Griese, Arnold. Anna’s Athabaskan Summer. Illustrated by Charles Ragins. Boys Mills Press, 1997. Unp, Primary, Intermediate
Setting: Athabaskan fish camp Summary: A young Athabaskan girl and her family make the annual return to their summer fish camp where they prepare for the long winter ahead. |
Griese, Arnold. The Way of Our People. Illustrator Glo Coalson. 1975. Unp, Primary
Setting: 1838, Village in Alaska at the Mouth of the Luckiest River Summary: A young boy, Anvik, concerned about shaming his family because he is afraid to be alone in the forest seeks the guidance of an Elder and overcomes his fear. He successfully travels through a snowstorm to bring the smallpox medicine to his threatened people. |
Martin, Jacqueline Briggs. The Lamp, the Ice, and the Boat Called Fish: Based on a True Story. Illustrator Beth Kromes. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001. Unp, Primary, Intermediate
Setting: 1913, Barrow, when commercial whaling came to an end In-Book Summary: “Tells the dramatic story of the Canadian Artic Expedition that set off in 1913 to explore the high north.” Hill, Kirkpatrick. The Year of Miss Agnes. Illustrator David Caplan. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2000. Intermediate, Secondary
Setting: Yukon River Area, Around Ruby and Nulato, Doyon Region Summary: “Ten-year old Fred (short for Fredricka) narrates the story of school and village life among the Athabascans in Alaska during 1948 when Miss Agnes arrived as a new teacher.” (Back Cover) |
Renner, Michelle. The Girl Who Swam With the Fish: An Athabascan Legend. Illustrator Christine Cox. Alaska Northwest Books, 1995. 32 pages, Primary, Intermediate
Setting: An Athabascan village Summary: A young Athabascan girl wonders what it would be like to be a fish. Suddenly, she finds herself on a watery odyssey as she learns about the salmon's journey from stream to ocean and back again. Hill, Kirkpatrick. Miss Agnes and the Ginger Tom. Illustrator David Caplan. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2011. Intermediate, Secondary
Setting: 1949,Yukon River Area, Around Ruby and Nulato, Doyon Region Summary: Miss Agnes returns to teach and this year she has brought a cat to the village, as well as more books and even a projector. She and the other students work hard to prepare Jimmy for the test that can get him into a college prep school. |
Hill, Kirkpatrick. Toughboy and Sister. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 1990. 128 pages, Intermediate, Secondary
Setting: Yukon River Area Summary: After the death of both parents, ten-year old Toughboy and his younger sister are stranded at their family’s “remote fishing cabin in the Yukon, where they spend a summer trying to cope with the dwindling food supplies and hostile wildlife.” (In-book summary) |
Hill, Kirkpatrick. Winter Camp. Margaret K. McEldery Books, 1993. 192 pages, Intermediate, Secondary
Setting: Yukon River Area Summary: Two orphaned siblings struggle to survive a harsh Alaskan winter looking after a badly wounded miner, while their guardian, an old Athabascan Indian who has taught them the ways of their ancestors, searches for help. |
Dahl Edwardson, Debby. My Name is Not Easy.Skyscape, 2011. 248 pages, Secondary, Young Adult
Setting: 1960's Arctic Village Summary: "Luke knows his Iñupiaq name is full of sounds white people can’t say. So he leaves it behind when he and his brothers are sent to boarding school hundreds of miles away from their Arctic village. At Sacred Heart School, students—Eskimo, Indian, White—line up on different sides of the cafeteria like there’s some kind of war going on." |
Hitchcock, Bonnie-Sue. The Smell of Other People’s Houses. Wendy Lamb Books, 2016. 240 pages, Secondary
Setting: Opens in late 1950s before statehood and jumps to 1970 Alaska and Canada, Fairbanks, Alaska Summary: "Ruth has a secret that she can’t hide forever. Dora wonders if she can ever truly escape where she comes from, even when good luck strikes. Alyce is trying to reconcile her desire to dance, with the life she’s always known on her family’s fishing boat. Hank and his brothers decide it’s safer to run away than to stay home—until one of them ends up in terrible danger. Four very different lives are about to become entangled." (In-book) |
Wallis, Velma. Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage, and Survival. Harper Perennial, 1993. Secondary
Setting: Doyon Region, Fort Yukon Area Summary: Based on an Athabascan Indian legend passed along for many generations from mothers to daughters of the upper Yukon River Valley in Alaska, this is the suspenseful, shocking, ultimately inspirational tale of two old women abandoned by their tribe during a brutal winter famine. (Back Cover) |
Wallis, Velma. Bird Girl and the Man who Followed the Sun: An Athabaskan Indian Legend from Alaska. Illustrator Jim Grant. HarperPerrenial, 1997. 223 pages, Secondary
Setting: Doyon Region, Fort Yukon Area Summary: "Rooted in the ancient legends of Alaska's Athabaskan Indians, it tells the stories of two adventurers who decide to leave the safety of their respective tribes." (Back Cover) |
Wallis, Velma. Raising Ourselves: A Gwitch'in Coming of Age Story from the Yukon River. Epicenter Press, 2002. Secondary, Adult
Setting: Doyon Region, Fort Yukon Area Summary: Born in 1960, the sixth of thirteen children, Velma Wallis comes of age in a two-room log cabin in remote Fort Yukon, Alaska. Life is defined by the business of living off the land. Chopping wood. Hauling water from the river. Hunting moose. Catching salmon. Trapping fur. Taking care of the dogs. (Back Cover) |