Bring Indigenous voices to the Thanksgiving table

A book as beautiful and crowd-pleasing as a sunflower bouquet, “Braiding Sweetgrass,” by botanist and Potawatomi Nation citizen Robin Hall Kimmerer, is a collection of essays that are both moving memoir and heartfelt meditation on our connection to the land and each other. There are lessons in a pecan grove, not only how the plants thrive, but “If one tree fruits, they all fruit — there are no soloists … all flourishing is mutual.”

For the book clubber

Already an Amazon and Barnes & Noble best-of pick, “The Berry Pickers” by Amanda Peters — herself of Mi’kmaq ancestry — tells the story of a Mi’kmaq child who goes missing in the berry fields of Maine in 1962. The novel follows the girl and her family through the aftermath of the kidnapping, illuminating the devastating personal effect of centuries of colonialism and prejudice.

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For the T-Swift playlister (Taylor’s version)

A perfect gift for millennials, “A Calm & Normal Heart” by Chelsea T. Hicks, an Osage author and National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree, is a fresh and vibrant collection of stories about modern love, loss, and heartbreak, all told through a young Osage woman’s lens. A favorite? The poignant “Alcatraz,” in which an Indigenous college student skips Thanksgiving break and grapples with both her own identity and the meaning of the holiday, until wine and friendship take over: “For the first time, she feels that everyone belongs here, on her land. …She has the notion that she wants to lead them.”

For the H.P. Lovecrafter

If your host loves the occult, look no further than “Man Made Monsters” by Cherokee author Andrea L. Rogers, a collection of horror stories that begins with “An Old-Fashioned Girl”: “Tsalagi (Cherokee) should never have to live on human blood, but sometimes things just happen to sixteen-year-old-girls.” The stories, which begin in 1839, follow the same Cherokee family over 200 years, taking readers to 2039 when a zombie virus is ravaging Earth: “The problem is people who aren’t zombies, but aren’t good, either.” Bonus: gorgeously creepy illustrations incorporating Cherokee syllabary from artist and language technologist Jeff Edwards.

There’s no reason why someone with a shorter attention span can’t enjoy great fiction, especially when anthologies like “Never Whistle at Night” exist. Topping multiple bestseller lists, this smash hit dark fiction collection features 26 short stories from Indigenous authors and a forward by Stephen Graham Jones, who explains the effects of Native storytelling on its audience: “Here this is yours now, it lives in your head, and it’ll keep going, and keep growing, sending tentacles out into your life.” Even those short on time (or attention) may accidentally discover their new favorite author on the original screen.

For the coffee table stacker

Move over, “Houses of Nantucket,” here’s a fresh collection for your coffee table. “Notable Native People: 50 Indigenous Leaders, Dreamers, and Changemakers from Past and Present,” by Cherokee professor Adrienne Keene, showcases filmmakers and NBA stars as well as jessie little doe baird, a citizen of Mashpee Wampanoag nation (”which met the Mayflower in 1620″) who, in the ’90s and with no linguistics training, set out to reconstruct the Wampanoag language, which had not been spoken in 150 years. This remarkable book includes short essays by Keene as well as beautiful illustrations by Ciara Sana.

For middle grade readers (or as a grown-up/child buddy read)

“Colonization and the Wampanoag Story” is a vivid before and after story about the pilgrims’ landing from the perspective of a young Wampanoag girl. The book, by Linda Coombs, an author and historian from the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah, is part of Crown Books’ Race to the Truth series, which features underrepresented stories from US history.

For the little ones

“Keepunumuk: Weeâchumun’s Thanksgiving” is narrated by a Wampanoag grandmother, who tells the more historically accurate story of how the pilgrims were saved by her tribe. Written by Indigenous authors Danielle Greendeer, Anthony Perry, and Alexis Bunten, the book’s radiant illustrations by Garry Meeches Sr. convey a sense of connectedness that will touch readers of all ages.

Vanessa Lillie is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and lives in Providence. Her most recent mystery novel is “Blood Sisters.”