Indigenous
The Ghost of the Kenai, by Aurora Hardy
The Ghost of the Kenai, by Aurora Hardy In 1796, the men at Fort Kenay or Russian Redoubt Saint Nicholas are terrified. A ghost, a woman in a tattered white dress, screams nightly along the banks of the Kenai River below the bluffs where the fort stands. Young Nicholas arrives with Captain Zaikov on his…
Read MoreSivulliq: Ancestor, by Lily H. Tuzroyluke
Sivulliq: Ancestor, by Lily H. Tuzroyluke In the spring of 1893, arctic Alaska is devastated by smallpox. Kayaliruk knows it is time to light the funeral pyres and leave their home. With her surviving children, she packs their dog sled and they set off to find family. Kayaliruk wakes with a bleeding scalp and no…
Read MoreThe Ravenstone Chronicle, by J. Harper Haines
A Native Lad: Benny Benson Tells Alaska’s Story, by Sarah Hurst
A Native Lad: Benny Benson Tells Alaska’s Story, by Sarah Hurst A Native Lad: Benny Benson Tells Alaska’s Story is based on the script of a play by Sarah Hurst, first performed at Tatitlek Community School in January 2010. The story consists of 16 scenes marking major events in Alaska history, narrated by Benny Benson,…
Read MoreCold River Spirits, by Jan Harper-Haines
Cold River Spirits (192 pages) is a wryly humorous and inspirational story about a proud Alaska Native family struggling to survive in two worlds. Sam and Louise Harper and their ten children make a soul-grinding transition into a modern white-dominated society where they face bigotry, poverty, and illness. Yet, Louise, the Athabascan matriarch, remains in…
Read MoreEskimo Star, by Lael Morgan
The blazing marquee of the plush Astor Theater in New York City billed the 1933 premier of “Eskimo” as “THE BIGGEST PICTURE EVER MADE,” propelling an 27-year-old Inupiat Eskimo from Candle, Alaska, to overnight stardom. The handsome actor was not only the first Alaskan to become a Hollywood movie star but also the first non-white…
Read MoreRed Thunder, by David Matheson
Red Thunder (280 pages) is a memoir of a People. The story draws from the oral history of the Schi-tsu-umsh Indians, now called the Coeur d’Alene Tribe in Northern Idaho. This unique portrayal of pre-European Native Americans is an authentic work displaying the rich cultural teachings behind Native American life. Red Thunder is not only about courage, love…
Read MoreRaising Ourselves, by Velma Wallis
Born in 1960, the sixth of thirteen children, Velma Wallis comes of age in a two-room log cabin in remote Fort Yukon, Alaska. Life is defined by the business of living off the land. Chopping wood. Hauling water from the river. Hunting moose. Catching salmon. Trapping fur. Taking care of the dogs. For a thousand…
Read MoreBird Girl and the Man Who Followed the Sun, by Velma Wallis
In her spellbinding second book, Bird Girl and the Man who Followed the Sun (224 pages) award-winning author Velma Wallis interweaves two classic Athabaskan legends set in ancient central Alaska. This is the story of two rebels who break the strict taboos of their communal culture in their quests for freedom and adventure. Readers will…
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