Rain Is Not My Indian Name

"Smith tells Rain’s story with confidence and heart and authenticity. She is a real, likable, smart girl with a quiet strength. I would especially recommend this for fans of Jacqueline Wilson’s The House You Pass on the Way, both in terms of style and approach to tough topics. Rain is a great representation for younger Native kids, especially ones of mixed heritage." (Casey Stenaniuk in Book Riot, writing about "books that young Indigenous women can identify with, and that will offer windows for other readers.")
It's been six months since her best friend died, and up until now Rain has succeeded in shutting herself off from the world. But when controversy arises around her aunt Georgia's Indian Camp in their mostly white midwestern community, Rain decides to face the outside world again—at least through the lens of her canera.
Hired by her town newspaper to photograph the campers, Rain soon finds that she has to decide how involved she wants to become in Indian Camp. Does she want to keep a professional distance from the intertribal community she belongs to? And just how willing is she to connect with the campers after her great loss?
In a voice that resonates with insight and humor, Cynthia Leitich Smith tells of heartbreak, recovery, and reclaiming one's place in the world.

Teen & Young Adult

Smith, Cynthia Leitich

Literature & Fiction

Heartdrum

What do Indian shoes look like, anyway? Like beautiful beaded moccasins...or hightops with bright orange shoelaces?
Ray Halfmoon prefers hightops, but he gladly trades them for a nice pair of moccasins for his Grampa. After all, it's Grampa Halfmoon who's always there to help Ray get in and out of scrapes -- like the time they are forced to get creative after a homemade haircut makes Ray's head look like a lawn-mowing accident.
This collection of interrelated stories is heartwarming and laugh-out-loud funny. Cynthia Leitich Smith writes with wit and candor about what it's like to grow up as a Seminole-Cherokee boy who is just as happy pounding the pavement in windy Chicago as rowing on a take in rural Oklahoma.

Indian Shoes

Children's Books

Biographies

Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids

Edited by award-winning and bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith, this collection of intersecting stories by both new and veteran Native writers bursts with hope, joy, resilience, the strength of community, and Native pride. 
Native families from Nations across the continent gather at the Dance for Mother Earth Powwow in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 
In a high school gym full of color and song, people dance, sell beadwork and books, and celebrate friendship and heritage. Young protagonists will meet relatives from faraway, mysterious strangers, and sometimes one another (plus one scrappy rez dog). 
They are the heroes of their own stories. 
Featuring stories and poems by: 
Joseph Bruchac 
Art Coulson 
Christine Day 
Eric Gansworth 
Carole Lindstrom 
Dawn Quigley 
Rebecca Roanhorse 
David A. Robertson 
Andrea L. Rogers 
Kim Rogers 
Cynthia Leitich Smith 
Monique Gray Smith 
Traci Sorell, 
Tim Tingle 
Erika T. Wurth 
Brian Young 
In partnership with We Need Diverse Books

Animals

Sisters of the Neversea

Five starred reviews! In this beautifully reimagined story by NSK Neustadt Laureate and New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee Creek), Native American Lily and English Wendy embark on a high-flying journey of magic, adventure, and courage to a fairy-tale island known as Neverland... Lily and Wendy have been best friends since they became stepsisters. But with their feuding parents planning to spend the summer apart, what will become of their family--and their friendship Little do they know that a mysterious boy has been watching them from the oak tree outside their window. A boy who intends to take them away from home for good, to an island of wild animals, Merfolk, Fairies, and kidnapped children, to a sea of merfolk, pirates, and a giant crocodile. A boy who calls himself Peter Pan. In partnership with We Need Diverse Books

Five starred reviews! In this beautifully reimagined story by NSK Neustadt Laureateand New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee Creek), Native American Lily and English Wendy embark on a high-flying journey of magic, adventure, and courage to a fairy-tale island known as Neverland… 
Lily and Wendy have been best friends since they became stepsisters. But with their feuding parents planning to spend the summer apart, what will become of their family—and their friendship? 
Little do they know that a mysterious boy has been watching them from the oak tree outside their window. A boy who intends to take them away from home for good, to an island of wild animals, Merfolk, Fairies, and kidnapped children, to a sea of merfolk, pirates, and a giant crocodile. 
A boy who calls himself Peter Pan. 
In partnership with We Need Diverse Books

On a Wing and a Tear

Arts, Music & Photography

New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Leitich Smith's lyrical text is paired with the warm, evocative watercolors of Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu in this affirming story of a contemporary Native American girl who turns to her family and community. 
The cone-shaped jingles sewn to Grandma Wolfe's dress sing tink, tink, tink, tink… 
Jenna loves the tradition of jingle dancing that has been shared over generations in her family and intertribal community. She hopes to dance at the next powwow. 
But with the day quickly approaching, she has a problem—how will her dress sing if it has no jingles? 
A terrific read-aloud pick, perfect to share with a family member! 
In partnership with We Need Diverse Books

Jingle Dancer

Firefly Season

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories

Little Badger, Darcie

Robertson, David A.

Ferguson, Jen

Young, Brian

Hart, Kate

Gansworth, Eric

Bell, Marcella

Boulley, Angeline

Isaacs, Cheryl

Rogers, Andrea L.

Graves, Byron

Cobell, K. A.

Iceberg, Karina

Adams, Kaua Mahoe

Derr, Christine Hartman

Eversole, A. J.

Short Stories & Anthologies

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Books by Smith, Cynthia Leitich