The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

Native American

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

, , , , ,
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger
buy this book

Buy from your local indie.
Get the audiobook

An amazing, well-rounded debut with a number of different identities represented. Elatsoe had an impressive combination of Indigenous practices and folklore, paranormal elements, and a classic murder-mystery with necessary discussions of injustice and colonization. PLUS lovable characters!

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger, (List Price: $12.99, Levine Querido, 9781646142767, October 2023)

Reviewed by Mallory Sutton, Bards Alley in Vienna, Virginia

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger Read More »

Washing My Mother’s Body by Joy Harjo

, , , ,
Washing My Mother's Body by Joy Harjo
buy this book

Buy from your local indie.

A beautifully illustrated edition of one of Joy Harjo’s greatest poems – this book is a celebration of a mother’s life and a wrestling with the grief that comes after loss. Dana Tiger’s watercolors perfectly complement the emotions of the poem, elevating the text to something truly special. Full of emotion and memory, this book is a wonderful ode to a life – now gone but never forgotten.

Washing My Mother’s Body by Joy Harjo, (List Price: $17.99, Ten Speed Press, 9781984861368, April 2025)

Reviewed by Caleb Masters, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Washing My Mother’s Body by Joy Harjo Read More »

Halfway There by Christine Mari

, , , , , , , ,
Halfway There by Christine Mari
buy this book

Buy from your local indie.
Get the audiobook

This had me SOBBING. For someone who is not mixed race, this was really eye-opening about the struggles that mixed-race children and adults face in their daily lives. I’m assuming this book would be very comforting for someone who also understands what the MC goes through. This really highlights the microaggressions that are often spoken. Really eye-opening and a very emotional ride. Beautiful story 10/10

Halfway There by Christine Mari, (List Price: $17.99, Little, Brown Ink, 9780316416726, October 2024)

Reviewed by Stephanie St. John, E. Shaver Bookseller in Savannah, Georgia

Halfway There by Christine Mari Read More »

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

, , , , , , ,
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
buy this book

Buy from your local indie.
Get the audiobook

Simultaneously heartbreaking and humorous. A fictionalized tale of the author’s life as a young teen, chronicling his battle with being loyal to his home and breaking away to meet who he was destined to be.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, (List Price: $20.99, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 9780316504041, September 2017)

Reviewed by Mallory Sutton, Bards Alley in Vienna, Virginia

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie Read More »

The Storyteller by Brandon Hobson

, , , , , ,
The Storyteller by Brandon Hobson
buy this book

Buy from your local indie.
Get the audiobook

A May 2023 Read This Next! Title

Ziggy is just a regular kid. Well, a regular kid who encounters talking coyotes, singing frogs, prophesying snakes, truth-telling horses, a very interesting Grandma, and Nunnehi- spirits who protect those of Cherokee descent. Funny, sad, wise, and jam-packed with adventure, Ziggy’s story, The Storyteller, may be the very best book you’ll read in 2023.

The Storyteller by Brandon Hobson, (List Price: 17.99, Scholastic Press, 9781338797268, May 2023)

Reviewed by Angie Tally, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina

The Storyteller by Brandon Hobson Read More »

Still This Love Goes On by Buffy Sainte-Marie

, , , , ,
Still This Love Goes On by Buffy Sainte-Marie
buy this book

Buy from your local indie.

Beautiful and poignant, this stunning ode to Cree life sings with love for the relations that sustain it—between people, with the land, and the communal practices that have endured through generations. Flett’s warm, evocative artwork is, as always, a treasure, imbuing Sainte-Marie’s lyrics with tender resonance.

Still This Love Goes On by Buffy Sainte-Marie, (List Price: $18.95, Greystone Kids, 9781771648073, September 2022)

Reviewed by Hannah DeCamp, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

Still This Love Goes On by Buffy Sainte-Marie Read More »

The Star That Always Stays by Anna Rose Johnson

, , , , ,
The Star That Always Stays by Anna Rose Johnson
buy this book

Buy from your local indie.

One of the best things about reading is when you discover a book that brings back wonderful memories of childhood favorites. The Star That Always Stays made me remember two of my favorite books: Heidi and The Girl of the Limberlost. Norvia, the young heroine of The Star That Always Stays, and the young girls from these older stories long for love, acceptance and a true home. They face adversity and feel despair at times at a lack of control over their lives. Yet their strong faith, persistence in pursuing an education, and kind words from others around them sustain them and help them overcome the hardships in their lives. Norvia’s Ojibwe family and the pre-WWI setting provide a great background to this young woman growing up in 1914 Michigan. This is a new classic in the making and I hope we will have more stories about Norvia and her extended family.

The Star That Always Stays by Anna Rose Johnson, (List Price: $17.99, Holiday House, 9780823450404, July 2022)

Reviewed by Mary Patterson, The Little Bookshop in Midlothian, Virginia

The Star That Always Stays by Anna Rose Johnson Read More »

Scroll to Top