humankind from his great-grandparents before his people's untouched lands are destroyed for urban development. He loses his “connection to spirit” as he grows older until a lone city flower inspires him to keep the voices of his human and plant relatives alive. Hummingbird's (Cahuilla/Apache) autobiographical account of his journey to becoming a Native plant expert/activist balances pathos and ethos, bolstered by Goodnight's (Chickasaw) gentle illustrations. Back matter includes plant conservation tips and further reading.

Reviewer: Summer Edward

(2) YA Illustrated by Rovina Cai. Cryptids and Fae abound in the slightly off-kilter version of 1970s Texas that serves as the setting for this prequel to Elatsoe4 (rev. 9/20). Seventeen-year-old Shane and her mother, Lorenza, work with their bloodhounds (and one ghost hound) to track lost people. But when the search for missing brother and sister Bobby and Donnie results in Lorenza vanishing as well, Shane rushes to the site of the rogue "mimic" fairy ring that apparently took her mother, only to have a stray thought whisk her to Donnie's location. With Lorenza and Bobby still missing, Shane sets out to research the mimic. Her investigation raises new questions: if Bobby had wished to be reunited with his late parents, could the mimic have sent him Below, where the dead reside? Could Lorenza have followed him there? Shane's ability to call animals from Below, as well as folk wisdom from her Lipan Apache ancestry, guide her on her journey to rescue them, which is interwoven with flashbacks to Shane's own tragic family history. This inventive, well-constructed fantasy adventure with grayscale chapter-opening illustrations can be read independently of the first book but will likely send readers scurrying to the shelves to read (or re-read) that one next.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Kristy Cameron. Renowned Indigenous storyteller Locke (Lakota and Anishinabe) provides an engaging retelling of a Lakota legend. Wakhán Thánka (the Great Spirit) creates the world in seven days. After sending power to the East, South, West, and North, Wakhán Thánka creates mountains, trees, plants, animals, and water. On day five, the ancestors are put into motion in Grandfather Sky; on day six, ­Grandmother Earth receives the gift of creation. Finally, on the seventh day, Wakhán Thanka makes the greatest gift: the human spirit. But where to put it? Buffalo, Bear, and other animals have ideas, but in the end Wakhán Thánka places it at the center of all. "The intersection of everything in this universe, this creation, is within each one of us. We have the responsibility to guard this ­precious gift as it does not belong to us but to Wakhán Thánka." Locke's lively text and Cameron's (Métis) brightly colored and textured stylized illustrations bring a dynamism to the tale. A list of Lakota words in the text is appended.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) 4-6 Blue Stars series. Illustrated by Molly Murakami. In their first graphic novel collaboration, Magoon and Smith introduce readers to cousins Riley Halfmoon and Maya Dawn. Riley is used to being surrounded by her Muscogee cousins and aunties. Maya is an only child and lives in Japan with her parents, who are on active duty. The girls both move to Urbanopolis to live with their paternal grandmother when Riley's mom gets a new job and Maya's parents get a new assignment. At first they find sharing a room to be a difficult adjustment; when school starts, the two continue on their separate paths until they realize the vice principal plans to cut afterschool programs for more detention space. The girls work together to expose his plans and to "be the stars" their grandmother wants them to be. The story and illustrations are a wonderful representation of a multiracial (the cousins' paternal grandmother is Black; Riley's mom is Muscogee, and Maya's mother is white) and multigenerational family. The graphic novel format, with varied panel layouts in the digital illustrations, helps create a fast-paced adventure middle-grade and middle-school readers will appreciate.

Reviewer: Nicholl Denice Montgomery | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(3) PS Translated by Mary Ann Corbiere. Employing the time-tested baby book refrains “What do you see?” and “What do you hear?”, Pawis-Steckley’s (Ojibwe) upbeat text takes readers along for a stroll in the morning woods, introducing them to thirteen different animals engaged in everyday activities like munching leaves, climbing a tree, digging a hole, and eventually falling asleep. Written in Anishinaabemowin and English and featuring bright, varicolored, minimalist woodland-style illustrations, this is a welcome addition to Native American literature for the preschool set. Includes bilingual author’s and translator’s notes.

Reviewer: Summer Edward

(3) K-3 Petite Poems series. Illustrated by Paige Pettibon. This picture book rendition of a pithy poem by nineteenth-century Muskogee Creek Renaissance man Alexander Lawrence Posey contemplates autumn using one stanza of non-rhyming lines. "In the dreamy silence / of the afternoon,” the narrator observes sights and sounds of the season. Pettibon's (Salish) quiet, lambent illustrations, rendered in digital marker and graphite, depict a Native child reveling in the splendor of the outdoors as the summer’s end gives way to fall. Like the period of the year it describes—charming and crisp.

Reviewer: Summer Edward

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley. As she grows from a child into a woman, Tatiana is guided by her wise grandmother who sews her a ribbon skirt to wear each time she marks an important rite of passage. Making and wearing the skirt reinforces the continuity of their Ojibwe traditions, fostering a loving, grateful connection to their ancestors. Woodland art-style illustrations and Ojibwe words in the text support cultural specificity. Useful back matter includes an author's note, a postface about manoomin (wild rice), and a glossary.

Reviewer: Summer Edward

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight. A contemporary girl describes all the tasks and details leading up to her Cherokee community’s wild onion dinner at the start of spring. From her grandmother stitching a tear dress to the girl tending the chickens to gathering the onions together as a family, then cooking, serving, and enjoying the meal at the community center, an appreciation for tradition, and the child’s thankfulness for abundance, comes through. Clear, colorful, digital-looking illustrations set a warm and congenial scene. An author’s note, three recipes, and a glossary are appended.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(3) PS Translated by Dorothy Thunder. Illustrated by Delreé Dumont. Calm and gentle bilingual text, in Plains Cree and English, serves as a soothing lullaby for the baby in this narrator’s arms and as a tribute to the land and natural world around them: “This land is a lullaby your heart already knows. / You carry the song from a lifetime ago.” Gorgeous-hued, landscape-sweeping, textured illustrations depict the flora and fauna, spirits and ancestors using swaths of color and pointillist techniques.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Sabrina Gendron. Lamondin (Métis) shares a nostalgic snapshot of her childhood on the Magnetawan River, focusing on the winter day when her town finally received electricity. As young Patsy and her household move through their daily routine, she reflects on the comforting, down-home rituals of their half-Métis, half-French extended kin and wonders if electricity will change anything. Luminous digital illustrations exude warmth and capture the homespun details of life in 1950s rural Canada. A closing author's note provides context for this portrait of times of change.

Reviewer: Summer Edward