Cynthia Leitich Smith
Author
Language
English
Appears on these lists
Creative Voices of the Indigenous Community
Fairy Tales Reimagined
Native American Authors: Youth Chapter Books & Graphic Novels (SCPL-YS)
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Fairy Tales Reimagined
Native American Authors: Youth Chapter Books & Graphic Novels (SCPL-YS)
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Description
Three children from a blended Creek-British family follow Peter Pan to an island filled with animals, merfolk, and fairies, but when they discover the dark side of Peter and Neverland they plan their escape.
Author
Publication Date
[2024]
Language
English
Appears on these lists
Indigenous Heritage Month - Kids
Native American Heritage Month - Kids
Native American Heritage Month - Older Kids
Native American Heritage Month - Kids
Native American Heritage Month - Older Kids
Description
Melanie "Mel" Roberts is sensitive, bookish, and Muscogee-Odawa. Ray Halfmoon is upbeat, artistic, and Cherokee-Seminole. They may be from different Indigenous Nations, but the friends have become like siblings since their families moved in together. And they soon welcome a distinguished guest: Great-grandfather Bat, whose wing is injured, has taken refuge in their old oak tree. A rematch of the legendary Great Ball Game is coming up, with Bat as...
Language
English
Appears on these lists
2021 Summer Top Picks for Middle Schoolers
Celebrating Native Americans - Youth
Fifth Grade
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Celebrating Native Americans - Youth
Fifth Grade
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Description
Edited by award-winning and bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith, this collection of intersecting stories by both new and veteran Native writers bursts with hope, joy, resilience, the strength of community, and Native pride.
Author
Publication Date
2023.
Language
English
Appears on these lists
Celebrating Native Americans - Teen
Halloween - Kids
K-Pop Demon Hunters: Books for Teens
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Halloween - Kids
K-Pop Demon Hunters: Books for Teens
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Description
"Deftly leading readers to the literary crossroads of contemporary realism and haunting mystery, Cynthia Leitich Smith revisits the world of her American Indian Youth Literature Award winner Hearts Unbroken. Halloween is near, and Hughie Wolfe is volunteering at a new rural attraction: Harvest House. He's excited to take part in the fun, spooky show--until he learns that an actor playing the vengeful spirit of an "Indian maiden," a ghost inspired...
Author
Publisher
Candlewick Press
Publication Date
2018.
Language
English
Appears on these lists
2024 FPPL YA Indigenous People's Month
GPLD Best Contemporary for High Schoolers
Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month
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GPLD Best Contemporary for High Schoolers
Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month
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Description
"When Louise Wolfe's first real boyfriend mocks and disrespects Native people in front of her, she breaks things off and dumps him over e-mail. It's her senior year, anyway, and she'd rather spend her time with her family and friends and working on the school newspaper. The editors pair her up with Joey Kairouz, the ambitious new photojournalist, and in no time the paper's staff find themselves with a major story to cover: the school musical director's...
Author
Publisher
Playaway Products, LLC
Publication Date
[2026]
Language
English
Description
Michael L. Printz Award Winner
American Indian Youth Literature Award Winner
Featuring the voices of both new and acclaimed Indigenous writers and edited by bestselling Muscogee author Cynthia Leitich Smith, this collection of interconnected stories serves up laughter, love, Native pride, and the world’s best frybread.
The road to Sandy June's Legendary Frybread Drive-In slips through every rez and alongside
7) Tantalize
Author
Series
Publisher
Candlewick Press
Publication Date
[2007]
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
When multiple murders in Austin, Texas, threaten the grand re-opening of her family's vampire-themed restaurant, seventeen-year-old, orphaned Quincie worries that her best friend-turned-love interest, Keiren, a werewolf-in-training, may be the prime suspect.
8) Indian shoes
Author
Language
English
Appears on these lists
2025-2026 3rd Grade Battle of Books
Native American Authors: Youth Chapter Books & Graphic Novels (SCPL-YS)
Native American Heritage Month: Kids (November 2022)
The Native American Experience - Grade School
Native American Authors: Youth Chapter Books & Graphic Novels (SCPL-YS)
Native American Heritage Month: Kids (November 2022)
The Native American Experience - Grade School
Description
Together with Grampa, Ray Halfmoon, a Seminole-Cherokee boy, finds creative and amusing solutions to life's challenges.
Author
Publisher
Heartdrum, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
Publication Date
[2025]
Language
English
Description
"Piper feels grateful for visits with her relatives, especially for the time spent with her cousins in Cherokee Nation and Muscogee Nation during summer vacations, fishing on misty mornings and playing on firefly-filled evenings. Piper's family lives a road trip away in Kansas City. So when a neighbor named Sumi moves in next door, Piper is excited to share her stories and seasons with a new friend. The two are inseparable--until Piper's family moves...
Author
Language
English
Appears on these lists
Native American Authors: Youth Chapter Books & Graphic Novels (SCPL-YS)
Teen Native American Heritage
Teen Native American Heritage
Description
Cassidy Rain Berghoff didn't know that the very night she decided to get a life would be the night that Galen would lose his. It's been six months since her best friend died, and up until now Rain has succeeded in shutting herself off from the world. But when controversy arises around her aunt Georgia's Indian Camp in their mostly white Midwestern community, Rain decides to face the outside world again -- at least through the lens of her camera. Hired...
Author
Publisher
Heartdrum, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
Publication Date
[2026]
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
"Aunts by kinship as well as family friends, neighbors, and community members all step up to fill the important role of "auntie." They are there for life's joys, sorrows, and celebrations, bringing their own special love."--Provided by publisher.
12) Eternal
Author
Series
Publisher
Candlewick Press
Publication Date
2009.
Language
English
Description
When Miranda's guardian angel Zachary recklessly saves her from falling into an open grave and dying, the result is that she turns into a vampire and he is left to try to reinstate his reputation by finally doing the right thing.
13) Blessed
Author
Series
Publisher
Candlewick Press
Publication Date
2011.
Language
English
Description
Even as teenaged Quincie Morris adjusts to her appetites as a neophyte vampire, she must clear her true love, the hybrid-werewolf Kieren, of murder charges; thwart the apocalyptic ambitions of Bradley Sanguini, the vampire-chef who "blessed" her; and keep her dead parents' restaurant up and running before she loses her own soul.
14) Feral nights
Author
Series
Publisher
Candlewick Press
Publication Date
2013.
Language
English
Description
Tracking his sister to Austin only to discover that she is a key suspect in a murder case, werecat Yoshi embarks on a search for answers, while werepossum Clyde and Aimee pursue their own investigation in an effort to avenge the killing.
15) Diabolical
Author
Series
Publisher
Candlewick Press
Publication Date
2012.
Language
English
Description
When "slipped" angel Zachary and his werewolf pal, Kieren, arrive under suspicious circumstances to a mysterious New England boarding school, they quickly find themselves in a hellish lockdown with an intriguing assortment of secretive, hand-picked students. Plagued by demon dogs, hallucinatory wall decor, a sadistic instructor, and a legendary fire-breathing monster, will they somehow manage to escape? Or will the devil have his due?
16) Jingle dancer
Author
Publisher
Morrow Junior Books
Publication Date
[2000]
Language
English
Appears on these lists
FPPL 2024 Indigenous Peoples' Heritage Month Children's Booklist
GPLD Native American Heritage Month Picture Books
Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month
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GPLD Native American Heritage Month Picture Books
Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month
More Lists...
Description
Tink, tink, tink, tink, sang cone-shaped jingles sewn to Grandma Wolfe's dress. Jenna's heart beats to the brum, brum, brum, brum of the powwow drum as she daydreams about the clinking song of her grandma's jingle dancing. Jenna loves the tradition of jingle dancing that has been shared by generations of women in her family, and she hopes to dance at the next powwow. But she has a problem -- how will her dress sing if it has no jingles?
17) Holler Loudly
Author
Publisher
Dutton Children's Books
Publication Date
[2010]
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
Unable to be quiet since he was born, Holler Loudly only gets louder as he grows up which gets him in trouble at school, the library, and the movie theater, but when a tornado threatens the state fair, Holler's voice may save the day.
18) Feral curse
Author
Series
Publisher
Candlewick Press
Publication Date
2014.
Language
English
Description
The adopted daughter of two respectable human parents, Kayla is a werecat in the closet. All she knows is the human world. When she comes out to her boyfriend, tragedy ensues, and her determination to know and embrace her heritage grows. Help appears in the lithe form of sexy male werecat Yoshi, backed up by Aimee and Clyde, as the four set out to solve the mystery of a possessed antique carousel while fielding miscast magic, obsessive strangers,...
19) Feral pride
Author
Series
Publisher
Candlewick Press
Publication Date
2015.
Language
English
Description
The explosive finale to the Feral series by New York Times best-selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith. Anti-shifter sentiment is at an all-time high when Kayla's transformation to werecat is captured on video and uploaded for the world to see. Suddenly she becomes a symbol of the werebeast threat and--along with fellow cat Yoshi, lion-possum Clyde, and human Aimee--a hunted fugitive. Meanwhile, a self-proclaimed weresnake has kidnapped the governor...
20) Santa knows
Author
Publisher
Dutton Children's Books
Publication Date
[2006]
Language
English
Description
Armed with the facts, young Alfie sets out to prove to the world that Santa Claus does not exist but no one pays attention, especially his sister Noelle, whose only request of the man in red is a nicer big brother.


