Many Ways of Being Native

A lyrical picture book reminding two children that no matter what they do, they are both Native—and who they are is enough.

Celebrate Native identity and diversity in this bedtime story for ages 4 to 7, inspiring children to feel proud of themselves and the many ways they shine.

A winged messenger visits two Native children in their sleep and shows them how other Native children have grown up, each with different interests, dreams, and appearances. 

The message: Native people are many. Native people are still here. And it’s what is inside, not outside, that unites Native people.

A moving celebration of identity, belonging, and the truth that who we are is always enough.

Ginger Reno is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, and her desire to learn about Cherokee history and culture naturally spilled over into her writing. She is the author of Find Her, an Edgar Award nominated middle-grade novel, and Spirit Shadow, a picture book. Ginger lives in Oklahoma within the Cherokee Nation and likes to spend as much time as possible on her lakefront porch with her two favorite people—her husband and their twelve-year-old German shepherd.

Born on the Navajo Nation in Pinon, Arizona, Johnson Yazzie's interest in creation began in childhood and led to a lifelong career in fine art as a painter, bronze sculptor, and illustrator. Johnson illustrated Kindred Spirits: Shilombish Ittibachvffa by Leslie Stall Widener and Yossel's Journey by Kathryn Lasky. The Navajo word hózhó means balance, harmony, beauty. It is the word by which he lives.