Native American Lives Series
Dakota and Ojibwe Biographies for 4th-8th Grades
About the Native American Lives Series
The Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC) is excited to announce an expansion of the Native American Lives Series. In addition to the three original books sharing the life stories of Ella Cara Deloria, Charles Albert Bender, and Peggy Flanagan, an additional nine new stories will be added to the series. The series shares real life stories of Dakota and Ojibwe leaders, artists, activists, and elders who have been influential for their communities and have shaped Minnesota and national history. The series co-editors, Heid E. Erdrich and Gwen Nell Westerman share that “These children’s books are by, for, and about Dakota and Ojibwe people and will help Dakota, Ojibwe, and other Native American children imagine their own potential and help them see their cultures represented alongside biographies of American leaders in our society.”
Questions?
New and Forthcoming Titles
MHC has partnered with Lerner Publishing to re-release the original three books along with the nine new titles. Books will be released over the course of 2025-2026 and available for purchase through Lerner Publishing.
About the Editors
Heid E. Erdrich
Heid E. Erdrich is Ojibwe enrolled at the Turtle Mountain reservation in North Dakota. She grew up in Wahpeton, North Dakota, not far from the White Earth reservation in Minnesota and the Sisseton-Wahpeton reservation in South Dakota. Her neighbors in her hometown were Dakota and Ojibwe from these tribal nations. Heid is the author of seven collections of poetry and a cookbook focused on indigenous foods of Minnesota and neighboring states titled Original Local. Her writing has won fellowships and awards from the National Poetry Series, Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board and more. She has twice won a Minnesota Book Award for poetry. A long-time teacher of writing at colleges and universities, Heid enjoys editing. She edited the anthologies New Poets of Native Nations from Graywolf Press, and Sister Nations from the Minnesota Historical Society Press. Heid’s new poetry collection is Little Big Bully, Penguin Editions, 2020. Along with being Anishinaabe/Ojibwe, Heid’s extended family includes Anishinaabe from several bands, Dakota, Hidatsa, Somali-American, German-American, and immigrants from India and elsewhere. She is also Metis, which is a group of people whose ancestors were French and Native American, and who lived in what became the United States of America and Canada. She loves the Great Lakes area and calls it home. Heid has lived in Minnesota for many years, raising her kids in Minneapolis where they went to public schools. She enjoyed working with the authors and editors of this series of biographies and hopes you will read and re-read these books!
Gwen Nell Westerman
Gwen Nell Westerman is Dakota and enrolled with the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate in South Dakota. She is also a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Her parents went to boarding schools in Oklahoma and South Dakota, and then met at Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas. Gwen grew up in Oklahoma and Kansas, among many different tribal nations. She was even first runner-up for powwow princess! When she grew up, she was hired as university professor in Minnesota and returned to her father’s homeland. One of her earliest memories is from when she was three, scribbling in book. Her mother asked her what she was doing. She looked up and said, “I’m writing!” Today, she still loves to scribble, and writes about Dakota history and language. She won two Minnesota Book Awards for her work about Dakota people. Gwen’s first poetry book was written in English and Dakota. Her poems have been published in anthologies, and so have her art quilts. Her quilt art received awards from the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Minnesota Historical Society, the Great Plains Art Museum, and the Heard Museum, and has been exhibited in many places across the United States. Her children were born in Oklahoma and grew up in Minnesota. Gwen’s family tree includes teachers, leaders, and hard workers who were Dakota, Ojibwe, Odawa, and Cherokee, along with a few French and Scottish traders. She knows the names of all her ancestors on both sides of her family back before the American Revolution. She lives in Minnesota with her husband and their little black dog. She hopes you enjoy reading these books as much as she liked working on them, and that you will share them with your friends and families.
Written by Diane Wilson
Illustrated by Tashia Hart
Ella Cara Deloria loved to listen to her family tell stories in the Dakota language. She recorded many American Indian peoples’ stories and languages and shared them with everyone. She helped protect her people’s language for future generations. She also wrote stories of her own.
About the Author
Diane Wilson is a Dakota author, educator, and bog steward. Her novel, The Seed Keeper (2021) and her memoir, Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past (2006), won the Minnesota Book Awards in 2022 and 2007. She has also published a nonfiction book, Beloved Child; and co-authored a picture book—Where We Come From. Her essays have appeared in anthologies including: Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations (2021); We Are Meant to Rise (2021); and A Good Time for the Truth (2016). She is the former Executive Director for Dream of Wild Health and the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance. In addition to this book, she authored the first in the series, Ella Cara Deloria: Dakota Language Protector. Wilson is a Mdewakanton descendant, enrolled on the Rosebud Reservation.
About the Illustrator
Tashia Hart is an author and illustrator; her works include Native Love Jams (2023), The GoodberryCookbook: Harvesting and Cooking Wild Rice and Other Wild Foods (2021), Gidjie and the Wolves (2020) and Girl Unreserved (2015). She was assistant illustrator for Gaa-pi-izhiwebak (2021) and illustrator for Gidjie and the Wolves (2020). Her short works include recipes, essays, poetry, and short stories for various publications. In addition to this title, she has also illustrated several of the books in this series. She is a citizen of the Red Lake Nation and resides in Duluth, MN.
Written by Kade Ferris
Illustrated by Tashia Hart
Charles Albert Bender invented the slider. He was a World Series-winning pitcher and the first Minnesotan inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He grew up poor on a farm where he worked in the fields. He lived far away from his home and family while attending an Indian boarding school in Pennsylvania. Charles Albert Bender worked hard all his life and defined his success by the amount of effort he put into something.
About the Author
Bio coming soon!
About the Illustrator
Tashia Hart is an author and illustrator; her works include Native Love Jams (2023), The GoodberryCookbook: Harvesting and Cooking Wild Rice and Other Wild Foods (2021), Gidjie and the Wolves (2020) and Girl Unreserved (2015). She was assistant illustrator for Gaa-pi-izhiwebak (2021) and illustrator for Gidjie and the Wolves (2020). Her short works include recipes, essays, poetry, and short stories for various publications. In addition to this title, she has also illustrated several of the books in this series. She is a citizen of the Red Lake Nation and resides in Duluth, MN.
Written by Jessica Engelking
Illustrated by Tashia Hart
Peggy Flanagan is the Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota. This is the second highest office in the state. She is the first Native woman to hold such a high elected statewide office in the United States. Peggy is working hard to make life better for all Minnesotans.
About the Author
Bio coming soon!
About the Illustrator
Tashia Hart is an author and illustrator; her works include Native Love Jams (2023), The GoodberryCookbook: Harvesting and Cooking Wild Rice and Other Wild Foods (2021), Gidjie and the Wolves (2020) and Girl Unreserved (2015). She was assistant illustrator for Gaa-pi-izhiwebak (2021) and illustrator for Gidjie and the Wolves (2020). Her short works include recipes, essays, poetry, and short stories for various publications. In addition to this title, she has also illustrated several of the books in this series. She is a citizen of the Red Lake Nation and resides in Duluth, MN.
Written by Diane Wilson
Illustrated by Cole Redhorse Taylor
About the Author
Diane Wilson is a Dakota author, educator, and bog steward. Her novel, The Seed Keeper (2021) and her memoir, Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past (2006), won the Minnesota Book Awards in 2022 and 2007. She has also published a nonfiction book, Beloved Child; and co-authored a picture book—Where We Come From. Her essays have appeared in anthologies including: Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations (2021); We Are Meant to Rise (2021); and A Good Time for the Truth (2016). She is the former Executive Director for Dream of Wild Health and the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance. In addition to this book, she authored the first in the series, Ella Cara Deloria: Dakota Language Protector. Wilson is a Mdewakanton descendant, enrolled on the Rosebud Reservation.
About the Illustrator
Cole Redhorse Taylor is a Mdewakanton Dakota , enrolled with the Prairie Island Indian Community. He lives and works on his reservation community located within the traditional boundaries of Dakota homelands in Minnesota. He is a multidisciplinary artist, with a BFA in Fine Arts Studio with an emphasis in Drawing and Painting, from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. His works include traditional forms of drawing, painting, beadwork, quillwork, and textile work in traditional regalia. He works towards celebrating his people as thriving conduits of his ancestor’s legacies and to solidify their presence.
Written by Staci Lola Drouillard
Illustrated by Tashia Hart
Coming January 2026!
About the Author
Staci Lola Drouillard is a Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe direct descendant. She lives and works in her hometown of Kitchibitobig—Grand Marais, on Minnesota’s North Shore of Lake Superior. Her first book Walking the Old Road: A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe (UMP, 2019) won the Hamlin Garland Prize in Popular History, the Northeastern Minnesota Book Award for nonfiction and was a finalist for a Minnesota Book Award. Her second book Seven Aunts (UMP, 2022) won the 2023 Minnesota Book Award for Memoir and Creative nonfiction, the Northeastern Minnesota Book Award and was a “Minnesota Reads” selection at the Library of Congress National Book Festival. A Family Tree, is her first children’s book and was illustrated by Kate Gardiner (Harper Collins, 2024). Staci is an award-winning radio producer for WTIP North Shore Community Radio and authors the monthly column Nibi Chronicles for Great Lakes Now, a branch of Detroit Public Media.
About the Illustrator
Tashia Hart is an author and illustrator; her works include Native Love Jams (2023), The GoodberryCookbook: Harvesting and Cooking Wild Rice and Other Wild Foods (2021), Gidjie and the Wolves (2020) and Girl Unreserved (2015). She was assistant illustrator for Gaa-pi-izhiwebak (2021) and illustrator for Gidjie and the Wolves (2020). Her short works include recipes, essays, poetry, and short stories for various publications. In addition to this title, she has also illustrated several of the books in this series. She is a citizen of the Red Lake Nation and resides in Duluth, MN.
Written by Glen Wasicuna
Illustrated by Awaniigiizhik Bruce
Coming January 2026!
About the Author
Bio coming soon!
About the Illustrator
Awanigiizhik Bruce (Mikinaak-Wajiw Anishinaabe, Nehiyaw, Michif) is a Two-Spirit diverse-media artist based on the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation. Their artistic practice traverses traditional and ceremonial Nehiyaw-pwat forms, mixed media, and multimedia work. Their primary mediums include ledger art, parfleche, quillwork, beadworking, painting, jewelry-making, and computer-coded LED art. Awanigiizhik brings practices from ancestral traditional revitalization to the exploration of Indigenous futurism. They spend much of the year completing site-specific and collaborative projects around the country, like murals in Duluth, MN and Belcourt, ND.
Written by Hema Patel
Illustrated by Awaniigiizhik Bruce
Coming January 2026!
About the Author
Hema Liesel Erdrich Patel is a writer, artist, dog lover, and lifelong student. She comes from a beautiful blend of cultures – on her mother’s side, mixed German and Turtle Mountain Ojibwe, and on her father’s side, Gujarati Indian. She was raised in both Belcourt, ND and Sisseton, SD, and has called Minneapolis, Minnesota home for most of her years. She is a recent graduate from Yale University with a BA in the History of Science, Health and Medicine and an Education Studies Certificate. Her most recent artistic adventure consisted of a three month bharatanatyam intensive in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Outside of her writing, she is pursuing a path towards medicine as a future pediatrician!
About the Illustrator
Awanigiizhik Bruce (Mikinaak-Wajiw Anishinaabe, Nehiyaw, Michif) is a Two-Spirit diverse-media artist based on the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation. Their artistic practice traverses traditional and ceremonial Nehiyaw-pwat forms, mixed media, and multimedia work. Their primary mediums include ledger art, parfleche, quillwork, beadworking, painting, jewelry-making, and computer-coded LED art. Awanigiizhik brings practices from ancestral traditional revitalization to the exploration of Indigenous futurism. They spend much of the year completing site-specific and collaborative projects around the country, like murals in Duluth, MN and Belcourt, ND.
Written by Pauline Danforth
Illustrated by Tashia Hart
Coming January 2026!
About the Author
Pauline Brunette Danforth, spent her early years living with her grandmother in the Pine Point community on the White Earth Reservation where she received her Ojibwe name Kewetah-benais-equay, translating to Thunderbird Flying in a Circle. Her family moved to the Cities in the 1950s for economic reasons. She graduated from Bemidji State University with a degree in Mass Communications. She then edited the Leech Lake Reservation tribal newspaper before investigating Ojibwe land claims and doing probate research for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She returned to the Cities to attend graduate school at the University of Minnesota earning a Ph.D. in American Studies.
Over the span of her decades-long higher education career, she advised and taught at both the University of Minnesota and Metropolitan State University while serving on the boards of various American Indian non-profit organizations. In addition to publishing creative non-fiction, memoir and poetry, she has published historical articles about the Minneapolis urban Indian community.
She is a devoted traveler having visited many U.S. states and Canadian provinces plus Mexico, Guatemala, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland and several other European countries. Now retired, she travels, meets regularly with her writing group while also teaching Native Studies at Metropolitan State University.
About the Illustrator
Tashia Hart is an author and illustrator; her works include Native Love Jams (2023), The GoodberryCookbook: Harvesting and Cooking Wild Rice and Other Wild Foods (2021), Gidjie and the Wolves (2020) and Girl Unreserved (2015). She was assistant illustrator for Gaa-pi-izhiwebak (2021) and illustrator for Gidjie and the Wolves (2020). Her short works include recipes, essays, poetry, and short stories for various publications. In addition to this title, she has also illustrated several of the books in this series. She is a citizen of the Red Lake Nation and resides in Duluth, MN.
Check back for updates on titles, authors, and illustrators of books being published in August 2026!
Get Books for Your School or Library
Are you interested in receiving one or more titles for your classroom or library? MHC is offering a limited number of free books, resources, and mini-grants to schools, educators, librarians, and media-specialists. To learn more, please complete the interest form and MHC staff will be in touch with more details.
Native American Lives Series Interest Form
Minnesota Native American Lives Series
2022 American Library Association Youth Media Award American Indian Youth Literature Middle-Grade Honor Books!
In Partnership With
Brought to You By
The work of the Minnesota Humanities Center is to create a stronger Minnesota by increasing our understanding of the beauty, wisdom and stories of its people. In addition to our editors, authors, and illustrators, we thank the financial sponsors and partners of this work:
