Cynthia Leitich Smith (Native Books for Young Readers & More)
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cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
Cynthia Leitich Smith (Native Books for Young Readers & More)
@cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
3.1K followers 500 following 500 posts
children's-YA author, Heartdrum imprint curator, dog mom
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cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
★ “…an empowering read that both honors children’s behavioral strengths and offers guidance on orienting around values.” — @publisherswkly.bsky.social, starred

AANIIN: I SEE YOUR LIGHT by Dawn Quigley & Nanibah Chacon (Heartdrum @harperstacks.bsky.social @weneeddiversebooks.bsky.social). #KidLit
Quote from post above, cover art for AANIIN: I SEE YOUR LIGHT (child in yellow, long sleeve shirt with purple pants, golden eagle flying overhead) to left. Headshots of Dawn Quigely, Nani Chabon (Native women with long, dark hair) above logo for Heartdrum (young eagle feather on Alaska Native drum)
November 13, 2025 at 4:25 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
Celebrate Rock Your Mocs Day Nov. 15 & Rock Your Mocs Week Nov. 9-15. Wear moccasins or a turquoise ribbon. Take a photo/video to share. Read ROCK YOUR MOCS by @laurelgoodluck.bsky.social and Madelyn Goodnight (Heartdrum). @harperkids.bsky.social #RockYourMocs #KidLit
Instructions in post, plus cover art for the picture book ROCK YOUR MOCS (AIYLA silver medal), kids walking in mocs with ancestors looking on from the sky above. Bylines above, title in purple below.
November 12, 2025 at 4:20 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
Sending gratitude to Native veterans on Veterans Day.
One of my most popular characters is Grampa Halfmoon, a U.S. Army veteran from a Cherokee-Seminole family, who appears in INDIAN SHOES and ON A WING AND A TEAR (both from Heartdrum). #VeteransDay
My character Grampa Halfmoon is a U.S. Army veteran. Native veterans are honored on Veterans Day (Nov. 11th) in the U.S. and National Indigenous Veterans Day (Nov. 8th) in Canada. Book covers INDIAN SHOES (cover art: grandfather and grandson with Chicago in the background) and ON A WING AND A TEAR (cover art: grandfather driving two kids in the back seat down the highway in a blue truck).
November 11, 2025 at 3:16 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
Thank you, moderator Kevin Noble Maillard and legendary co-presenters Darcie Little Badger and Andrea L. Rogers for joining me on this weekend's panel "The Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Where Celebrated Indigenous Writers Share Their Stories" at the Texas Book Festival! @harperkids.bsky.social
Collage (l to r): Author Kevin Noble Maillard, holding a copy of LEGENDARY FRYBREAD DRIVE-IN, author panel at Texas Book Festival, audience photo at TBF, Darcie Little Badger dancing in the author green room, panelists Kevin, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Darcie, and Andrea L. Rogers posing behind the panel table, half-body photo of Andrea L. Rogers wearing a "Stay Wild" T-shirt, photo of three books by Cynthia on the sales table ON A WING AND A TEAR, SISTERS OF THE NEVERSEA, and FIREFLY SEASON, selfie of Cynthia with Nikki Loftin, two picture books by Andrea L. Rogers on the sales table CHOOCH HELPED and WHEN WE GATHER. Center: Texas Book Festival 30th Anniversary logo.
November 10, 2025 at 6:04 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
The Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Where Celebrated Indigenous Writers Share Their Stories, Texas Book Festival: texasbookfestival.org/schedule/the...

11:00 AM - 11:45 AM, Sat., Nov. 8, YA HQ Tent

Signing: 12:00 PM, Main Book Signing Tent

@harperkids.bsky.social @weneeddiversebooks.bsky.social
Text from post, plus 30th Anniversary logo for Texas Book Festival, headshots of authors Cynthia Leitich Smith, Andrea L. Rogers, Darcie Little Badger, Kevin Noble Maillard. Cover art for LEGENDARY FRYBREAD DRIVE-IN -- Native people gathered at drive-in.
November 7, 2025 at 4:33 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
“warmth and beauty” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books @poetnikki.bsky.social @stacyvwells.bsky.social @eblewis.bsky.social @harperkids.bsky.social @weneeddiversebooks.bsky.social #BookSky
“…warmth and beauty…readers learn not only about the tragedy in Dante’s family history, but also the joyful cultural elements they revel in.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, Recommended Cover art for STRONGER THAN by Nikki Grimes, Stacy Wells & EB Lewis (headshots of all three to the right, Heartdrum logo to the left)
November 2, 2025 at 6:11 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
Happy Halloween, booookish friends! I’m celebrating tonight by giving away a choice of picture books and miscellaneous seasonal titles for kids of all ages. What are your Halloween plans? #BookSky
Featured titles in stacks: BONE SOUP by Cambria Evans (Clarion Books, 2016) PETER RABBIT AND THE PUMPKIN PATCH by Beatrix Potter and Ruth Palmer (Penguin, 2013) Photo of inside of free little library stocked with books, including a few that are tied with ribbons. Text: Halloween at my Little Free Library with orange background and graphics a cute ghosts reading books.
October 31, 2025 at 3:41 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
WE ARE HAPPA, Kaua Mahoe Adam's debut picture book, ill. by Malia Pila, in which a Hapa Hawaiian boy embraces his mixed Native Hawaiian ancestry, acquired by Heartdrum. #KidLit
Headline: Book Sale Announcement. Text from post. Headshots of author and illustrator, both Native Hawaiian, outside with trees behind them. Heartdrum logo between photos. Faint image of Hibiscus in the background.
October 31, 2025 at 2:07 AM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
Cover Reveal! AN EXPANSE OF BLUE by Kauakanilehua Mahoe Adams, art by JT Ojerio (Heartdrum, 2026). Powerful, romantic debut novel-in-verse about a Native Hawaiian girl's fight to find belonging in a fracturing family. #BookSky @epicreads.bsky.social @weneeddiversebooks.bsky.social
Text: Cover Reveal in blue against yellow circle with wavy edges. Water in the background, rising up. Heartdrum logo (young eagle feather against Alaska Native drum) in the top right. Cover image of a light-skinned Native Hawaiian girl in profile with hair up, flower to side in hair, wearing a reddish orange top, bird in profile faintly in white in the background, title in yellow across bottom third of the book, author's name up top.
October 28, 2025 at 5:13 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
Congratulations to @cherisaacs.bsky.social @richardvancamp.bsky.social & their fellow nominees for the 2026 White Pine Award: forestofreading.com/white-pine-n... @forestofreading.bsky.social #YABooks
White text in dark green oval: 2026 White Pine Award (TM) Nominees. Cover art for THE UNFINISHED by Cheryl Isaacs (girl standing with forest and dark figure in the background) and THE BEAST by Richard Van Camp (flying white luminous birds and mysterious creature). Background is a green-gray with a snowy pine.
October 21, 2025 at 3:07 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
“global award is given annually to a person or organisation for their outstanding contribution to children’s and young adult literature...highlights the importance of reading, today and for future generations." #KidLit #AstridLindgrenMemorialAward
October 20, 2025 at 3:54 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
“Readers who love the chaos of Junie B. Jonesand the innocence of Amelia Bedelia will enjoy Jo Jo's guileless humor.” —Booklist
Polka dot background (blue dots on magenta), quote from message) cover art of JO JO MAKOONS: THE SUPER-SCARY SLEEPOVER (Jo Jo in bear PJs with Mimi (a gray tabby) afraid of eyes in the closet
October 18, 2025 at 8:13 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
“The fireflies...reoccur year after year, but only if we maintain the environment to protect them as we must maintain our ties to our loved ones.” Cynthia L. Smith interview by Uma Krishnaswami www.umakrishnaswami.com/blog/process... @harperkids.bsky.social @weneeddiversebooks.bsky.social #KidLit
Quote from post, plus author photos of Uma and Cynthia (headshots) and cover art for FIREFLY SEASON by Cynthia and Kate Gardiner, featuring two young girls playing outside among fireflies in the evening.
October 15, 2025 at 3:29 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
“In real conversations we stammer, fumble, and our speech is cluttered. In a book, I remove the messiness...this allows the characters speech to be highly relatable and readable.” —@nidhiart.bsky.social: cynthialeitichsmith.com/2025/09/auth... @mitumalhotra.bsky.social @gayleenwrites.bsky.social
"In real conversations, we stammer, fumble, and our speech is cluttered. In a book, I remove the messiness and focus on concise communication; this allows the characters' speech to be highly relatable and readable." --Author-illustrator Nidhi Chanani, author photo above stack of books to the upper right and cover art for SUPER BOBA CAFE: HOME SEA HOME to the left (two kids in front of an enormous fish)
October 11, 2025 at 4:02 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
Cover Reveal! RAVEN, RISING by Christine Hartman Derr, art by Madelyn Goodnight (Heartdrum, summer 2026). @harperkids.bsky.social @weneeddiversebooks.bsky.social #KidLit
October 10, 2025 at 5:18 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
★ “Hand this collection to any reader who is looking for a place made for them; they will find it between these pages.” 
— @slj.com, starred review

LEGENDARY FRYBREAD DRIVE-IN: INTERTRIBAL STORIES, edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Heartdrum). @epicreads.bsky.social @weneeddiversebooks.bsky.social
Quote from post, headline: Third Starred Review, Heartrum logo (young eagle feather on a drum), cover art (Native people at drive-in restaurant)
October 10, 2025 at 4:43 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
“The speculative elements aren’t just magical window dressing; they’re acts of sovereignty, asserting Indigenous peoples right to exist beyond colonial boundaries and limitations.” —AJ Eversole, from Cynsations: cynthialeitichsmith.com/2025/09/cont... @ajeversole.bsky.social @epicreads.bsky.social
Quote from post with cover of LEGENDARY FRYBREAD DRIVE-IN repeated across the top. Shows Native people gathered at drive-in restaurant at nigt.
October 9, 2025 at 3:52 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
“...issues that are universal and, therefore, always timely…include the quest for justice. In some cases, the lens is civil rights or immigration or the role of democracy.”
— @cylev.bsky.social interviewed by @gayleenwrites.bsky.social for Cynsations: cynthialeitichsmith.com/2025/09/auth...
Quote from post, plus photo of Cynthia and Gayleen holding a copy of FAULT LINES IN THE CONSITUTION, pus covers of FREE TO LEARN and WHO OWNS THE MOON?
October 7, 2025 at 10:52 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
“Amongst the novel’s significant strengths are the animal characters. Though anthropomorphized, they are also attentively crafted with respect to species traits and needs.” — Washington Parent Media: washingtonparent.com/books-honor-... #KidLit @harperkids.bsky.social @weneeddiversebooks.bsky.social
October 6, 2025 at 4:14 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
“...the value of free and open access to information and brings together the entire book community—librarians, educators, authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers of all types—in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas.” bannedbooksweek.org/about/ #BannedBooksWeek
Banned Books Week: Indigenous Books for Young Readers. Cover art: FRYBREAD: A NATIVE AMERICAN FAMILY STORY by Kevin Noble Maillard and Juana Martinez-Neal. Grandma holding baby and a bowl of frybread. Two award logos. Logo: Let Freedom Read Day. October 11, 2025
October 5, 2025 at 5:00 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
“NIGHT CHEF is about having the courage to follow your passion wherever it takes you.”

— Mika Song, interviewed by @mitumalhotra.bsky.social for Cynsations: cynthialeitichsmith.com/2025/09/auth... @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social #KidLt
October 4, 2025 at 4:37 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
It’s Halloween season & the 1rst anniversary of Auntie Cyn’s Little Red Library in Denton, Texas!

Have you considered becoming a @littlefreelibrary.bsky.social Steward? Share your questions, and I’ll reply! #KidLit
October 3, 2025 at 4:34 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
At Cynsations, AJ Eversole talks to fellow contributing writers to LEGENDARY FRYBREAD DRIVE-IN (Heartdrum, 2025) about worldbuilding and cultural foundations of the anthology: cynthialeitichsmith.com/2025/09/cont... #BookSky
“Whether it’s the complex relationship with frybread as both a product of colonialism and a symbol of resilience, or the way traditional foods like strawberries carry story and ceremony into contemporary spaces, the drive-in’s menu reflects the layered experiences of Indigenous youth….” —AJ Eversole Headshot of AJ, strawberries, cover of LEGENDARY FRYBREAD DRIVE-IN (Indigenous people gathered at a drive-in restaurant) “[F]rybread offers a taste of home. Despite the fact that it’s a product of colonialism, this food signals she’s among her Native community…reminding her of all the places she’s had it and giving her space to reflect on why it’s meaningful.” —Christine Hartman Derr Headshot of Christine, photo of NDN taco, cover art of LEGENDARY FRYBREAD DRIVE-IN (Indigenous people gathered at drive-in restaurant) “Southeastern tribes only have a few signature foods, so even though I’m not personally a huge fan (don’t tell anyone), I had to include pashofa and grape dumplings.” —Kate Hart Photo of Kate in a forest, wild "possum" grapes, cover art of LEGENDARY FRYBREAD DRIVE-IN (Indigenous people gathered at drive-in restaurant) “…each of us…got to name our story Elder grandparent after people we love, if we wanted to. Joyce, my paternal grandmother…died when I was in middle school. She had so many stories I never got to hear, learn and enjoy…. Now, she’s living and sharing and caring for the people at Sandy June’s, and that makes me smile.” —Jen Ferguson Headshot of Jen, Elder hands holding young hands, cover art for LEGENDARY FRYBREAD DRIVE-IN (Indigenous people gathered at drive-in restaurant)
October 2, 2025 at 3:38 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
HARVEST HOUSE by Cynthia Leitich Smith. A ghost mystery that counts down to Halloween—chapter by chapter—toward a haunting climax. For middle school & high school readers. @candlewickpress.bsky.social

★ “Atmospheric, transfixing mystery… includes moments of joy.” — Shelf Awareness
October 1, 2025 at 4:21 PM
cynleitichsmith.bsky.social
Sending love and healing to Northern cousins on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation! Official website: “...honours the children who never returned home and Survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities.”
#OrangeShirtDay #NationalDayforTruthandReconciliation
David A. Robertson (tall Native man with beard wearing Swift Water T-shirt, standing with arms crossed. Cover art: 52 WAYS TO RECONCILE: HOW TO WALK WITH INDIGENOUS PEOPLES ON THE PATH TO HEALING by David Robertson (McClelland & Stewart, 2025). For grownups. 52 WAYS TO RECONCILE is an accessible, friendly guide for non-Indigenous people eager to learn, or Indigenous people eager to do more in our collective effort towards reconciliation, as people, and as a country. As much as non-Indigenous people want to walk the path of reconciliation, they often aren’t quite sure what to do, and they’re afraid of making mistakes. This book is the answer and the long overdue guide. The idea of this book is simple: 52 small acts of reconciliation to consider, one per week, for an entire year. They’re all doable, and they’re all meaningful. All 52 steps take readers in the right direction, towards a healthier relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and a time when we are past trauma. By following these steps, we can live in stronger and healthier communities equally, and respectfully, together. Headline: Sending love and healing to Northern cousins on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Cover art to left, oval framed headshots of Monique Gray Smith and Nicole Niedhardt (both Indigenous women) to right. CIRCLE OF LOVE, written by Monique Gray Smith, illustrated by Nicole Niedhardt (Heartdrum HarperCollins Publishers w/ We Need Diverse Books, 2024). Ages 4-up. In this warmhearted book, we join Molly at the Intertribal Community Center, where she introduces us to people she knows and loves: her grandmother and her grandmother’s wife, her uncles and their baby, her cousins, and her treasured friends. They dance, sing, garden, learn, pray, and eat together. And tonight, they come together for a feast! Molly shares with the reader how each person makes her feel—and reminds us that love is love. Through tender prose and radiant artwork, author Monique Gray Smith (Cree/Lakota) and illustrator Nicole Neidhardt (Diné) show how there is always room for others in our lives. CIRCLE OF LOVE is a story celebrating family, friends, community, and, most of all, love.
September 30, 2025 at 2:20 PM