Every once in a while, someone asks me to recommend a fiction book for Maine’s middle and high school students to read.  I have found this new way to send recommendations: the virtual bookshelf you see below it.  It contains the titles I most often recommend – all of which I have read and all of which avoid the “no-list” that by now is part of my critical reading.  Teachers have got to read these titles before teaching them or offering them for group or independent reading.  At the middle school level, books have to fit the audience.  Urban kids might not understand Michael Dorris or much of Bruchac; girls might not get Alexie; and many non-Native readers will fail to see the humor in some of the stories.  Some of the readings are quite raw, in a detail and sexual way – best suited for high school and college audiences.  Read all-together, however, the titles will give the teacher-reader a better understanding of what it means to be Native in the non-Native culture.   And by the way – all children’s books belong in Native Studies programs – lots to talk about there!