The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson

This book has three perspectives--one is keeping true to the traditions of your culture as a way to re-anchor yourself, the second is incorporating American Indian values of respecting the earth, our only potential home, in the era of climate change butting heads with corporate greed, and the last is an interesting way to portray the effects of generational trauma. These elements weave together in the story of Rosalie Iron Wing, a Dakhóta woman whom we first meet during a major turning point in her life. Wilson, who is herself Dakhóta, composes a narrative that moves back and forth in time, filling in Rosalie’s backstory and family history. During these movements through time, we meet Marie Blackbird, Rosalie’s great-great-grandmother. Marie describes running from US Indian Agents who, among other things, took children away from their families and placed them in boarding schools to convert them to Christianity. Rosalie is, body and mind, a product of the transgressions and violations her family and the Dakhóta have endured, from the loss of their lands to the loss of their traditional food and their children. This book asserts that much of the past does not go away, but continues to exist in the present. It details the way history runs through the bloodstream, through the DNA, through the bones, through the water, and through the land, affecting every life that steps forward into the present. We primarily experience this idea through the eyes of the Dakhóta, but during one scene, Rosalie’s white husband, John, takes her to see a monument commemorating the Sioux Indian War of 1862, one of the many events that transformed and devastated Rosalie’s family—but also John’s family. I did not like the time travel in this, skipping between times throughout the book--I find it a little dizzying, especially when it is all over the place and not just two time periods, but overall would recommend.

The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer

I read this as a fulfillment of one of the 2026 Goodreads reading challenges--it fulfilled a category that was hard for me because I had read about 80% of the books that qualified already. Otherwise I would likely not have found this. It is about looking inwards, building with what you have and being grateful and appreciative for what you have. When you look at a berry, the serviceberry is featured here, but any wild berry will do--what do you see? In her latest book, the US botanist and author views a tiny fruit through all of these that it does--it feeds the wild life around it, who in turn help it to spread when you expel the seeds, all the interconnected ways a berry becomes an integral part of our world. Then she goes on to illuminate the much bigger questions about how we humans relate to plants, to the natural world and to each other. The author is a university professor, a botanist, and a citizen of the Potawatomi nation, and she is becoming one of the best known environmental writers working today.

Looking For Smoke by K.A. Cobell

I read this for a Goodreads challenge and to celebrate Native American Heritage month. It is a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick as well--and mirrors another one of her picks, a YA book called The Firekeeper's Daughter. It is also a novel where a teen girl has to figure out what is happening in her community. Mara Racette is a high school student who recently moved to the Blackfeet Rez in Browning, Montana. The book is told from a number of different viewpoints, and includes Loren Arnoux, whose older sister Rayanne went missing three months earlier, Brody Clark, who has a crush on Loren and the joker of their friend group, and Eli First Kill, whose biggest concern is his younger sister. During Indian Days weekend, Loren’s family honors the memory of her grandfather by doing a giveaway, and soon afterward Samantha White Tail, Loren’s best friend, is found murdered. The FBI gets involved because unlike with Rayanne’s disappearance, there is a body and a chance for the agent on the case to pretend like he cares. As happens all too frequently in real life, the tribal police are under-resourced, and the killing of native women goes un solved and unpunished.

The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt

It is hard for me as a mental health professional to be truly dispassionate about a popular literature book that summarizes information about mental health literature, but this has some really good points that I can get behind. The bottom line is that growing up is still complicated and increased access to technology and the increased obsession with social media doesn't do kids any favors, but--like smoking--tech companies have no incentive to shield kids and every motivation to hook them early, so it is up to us to suspend access for as long as possible. Recommendation summarized: Delay phone access: Put off smartphones until high school and social media until age 16 Make schools phone-free: Ban smartphones in schools Increase independence: Give kids more opportunities for free play, responsibility, and real-world experiences Replace screen time: Replace screen time with real-world experiences with friends and independent activities How to implement Model good habits: Parents can model the screen time habits they want their children to have Encourage independence: Encourage kids to take on tasks they've never done before, like going to the store by themselves Support kids: Be supportive and loving when kids take on new challenges Change laws: Change state laws to make it clear that giving kids independence isn't evidence of neglect Change norms: Change group-level norms by encouraging teachers to assign homework that encourages kids to try new things

Whiskey Tender by Deborah Jackson Taffa

This is a personal story but one that is all too common in the Americas. The author is indigenous but of mixed heritage. Her father is a Quechan (Yuma) and Laguna Pueblo and her a Catholic Latina mother who never discussed being descended from both Spanish conquistadors and Native people. She comes through experience to understand the hierarchy within the American Southwest, that places more value on Spanish blood over indigenous blood, paying no heed to the fact that girls were enslaved to Conquistadors and the mixing of blood was not consensual. Her parents’ attitudes about things diverged drastically, as did their temperaments. Her father seemed to be raw to the world, his memories and traumas always just beneath the surface of his skin, spilling out in stories and outbursts alike; her mother anchored herself with prayer, preferring to keep her hurts private, her doubts buried, her insecurities hidden away behind a competent and confident facade. They were united, however, in their commitment to the family they’d built and raised together. There are issues related to violence, poverty and drug abuse--but they play supporting roles in the story. This is a coming of age story from someone whose ancestors came to this land first but are not treated as such.