9 Banned Books for Native American Heritage Month

To conclude Native American Heritage Month, we offer a selection of banned books about Indigenous experience by Indigenous authors. Indigenous books are frequently targeted for bans with claims that they are “divisive” or that centering Indigenous voices is somehow “racist.” In many cases, the unspoken reason is that they challenge triumphal narratives of American history, forcing people to think critically about who gets to tell their histories and which voices are marginalized. These banned books, a mixture of children’s, YA, and adult, all appear on the PEN America Index of School Book Bans sometime from 2021 to 2024.

1.  Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

2. Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard

3. Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis and Traci Sorell

4. We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell

5. Hiawatha and the Peacemaker, Robbie Robertson

6. Kapaemahu by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson

7. At the Mountain's Base by Traci Sorell 

8. The People Shall Continue by Simon J. Ortiz

9. Sharice’s Big Voice: A Native Kid Becomes a Congresswoman by Sharice Davids and Nancy K. Mays