Celebrate American Indian Heritage Month!
This month honors Indigenous communities, their culture, and their resilience as they faced assimilation, discrimination & genocide spanning generations. It’s a time to celebrate the rich histories, diverse cultures and important contributions of our nation’s first people.
These Jane Addams Children’s Book Award-Winning and Honor Books invite conversation and reflection about the deep cultural, social, and ecological riches that the Indigenous Peoples of what is now the United States have contributed to our way of life over the centuries.
 We Are Still Here! Native American Truths Everyone Should Know by Traci Sorell, illustrated by Frané Lessac Twelve Native American kids present historical and contemporary laws, policies, struggles, and victories in Native life, each with a powerful refrain: We are still here! The colorful, culturally specific illustrations provide more in-depth context for the topics presented. (Ages 7-10) A 2022 Jane Addams Children’s Book Finalist, Books for Younger Children
Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata Weedflower is the story of the rewards and challenges of a friendship across the racial divide, as well as the based-on-real-life story of how the meeting of Japanese Americans and Native Americans changed the future of both. Cynthia Kadohata’s richly detailed novel is punctuated with small, explosive moments of revelation as a Japanese American girl during World War II is challenged by racism and questions about identity, friendship, and what it means to be free. (Ages 10–14) The 2007 Jane Addams Children’s Award Winner for Older Readers
Sweetgrass Basket by Marlene Carvell Sweetgrass Basket is the story of Mattie and Sarah, two Mohawk sisters who are sent to an off-reservation school after the death of their mother. How Mattie and Sarah protect their culture, memories of their family life, and their love for each other makes for a powerful, unforgettable historical novel. (Ages 9-13) A 2006 Jane Addams Children’s Honor Book for Older Readers
Books In Their HandsIn partnership with Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, the Peace Association headed to Pittsburgh, PA where Angela Joy, the 2023 award-winning author of Choosing Brave shared her book Black Is a Rainbow Color with PPS Miller Elementary School!
Through our Books in Their Hands program, we bring authors and illustrators to low-income schools nationally to share their Jane Addams award-winning books and to speak directly with the students and teachers in the community. We also donate Jane Addams Children’s Book Award commended titles into the hands of children. Join the Jane Addams Peace Association at 2023 NCTE Conference
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