9th – 12th Grade Literary Picks

A list of informative and challenging texts from state legislators and veterans.

Book cover - Black and white picture of a woman wearing a Native dress and feathered war bonnet and holding a barrel basket.
The Penobscot Dance of Resistance examines how Penobscot legend, linguistics, dance, and oral tradition became “foundations of resistance” against assimilation into the dominant culture of the United States since colonial times.
Book cover featuring a blurry picture of a building on fire.
Out of the Depths explores the period of time when the government of Canada required all First Nations children to attend schools administered by churches. The author collected the firsthand experiences of forty-two survivors of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School.
Book cover - an image of the Maine State house with an orange cast beneath an antler carved and painted to look like an eagle.
In the Shadow of the Eagle describes the struggle of the author as she works as both a representative of the Penobscot Nation and a legislator in Maine state government. Currently, Maine is the only state in the nation to have tribal representatives seated in its legislative body, although the tribal representatives do not have voting power on the house floor.
Book cover featuring a painted portrait of a Native American man with black face paint and feathers in his hair along with a suit and tie.
We Were Not the Savages focuses on the history of indigenous peoples, detailing the treatment and complete displacement of the Mi’kmaq civilization at the hands of European settlers. The author’s ongoing research continues to focus on Canadian colonization records and the treatment of First Nation people into the present.
Indians in Eden illustrates the interaction between the Wabanaki and the wealthy summer rusticators on Mount Desert Island when Bar Harbor was called Eden.
Book cover featuring a painting of a young Native American woman wearing a top hat with a silver band and multiple silver brooches.
Women of the Dawn is the biography of four Wabanaki women living in four different centuries; Molly Mathilde, Molly Ockett, Molly Molasses, and Molly Dellis Nelson.
Book cover - drawing of a tree, very fluid in style, with a small figure cradled in a hole in the tree and six figures beneath it.
Sacred Instructions provides a narrative of Indigenous wisdom that addresses some of the crucial issues of our day, such as environmental protection and human rights. Excerpts from this piece can be used for discussion prompts in grades 4-5.
Book cover - orange with black and white picture of a woman standing by a teepee.
20th Century PowWow Playland contains stories of Maliseet heroes vividly explored through poetry.
Book cover - no decoration.
Penobscot Man is the key monograph on the Penobscot. The author did fieldwork on Indian Island between 1907 and 1936. The book is broken down into four sections: Tribal Name and Habitat; Material Life; Arts, Decorative Designs, and Techniques; and Characteristics of Social Life.
Book cover - close up image of a man's face with a river in the background.
In An Upriver Passamaquoddy Allen Sockabasin uses his memories and oral tradition to tell the story of the isolated Passamaquoddy village in Maine that he grew up in during 1940s and 1950s, and explains why preserving the Passamaquoddy traditions and language is so critical to his people’s survival in modern times.
Book cover - an elder man sitting in a room holding a feather.
From Indian Island to Omaha Beach examines the service and sacrifice made by Native American soldiers and their communities in WWII, the Korean War and Cold War, focusing on the life of Charles Shay and told partly in his words. The book will be released in full in 2020; currently, certain excerpted chapters were released early to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day.