List

Fiction for Teens by Indigenous Authors

By Grace Menary-Winefield

These recent novels offer something for every teen reader, whether they are fans of thrillers, horror, coming-of-age, historical fiction, or fantasy.

  • Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology

    2023 by Hawk, Shane; Van Alst, Theodore (editors)

    Many Indigenous people believe you should never whistle at night, and this anthology of short stories explores that theme through a variety of genres including horror, science-fiction, and crime.

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  • Warrior Girl Unearthed

    2023 by Boulley, Angeline

    Perry Firekeeper-Birch and her friends fight for the rightful return of Indigenous remains from the local university, but her campaign against grave robbers soon turns into solving a mystery and pulling off a heist, in the midst of a rising number of missing Indigenous women and her family's involvement in a murder investigation.

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  • Harvest House

    2023 by Smith, Cynthia Leitich

    Hughie is devastated that his school cancelled the Fall play. So, when he gets hired for his town's new haunted house, he is thrilled to get the chance to perform. But as strange things start to happen and a creepy man is spotted stalking young Indigenous women, Hughie and his friends set out to discover the truth.

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  • Funeral Songs for Dying Girls

    2023 by Dimaline, Cherie

    After the death of her Métis mother, Winifred lives with her cemetery operator father in the graveyard. When she starts to fall in love with a spirit named Phil, she worries a new ghost tour will ruin the only friendship (and possible romance) she has and force her to face her own grief and otherness.

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  • Rez Ball

    2023 by Graves, Byron

    Tre is reeling from the death of his brother, star basketball player on their Ojibwe reservation. And when the rest of the varsity team is caught drinking, he is unexpectedly pulled in to play and finds himself where his brother used to be. Can he live up to the pressure?

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  • Those Pink Mountain Nights

    2023 by Ferguson, Jenny

    Working at the Pink Mountain Pizza shop during a Winter storm, Berlin sees who she thinks could be her friend's missing Native cousin, Kiki. Through a snowy week, she and two friends look into the mystery and come to terms with their own harms and the community that surrounds them.

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  • To Shape a Dragon's Breath

    2023 by Blackgoose, Moniquill

    In this adult fantasy that will appeal strongly to teens, a 15-year-old Indigenous girl bonds with a newly hatched dragon, much to the disapproval of her white-focused dragon school.

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  • Into the Bright Open: A Secret Garden Remix

    2023 by Dimaline, Cherie

    This reinterpretation of The Secret Garden sees the newly orphaned Mary Lennox sent to the Georgian Bay. She finds community and hope in the community around her, most of whom are Indigenous. She also discovers a mystery to solve around her cousin Olive, who is inexplicably ill and kept locked away.

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  • We Still Belong

    2023 by Day, Christine

    Seventh-grader Wesley is proud to be Upper Skagit, but when her poem for Indigenous Peoples' Day is criticized by her teacher, she must find confidence again among her family and community.

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  • Man Made Monsters

    2022 by Rogers, Andrea L.

    A literary horror anthology of supernatural stories tied together through generations of one Cherokee family. Starting at the Trail of Tears and ending in 2039, these short stories not only feature zombies, ghosts, and werewolves, but also lesser-known creatures like the Deer Woman, the pain of dispossession, and the terror of domestic abuse.

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  • Saints of the Household

    2023 by Tison, Ari

    When two BriBi American brothers violently defend their cousin, they end up hurting their school's star soccer player. With their futures at risk, they must reach back to their Bribri roots to find a way forward.

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  • My Good Man

    2022 by Gansworth, Eric

    From the author of Apple: Skin to the Core comes a literary novel for teens that sees Brian, a 20-something Indigenous reporter, return to his reservation to investigate the beating of a white acquaintance from his past.

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  • Heroes of the Water Monster

    2023 by Young, Brian

    In this follow-up to Healer of the Water Monster, Nathan must work with his stepbrother Edward and a young water monster to stop an enemy from stealing all the water from the Navajo Nation.

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  • The Everlasting Road

    2023 by Kinew, Wab

    The sequel to the young adult sci-fi Walking in Two Worlds sees Anishinaabe teenager Bugz once again navigating the virtual realm of Floraverse, making sure her two worlds don't cross while coping with the grief of her brother's loss.

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