Ours to Tell: Reclaiming Indigenous Stories

Desiring to “tell our own stories,” previous collaborators Yellowhorn, of the Piikani Nation, and Lowinger (Sky Wolf’s Call) collect 16 tales from Indigenous individuals who relay personal histories, recount historical events, and describe Native traditions in this compact assemblage. “We want our version to be known,” the creators write in an introduction that references the first Thanksgiving between English colonists and Wampanoag peoples in 1621. But the story that those outside the Wampanoag community know as “a happy time of feasting and family” hides a darker truth: two years later, during a similar feast, 200 Wampanoag leaders were poisoned by the colonists. Across five sections that cover Native images, symbols, poems, songs, written stories, and more, selections highlight myriad communities. An entry about Gaspar Antonio Chi (1531–1610) tells of the Maya nobleman scribe’s part in creating the Maya/Spanish alphabet. Another, about novelist Tommy Orange (b. 1982), who is a citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, describes the impact of Orange’s Pulitzer Prize finalist There There, a book that “made urban Indigenous people visible.” Interior artwork mimics a scrapbook and includes samples of Native-made works and photos of featured figures. It’s a succinct and illuminating volume that decenters colonist tellings to instead highlight Native peoples’ experiences and perspectives. Ages 11–14. (Apr.)