Re: Native American Authors--mostly YA bibliography

["'Nina' J. Chambers" <chambers@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>]

I can highly recommend a good print resource:
        Through Indian Eyes: the Native experience in Books for Childresn
         (ed. Beverly Slapin & Doris Seale)
        New Society Publishers, 1992.

which  has both Native American reviews of contemporary fiction about
Native Americans (by authors both Anglo & Indian), and a chapter
(pp. 289-296) entitled:"American Indian Authors for Young Readers:
an Annotated Bibliography" compiled by Mary Gloyne Byler.
Paul Goble's works fair well in the reviews.  The bibliography
is good but somewhat dated.  Overall, this work gives a sense of what
is best from an Indian perspective of both native & non-native authorship,
and offers many "new" non-mainstream titles, children & young adult.

Michael Dorris (Modoc) has written several works for children, (e.g.,
_Morning Girl_) some with spouse Louise Erdrich.

Paula Gunn Allen (Isleta Pueblo) is the editor of:
       _Spider Woman's Granddaughters: traditonal tales &
        contemporary writing by Native American Women_
        Fawcette, 1989 (in paperback)
Most of the stories here are appropriate for mature middle schoolers gr. 6<,
but you might want to read through them first.  These are not stories written
specifically for children & young adults.  This work has the added
advantage of including authors from early in this century, often juxtaposes a
traditional tale with a contemporary work of the same theme, & has her
one of her typical critical introductions.

Again for more mature students, James Welch's _Fools Crow_ (Penguin, 1986)
is an extraordinary novel ~400pp.  Prof. Welch (Blackfeet) currently heads
the Creative Writing program at U. of Montana.  This is written for
an adult audience & most of his others works are truly adult material.

TRADITIONAL TALES:
For younger children (through adult; + these books can be used as art
tie-ins) there are some exceptional picture books, & somewhat more involved
in terms of narrative:

The Day the Sun was Stolen (Jamie Oliviero; ill. Sharon Hitchcock)
        Ms. Hitchcock is Haida
Moon and Otter and Frog (Laura Simms; ill. Clifford Brycelea) Modoc tale
The Prince & the Salmon People (Claire Rudolf Murphy; ill. Duane Pasco)
        D. Pasco is a reknowned NW Coast carver & artist & the work includes
        photos of art & cermonial objects with excellent descriptions.
The Wave of the Sea Wolf (story & pictures by David Wisniewski)

Hope this helps,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nina Chambers           206.543-1899                          OCLC: WAU
FAX:  206.685-8049                      email: chambers@u.washington.edu
                URL: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~chambers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Thu, 28 Sep 1995, Jonathan W. Osborn wrote:

> Hi, I've been conducting a search for Native American authors and more
> specifically, N.A. authors of children's litature. I have looked at many
> web pages and have run many searches. There are plenty of books about
> Native Americans but I have found only one written by a Native
> author. Does anyone have any ideas for me? Please either respond here or
> e-mail me at osborn@hope.cit.hope.edu.
>
> Thanks for your help..
> J. Osborn
>