Young Children (up to 2nd Grade)

Nibi's Water Song written by Sunshine Tenasco; illustrated by Chief Lady Bird

When Nibi, an Indigenous girl, turns the handle on the sink in her house, only mucky brown water comes out. That starts her on a search for clean water to drink. Though she must face polluted rivers, unfriendly neighbors, and her own temporary discouragement, Nibi's joyful energy becomes a catalyst for change and action as her community rallies around her to make clean drinking water available for all.

Older Children (3rd Grade to 6th Grade)

We Are Still Here: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know written by Traci Sorell; illustrated by Frané Lessac

In this informational picture book, a diverse group of students and families are headed to (the fictional) Native Nations Community School for Indigenous People's Day presentations. Each spread depicts a different student's report on a subject significant to Native people's experiences since the late 1800s. Each student's presentation includes a brief summary or definition along with supporting details. Every presentation concludes with the line, "We are still here!" Warm gouache illustrations help support the historical context while personalizing the contemporary setting. This book provides information that is omitted from most school curricula in an understandable manner. Above all, the message is reinforced for all readers—Indigenous people are still here.

Teen Fiction

Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen

An unforgettable fantasy debut inspired by West African mythology that is like Children of Blood and Bone meets The Little Mermaid, in which a mermaid takes on the gods themselves. Simi prayed to the gods, once. Now she serves them as Mami Wata—a mermaid—collecting the souls of those who die at sea and blessing their journeys back home. When a living boy is thrown overboard, Simi does the unthinkable—she saves his life, going against an ancient decree. Punishment awaits those who dare to defy it. Danger lurks at every turn, and as Simi draws closer, she must brave vengeful gods, treacherous lands, and legendary creatures. If she doesn't, then she risks not only the fate of all Mami Wata, but also the world as she knows it.

Adult Fiction

Win Me Something by Kyle Lucia Wu

Willa Chen has never quite fit in. Growing up as a biracial Chinese American girl in New Jersey, Willa felt both hypervisible and unseen—too Asian to fit in at her mostly white school and too white to speak to the few Asian kids around. After her parents' early divorce, they both remarried and started new families. Willa grew up feeling outside of their new lives, too. For years, Willa does her best to stifle her feelings of loneliness, drifting through high school and then college as she tries to quiet the unease inside her. When she begins working as a nanny for the Adriens, a wealthy white family in Tribeca, she is confronted with all of the things she never had growing up. Self-examining and fraught with the emotions of a family who fails and loves in equal measure, this book is a nuanced coming-of-age debut about the irreparable fissures between people, a young woman who asks what it really means to belong, and how she might begin to define her own life.

Adult Nonfiction

Rock Concert: An Oral History as Told by the Artists, Backstage Insiders, and Fans Who Were There  by Marc Myers

A lively, entertaining, wide-ranging oral history of the golden age of the rock concert based on over ninety interviews with musicians, promoters, stagehands, and others who contributed to the huge cultural phenomenon that is live rock.

DVDs and Blu-rays

Pig  | Starring: Nicolas Cage, Alex Wolff, Adam Arkin, and Nina Belforte | Director: Michael Sarnoski

Rob, a recluse living alone and off the grid in the Oregon woods, leads a content life with his truffle-hunting pet, Pig, and occasional visits from Amir, Rob's sole customer. When Pig is kidnapped from his house in the middle of the night, Rob and Amir set out for Portland to hunt down the culprit and find his prized pet. While Rob searches for the kidnappers to exact his revenge, he is also forced to confront his past and a heartbreak that he cannot seem to escape.