Native American Heritage Month

The Navajo People, or Diné, welcome a baby into their community by celebrating the baby’s first laugh. As part of the celebration, the baby often receives a special gift of turquoise, and the meal might include rock salt, symbolizing a connection with the earth. Who gets to host this celebration? The person who first made the baby laugh! 

You can read more about the Navajo People’s first laugh celebration, and the traditions and experiences of other Indigenous Americans, in the books below. 

First Laugh Welcome Baby! by Rose Ann Tahe

Sharice's Big Voice: A Native Kid Becomes a Congresswoman by Sharice Davids

Unstoppable: How Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team Defeated Army by Art Coulson

She Sang Promise: The Story of Betty Mae Jumper, Seminole Tribal Leader by J G Annino

Greet the Dawn: The Lakota Way by S D Nelson

We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga by Traci Sorell

We Are Still Here!: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know by Traci Sorell

Hiawatha and the Peacemaker by Robbie Robertson

Charles Albert Bender: National Hall of Fame Pitcher (Minnesota Native American Lives) by Kade Ferris

Ella Cara Deloria: Dakota Language Protector (Minnesota Native American Lives) by Diane Wilson

Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer by Traci Sorell

People Shall Continue by Simon J Ortiz

Water Walker by Joanne Robertson

Maria Tallchief (She Persisted) by Christine Day

Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids by Cynthia L Smith

The featured authors and illustrators represent the following tribes and nations: Naaneesh’t’ezhi Tachii’nii nish’li (The Charcoal Streaked Division of the Red Running Into the Water Clan); Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin; Muscogee Creek Nation; Mdewakanton Oyate and enrolled on the Rosebud Reservation; Muscogee Creek Nation; Cherokee Nation; Turtle Mountain Chippewa; Pueblo of Acoma; Atikameksheng Anishnawbek; Mohawk; Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in the Dakotas; Upper Skagit; Kiiyaa’áanii (Towering House Clan); and Wasauksing First Nation.