Lost at Windy River: A True Story of Survival
Written by Trina Rathgeber (Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation), illustrated by Alina Pete (Little Pine First Nation), and published by Orca Book Publishers.
Award Category: 2026
Jo Jo Makoons: The Super-Scary Sleepover
Written by Dawn Quigley (Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe), illustrated by Tara Audibert (Wolastoquey and French), and published by Heartdrum, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
We Weave
Written by Daniel W. Vandever (Navajo and Irish), illustrated by Deonoveigh Mitchell (Navajo and Black American) and published by South of Sunrise Creative.
Raven’s Ribbons
Written by Tasha Spillett (Cree and Trinidadian), illustrated by Daniel Ramirez (Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan) and published by Little, Brown and Company.
For a Girl Becoming
Written by Joy Harjo (Mvskoke Nation), illustrated by Adriana Garcia and published by Norton Young Readers, an imprint of W.W. Norton & Company.
Fierce Aunties
Written by Laurel Goodluck (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Tshimshian), illustrated by Steph Littlebird (Oregon’s Grand Ronde Confederate Tribes) and published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.
Braided Roots
Written by Pasha Westbrook (Chickasaw Nation and Choctaw Freedman), illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight (Chickasaw Nation), and published by Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.
Chooch Helped
Written by Andrea L. Rogers (Cherokee Nation) illustrated by Rebecca Lee Kunz (Cherokee Nation) and published by Arthur A. Levine, an imprint of Levine Querido.
Buffalo Dreamer
Written by Violet Duncan (Plains Cree and Taino from Kehewin Cree Nation) and published by Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories
Edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee Nation), and published by Heartdrum, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers