California Reading List

This entry was posted on April 11, 2021, in Homemaking and Homeschooling and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment

When I prepared to share California history with my children, I read so much, I dug into the stacks, I read everything I could. First and foremost, I wanted to understand the extent of the atrocities committed in settling and conquering California, and in what ways I still benefit today, as a descendent of settlers and as an American. I wanted to question how we have been taught to romanticize and feel nostalgia for the ‘Spanish Mission Era,’ the Gold Rush, and the Wild West (which is romanticizing concentration camps, lynchings, and massacres). Yes, it is an art to bring this history in an honest but age-appropriate way to children — much reflection and discernment is required. I wanted us to think about the contradictions, the multiple angles, and how history is so alive and present in California life today. I wasn’t prepared for how much it made me consider intergenerational and historical trauma in my own family and extended family.

Years ago, there was not a lot from indigenous viewpoints that was easily accessible, but that has begun to change. SFPL has a lot of gems. Here are some of my favorites for the adults to read, for the kids to read, and extras if you want to learn more. The California History floor at the Oakland Museum of California is also helpful. I hope this list becomes obsolete soon as more stories, histories, and scholarship are told and published.

A couple of online resources to start:

My favorite reads (for adults) about Native California:

  • Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir by Deborah A. Miranda (Read this book. Seriously.)
  • California Through Native Eyes: Reclaiming History by William J. Bauer
  • First Families: A Photographic History of California Indians by L. Frank
  • Becoming Story: A Journey Among Seasons, Places, Trees, and Ancestors by Greg Sarris

Favorites to read with children:

  • Start here when choosing any literature for children that reference indigenous peoples!! Be wary of all books claiming to be about “Native American stories” or similar, and do your research first!!!
  • How A Mountain was Made by Greg Sarris
  • Seaweed, Salmon, and Manzanita Cider: A California Indian Feast by Margaret Dubin and Sara-Larus Tolley
  • Dear Miss Karana by Eric Elliot (replaces or supplements the problematic Island of the Blue Dolphins)
  • In the Days of the Vaqueros by Russel Freedman

About Juana Briones, an inspiring woman who lived in the Bay Area during the 19th century:

  • Stories of Juana Briones, Alta California Pioneer by Glenda Richter
  • Juana Briones of Nineteenth-century California by Jeanne Farr McDonnell
  • Exhibition from the California Historical Society

We were inspired by these cultural resources about the California-Mexico border:

And more books from SFPL:

  • We Are the Land: A History of Native California by Damon B. Akins & William J. Bauer
  • Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and Management of California’s Natural Resources by M. Kat Anderson
  • Saints and Citizens: Indigenous Histories of Colonial Missions and Mexican California by Lisbeth Haas
  • The Ohlone Past and Present: Native Americans of the San Francisco Bay Region (collection from a conference)
  • The Medicine of Memory: A Mexica Clan in California by Alejandro Murguía
  • California: A History by Kevin Starr 
  • Stories From Where We Live: The California Coast by Paul Mirocha, Sara St. Antoine
  • The Snake That Lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains & Other Ohlone Stories by Yamane, Linda
  • Adopted by Indians A True Story by Mayfield, Thomas Jefferson
  • The Way We Lived: California Indian Reminiscences, Stories, and Songs, edited by Malcolm Margolin

Of course there are so many more topics I haven’t gotten to here – to mention one more, the history of immigration from Asia and a visit to the Angel Island former detention facility.

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