Skip to main content

Welcome to Indigo's Bookshelf!

We are a group of Florida Natives--Miccosukee, Seminole, Black, Latinix, queer and disabled--from the ages 12-20, who are passionate about kidlit and yalit.

We believe in the power of books to reflect, entertain and enrich our lives from the time we are young ones. We enjoy books in digital and bound copies, with texts and/or graphics.

We have experienced the bitter disappointment and danger of widespread Native misrepresentation, theft, cruelty and lies in books for all young readers.

This blog is dedicated to reviewing Native #ownvoices. To us, that means books written from an inside perspective by Native authors, with proper research, respect and authorization, first and foremost for young Native readers, but also to educate other young readers and their families.
We join our elders in calling to replace harmful, stereotypical texts in libraries, schools and homes.

This blog is named after our friend Indigo, a Q2S sixteen-year-old who took her own life in 2018
 Her beauty, courage and truthfulness still guides our actions and beliefs. 

Comments

  1. Jean MendozaNovember 17, 2018 at 6:46 AM

    So glad to see that you have got this started. That's a beautiful photo of your dear friend Indigo, and honoring her this way is just lovely. Looking forward to reading what you all have to say!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AmyCatJanuary 25, 2019 at 1:04 PM

    Thanks for this. I’m a bookseller (primarily at science fiction conventions) looking for material outside the mainstream. Your reviewers are articulate and passionate, and are highlighting works which deserve wider readership.

    ReplyDelete
  3. jan godown anninoNovember 21, 2019 at 7:51 AM

    Gratitude for finding this wonderful resource today.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Risky saparullohSeptember 16, 2020 at 11:01 AM

    Sukses terus yah, semangat 😁 Disini

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Fight Over the 1800s in Kid Lit (Remember to Write For Native Kids & Teens)-- by Alexis, 19

To write about Native nations or tribes or not? That is the question. If you are a non-Native author writing a US historical novel for kids or teens, there are several challenges. One is that Indigenous people have lived/are living in places you describe and called/call them home. (Notice I'm assuming that you're not writing a Native MC. Unless you are Debbie Dahl Edwardson writing MY NAME IS NOT EASY (and you're not) don't try it.) If you don't acknowledge this basic fact in our colliding, brutal histories, you are practicing erasure and will be called out for it. If you do acknowledge it, you most likely will be criticized for not getting everything right.                                                                Great book! That's normal--we exist in a White supremacist American society with deep rooted prejudices and stereotypes that run in every direction. We have to dig deep to pull them up. Many of us are doing this work, but we still
4 comments
Read more

INDIAN NO MORE, by Charlene Willing McManis with Traci Sorell: a Review by Ashleigh, 13

INDIAN NO MORE, by Charlene Willing McManis with Traci Sorell is one of the best books I've ever read. Thank you to Tu Books and Stacy L. Whitman for sending @ofglades the uncorrected proof to review. At first, I was sorry it wasn't an audio book, because it is sometimes easier for me to listen to books. But just after reading the first chapter, "The Walking Dead"--SNAP!, the voice of ten year-old Regina Petit was in my head. It stayed there till the last page, and it's still talking to me now. Regina says, "My family was Umpqua. I was Umpqua. That's just how it was." But it gets messy fast. She has always lived on the Grand Ronde reservation, thirty miles from Salem, Oregon, but Congress passes a bill that says that the Umpqua (and other tribes in Oregon) have been terminated. Regina's grandmother Chich tells her, "The President has just signed the bill from Congress saying that we're no longer Indian." But before that we
1 comment
Read more

AN INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE, by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, adapted by Jean Mendoza and Debbie Reese--a group review

We sat together and read this as a group. Alexis, 19 and Charlie, 16 took turns reading it out loud. Ashleigh, 13 and Michael, 17 listened and we all stopped to go over things. We rarely agree on everything, but all voices were heard and respected. Ashleigh: When I first picked up the book, I didn't know what I was looking at. Then I realized that the words "An Indigenous Peoples'" are over the sky and "History of the United States" are over the land that has the American flag spray painted on it or creeping on it like a shadow. Alexis: It's striking! Of course, it's the same cover as the previous adult version by Roxanne Dunbar Ortz, which it should be said none of us have read. Charlie: This version is much more friendly for us--I mean, it was written for our ages. Alexis: Yes! Where do you think the book would start in history? I had an interesting reaction to that. Ashleigh: Yeah, we talked about that. How many of us just assumed
3 comments
Read more