Native American Heritage Month

For young readers, an inspiring story about a river, a successful Native-led movement for environmental justice, and the making of a scientist.

Growing up in the Yurok and Karuk Tribes, Brook Thompson learned to care for the fish that nurtured her and her family. She knew that along the Klamath River in Northern California, salmon and lampreys are a needed part of life. But she also saw how these fish were in danger. People had built dams along the Klamath River, making it very hard for salmon and lampreys to live. Tribal people and their friends organized to have four of the dams removed, and they won. In I Love Salmon and Lampreys, Thompson tells this inspiring tale, and she shares how it motivated her to become a scientist. Featuring adorable illustrations by Anastasia Khmelevska, as well as fun facts about salmon and lampreys, this is a stirring story about stewarding nature for the generations to come.

This alphabet board book welcomes youngsters of all cultures into the abundant world of Native California.

Beautiful illustrations of animals, plants, and cultural objects show off the spectacular diversity of California's indigenous cultures and environments. Sturdy enough to withstand any toddler's grasp, A Is for Acorn is a playful, loving introduction to California's oldest and most abiding sense of itself.

Now in paperback and newly expanded, this gripping memoir is hailed as essential by Joy Harjo, Leslie Marmon Silko, and ELLE magazine—among others.

Bad Indians—part tribal history, part lyric and intimate memoir—is essential reading for anyone seeking to learn about California Indian history, past and present. Widely adopted in classrooms and book clubs throughout the United States, Bad Indians—now reissued in significantly expanded form—plumbs ancestry, survivance, and the cultural memory of Native California.

In this best-selling, now-classic memoir, Deborah A. Miranda tells stories of her Ohlone/Costanoan-Esselen family and the experiences of California Indians more widely through oral histories, newspaper clippings, anthropological recordings, personal reflections, and poems. This expanded edition includes several new poems and essays, as well as an extensive afterword, totaling more than fifty pages of new material. Wise, indignant, and playful all at once, Bad Indians is a beautiful and devastating read, and an indispensable book for anyone seeking a more just and accurate telling of American history.

Selected by the San Francisco Chronicle’s as one of the top 100 western nonfiction books of the twentieth century.

“Beautifully imagined and written.”—Alice Walker

One of the most ground-breaking and highly-acclaimed titles that Heyday has published, The Ohlone Way describes the culture of the Indian people who inhabited Bay Area prior to the arrival of Europeans. With clear and accessible writing that is spirited and at the same time informed, Malcolm Margolin vividly recreates the Ohlones’ lost world. From his unique vantage point as a “friend of the family,” he updates this classic text with a new preface that tells stories of the Ohlones’ continued endurance and resurgence.

The follow-up to Heyday's best-selling A Is for Acorn takes young readers to a Native California Big Time, with Coyote as their guide.

Counting from one clapperstick up to ten stars twinkling above the gathering, Coyote explores indigenous cultural traditions, including songs, dances, hand games, art—and, of course, delicious food. Lyn Risling's beautiful illustrations depict the diversity of traditions that continue to thrive throughout the state. At once a fun introduction to numbers and a celebration of community, this lively counting book shows babies and toddlers how to take in the beautiful world around them.

While reading Island of the Blue Dolphins at school and learning about the real woman stranded on San Nicolás Island, ten-year-old Tíshmal begins writing emails to “Miss Karana” in hopes of talking to her spirit. When she arrived on the mainland of Southern California, Miss Karana spoke a language that no one could understand even back then, and all that remains is a recording of the song she sang when she was found on the island. Tíshmal realizes that some of the words sound very similar to Chamtéela (Luiseño), the language spoken on her reservation. As she writes to Miss Karana, Tíshmal becomes more and more resolved to understand the lone woman's song. The only person able to help her is a grouchy great uncle, Wéh Powéeya (“two tongues”), the last living person fluent in the language of their ancestors from the belly button of the ocean: the islands including San Nicolás. Together, Tíshmal and Wéh Powéeya must discover what the lone woman said long ago in order to help her spirit finish the journey West.

First written in Chamtéela and developed in accordance with fourth grade Common Core State Standards, Dear Miss Karana tells a compelling story of family, determination, and cultural perseverance.

Essays and short stories from a celebrated Cupeño/Cahuilla journalist.

"Johnson is by turns tender and hilarious—as ever. This book is a welcome addition to his loving history of the world as he knows it." —Susan Straight, author of Sacrament

In this moving collection of short stories and essays, Gordon Lee Johnson (Cupeño/Cahuilla) cements his voice not only as a commentator on American Indian reservation life but also as a master of fiction writing. From the noir-tinged mystery of "Unholy Wine" to the gripping intensity of "Tukwut," Johnson effortlessly switches genre and perspective, vividly evoking people and places that are fictional but profoundly true to life. Johnson’s nonfiction is equally revelatory in its exploration of connections between past and present. Whether examining his own conflicted feelings toward the missions as a source of both cultural damage and identity or sharing advice on cooking for eight dozen cowboys and -girls, Johnson plumbs the comedy, catastrophe, and beauty of his life on the Pala Reservation to thunderous effect.