Indian No More

Description:

When Regina's Umpqua tribe is legally terminated and her family must relocate from Oregon to Los Angeles, she goes on a quest to understand her identity as an Indian despite being so far from home.

Brief description:

Traci Sorell writes fiction and nonfiction books as well as poems for children. Her lyrical story in verse, At the Mountain's Base, illustrated by Weshoyot Alvitre (Kokila, 2019), celebrates the bonds of family and the history of history-making women pilots, including Millie Rexroat (Oglala Lakota). Her middle grade novel, Indian No More, with Charlene Willing McManis (Tu Books, 2019), explores the impact of federal termination and relocation policies on an Umpqua family in the 1950s. Traci's debut nonfiction picture book, We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga, illustrated by Frané Lessac (Charlesbridge, 2018), won a Sibert Honor, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Picture Book Honor and an Orbis Pictus Honor. It also received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, The Horn Book and Shelf Awareness. A former federal Indian law attorney and policy advocate, she is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation and lives in northeastern Oklahoma where her tribe is located. For more about Traci and her other works, visit www.tracisorell.com.

Review Quotes:

* "What begins as a story of displacement quickly turns into a story of childhood fun and antics colored by Umpqua culture and the racial tensions of the civil rights movement set in the lively and culturally diverse city of L.A." -- Booklist, starred review

* "In this book based on McManis's own childhood experiences, the family is fictionalized to show how older children might react to being uprooted and plopped down in a foreign world... Readers will be moved as they become invested in Regina's predicament. Is she still Indian, American, or both--and what does that mean for her and her family?" -- School Library Journal, starred review

"The straightforward, easygoing flavor of this narrative is shot through with deadpan, subversive humor. Its many ironies lie not in authorial commentary but in the events themselves... This is a book we need -- distinctive in voice, accessible in style, and told with an insider's particular power." -- The Horn Book

"A heartfelt and meditative exploration of an often-undiscussed time in recent U.S. history, Indian No More wades through complex issues of identity and culture and the preservation of both. Thoughtful and purposeful in its education of readers, McManis and Sorell's collaboration sits proudly within the pantheon of middle-grade books as one fully written and edited by women of the Native Nations." -- Shelf Awareness

American Indian Youth Literature Award Winner - American Indian Library Association

ALSC Notable Children's Books - American Library Association (ALA)
Amelia Bloomer Book List - American Library Association (ALA)
Best Books of the Year - American Indians in Children's Literature
Best of the Best Books - Chicago Public Library
Editors' Choice Books for Youth - Booklist
Global Read Aloud Choice - Global Read Aloud
MISelf in Books Recommended - Michigan Association of School Librarians
Maud Hart Lovelace Award Nominee - Minnesota Youth Reading Award
Notable Books for a Global Society - International Literacy Association (ILA)
Oregon Reader's Choice Award Nominee - Oregon State Literacy Association
Young Reader's Choice Award Nominee - Pacific Northwest Library Association