The best Cherokee books

Systematic Land Theft is a well-documented outline of U.S. history regarding Black and Indigenous land theft. Land Theft compresses 300 years of archives into 1200 footnotes, 12 chapters, and countless literary accounts told by Black farmers, civil rights leaders, and pioneers in the agricultural movement.

This is a heart-wrenching chronicle of how Blacks went from owning upwards of 16 to 20 million acres to the current estimate of 4.5 million acres. Jillian Hishaw thoroughly explains why over 97% of U.S. land is owned by White Americans and less than 3% is owned by people of color. The strategic immigration of Europeans and the adoption of English common law led to the murderous dispossession of tribal land as well. U.S. property laws have tactically benefitted Whites by allowing them to acquire stolen land and using it as collateral to secure their economic position for centuries. As Blacks continue to lose 30,000 acres per year in land ownership the need for legal and economic resolutions is immediate.

Buy this book directly from the author here. 

In this picture book biography, young readers will learn all about Elizebeth Friedman, a brilliant American code breaker who smashed Nazi spy rings, took down gangsters, and created the CIA's first cryptology unit. Her story came to light when her secret papers were finally declassified in 2015. From thwarting notorious rumrunners with only paper and pencil to counter-spying into the minds and activities of Nazis, Elizebeth held a pivotal role in the early days of US cryptology. No code was too challenging for her to crack, and Elizebeth's work undoubtedly saved thousands of lives. 

Extensive back matter includes explanations of codes and ciphers, further information on cryptology, a bibliography, a timeline of Elizebeth's life, plus secret messages for young readers to decode.

Imagine celebrating a baby’s first laugh with the entire family present—young and old, far and near. First Laugh invites you to experience a unique Navajo tradition that is celebrated today.  This celebration (La’tse Awee’ ch’ideeldloh) is a child’s first formal welcome into one’s family. A taste of salt is given to each guest as a reminder to be kind and generous. From their child’s first act of sharing, the parents hope their child will have a happy life with much laughter and love and will always gladly give to anyone in need. Fun glimpses of family antics are woven into this story as siblings and grandparents try to make this grumpy baby laugh. Jonathan Nelson’s art illustrates the land, the people, the celebration.

It offers a broad and richly detailed survey of overlapping health threats to America’s most biologically diverse region. Central to the book’s conception is the idea of “health writ large”—that is, the functional integrity—not only of humans and their organizations, but of all living things and the ecosystems that sustain them. Sections contributed by regional experts on air, water, flora and fauna, food, energy, waste, transportation, population, and urbanization assess the functional integrity of these aspects of southern Appalachia, while chapters on future prospects and models of sustainability consider ways to improve health writ large.   

Set against the background of the Great Depression, this lyrical new novel is a powerful story of courage, survival, and friendship. Deep in the American South there once existed turpentine labor camps, notoriously squalid and hazardous environments. 

Swallow Hill is such a labor camp and three individuals, Delwood Reese, Rae Lynn Cobb, and Cornelia Riddle, each end up at this labor camp for their own personal reasons. There they come up against a dangerous boss man, a woods rider who goes by the name of Crow. Even as the three forge a strong bond, they will be forced to come to terms with the events of their past in order to escape the slave-like encampment, and seize the chance to begin again. 

Sex and rock & roll are Jake Sixkiller’s top priorities. As frontman of Austin’s hottest band and with a long line of lovers knocking on his bedroom door, he has it all. Until a car accident shakes his world to its core. With his best friend in the hospital, he’s flooded with memories of the night he lost his family at the hands of a drunk driver.

Amid the turmoil, he finds solace with Nicole, aka Arson Nic, a roller derby dynamo who throws Jake into a tailspin. When he’s offered a once-in-a-lifetime tour opportunity that brings him back to the Cherokee reservation where he grew up, Jake must decide what matters most, a future still unwritten or a past he buried long ago.

Tory Harper wants nothing more than to fit in. Her relentless classmates made her school life hell, so a family relocation and change of schools was a welcome relief. Adopted into an eclectic group, she is enraptured by the spirited Pepper, a student with boundless energy, and Kylan, the 'big brother' with a troubled past of his own.

When a house party becomes a feeding frenzy, and no one is what they first appeared, she is plunged into a world of magic and mystery. With vampires intent on raising a demon, threatening the balance of life as we know it, will Tory unravel her truth before it's too late?

Junya’s grandfather is a billionaire who keeps the secret to his success hidden in a heavily guarded safe. His mother is a martial artist who wields a razor-sharp katana—and seems to read his mind. And a mysterious girl in a Japanese school uniform can knock him over—literally—with just a look. What do they know that he doesn’t? Junya’s life takes a dangerous turn on his sixteenth birthday when someone sets out to destroy not only the family’s business empire—the one that he’s set to inherit—but Junya himself. He’s fighting for his life and doesn’t know who to trust. What has his family been keeping from him? Junya’s journey takes him from the narrow streets of San Francisco to Japan. In a mystical world he’s never imagined, he finds his true destiny.

It offers a broad and richly detailed survey of overlapping health threats to America’s most biologically diverse region. Central to the book’s conception is the idea of “health writ large”—that is, the functional integrity—not only of humans and their organizations, but of all living things and the ecosystems that sustain them. Sections contributed by regional experts on air, water, flora and fauna, food, energy, waste, transportation, population, and urbanization assess the functional integrity of these aspects of southern Appalachia, while chapters on future prospects and models of sustainability consider ways to improve health writ large.