Book 1: The Land and People Before Columbus -
Chapter 2: The Eastern Woodlands - The Iroquois
Key Words: Iroquois, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, League of Five Nations, Hiawatha
Fiction Books
Bruchac, Joseph. Between Earth and Sky. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1996. Through the guidance of his uncle and the retelling of various American Indian legends, a young boy learns that everything living and inanimate has its place and should be considered sacred and given respect. 34 pages.
Bruchac, Joseph. The Boy Who Lived With the Bears. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995. Presents a collection of traditional Iroquois tales in which animals learn about the importance of caring and responsibility and the dangers of selfishness and pride. 64 pages.
Dominic, Gloria and Charles Reasoner. Song of the Hermit Thrush: An Iroquois Legend. Mahwah: Troll, 1998. An Iroquois legend that tells about a contest between all the birds and animals to choose which will sing a song to greet the day. Legends from the Sioux and Pomo Indians also are included. Bright watercolors illustrate the stories. This book includes facts, history, and culture of the Iroquois and other tribes. 48 pages.
Holling, Holling Clancy. Paddle to the Sea. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1969. A small canoe carved by an American Indian boy makes a journey from Lake Superior via the St. Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean. The tiny craft explores the Great Lakes region that was once the home of the Iroquois. 64 pages.
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. Hiawatha. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1983. Selected verses from Longfellow's poem tell of the boyhood of Hiawatha, an Iroquois medicine man who lived in the 1400s. 25 pages.
Shenandoah, Joanne and Douglas M. George. Skywoman: Legends of the Iroquois. Santa Fe: Clear Light Publishers, 1998. American Indian authors and artists retell traditional Iroquois legends of bravery and compassion as well as greed, cruelty, and adventure. 112 pages.
Nonfiction Books
Doherty, Craig A. and Katherine M. Doherty. The Iroquois. New York: Franklin Watts, 1989. Examines the history, social and political organization, religion, customs, traditional lifestyle, and current situation of the Iroquois. Good reference book. Contains full-color pictures of artifacts, woodcuts, and paintings. 64 pages.
Duvall, Jill. The Mohawk: A New True Book. Danbury: Children's Press, Inc., 1991. An easy-to-read book that highlights the history and some of the political and social traditions of the Mohawk tribe and Iroquois confederation. 48 pages.
"The Indians of the Northeast Coast."Cobblestone: The History Magazine for Young People. Nov. 1994. Each issue contains easy-to-read articles, primary source readings, excellent illustrations, and occasional crafts and puzzles. Web site: cobblestonepub.com. About 50 pages.
Kalman, Bobbie. Life in a Longhouse Village. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company, 2001. Discover what life was like in a longhouse village! This book explores the way of life of the Iroquois and Algonquian Indians of the Eastern Woodlands. 32 pages.
Levine, Ellen. If You Lived with the Iroquois. New York: Scholastic, 1999. This book uses a question and answer format to tell about the daily life and customs of the Iroquois. 80 pages.
Murdoch, David. North American Indian. New York: Knopf, 1995. In this book about American Indians, the text is difficult, but the pictures are abundant and beautiful. Great reference. 64 pages.
Web Sites
http://www.rom.on.ca/digs/longhouse/ Homes of the Past. Explore an Iroquois village! Learn all you wanted to know about the longhouse of the Eastern Woodland Indians through activities, clues, images, and more.
http://www.oneida-nation.net/ Oneida Indian Nation. The official site of the Oneida Indians provides lots of information on this Eastern Woodland tribe. This is a great site with history, culture, images, current news, and more.
http://www.wampumchronicles.com The Wampum Chronicles. This comprehensive site helps you explore the history and culture of the Mohawk Indians with articles, pictures, primary sources, and a bibliography for further research.
http://www.carnegiemuseums.org/cmnh/exhibits/north-south-east-west/iroquois Iroquois of the Northeast. Check out the Carnegie Museum of Natural History's exhibit devoted to American Indians! This wonderful site shows the Iroquois's connection with the natural world and provides lots of information about Iroquois culture, and history.
http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/iroquois.html The Iroquois Constitution. Take a look at the rights and rules of the Iroquois nation. This site, with full text of the Iroquois constitution, provides information about symbolism, war, religious ceremonies, elections, and much more.
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/language/index.html Iroquois Language and Songs. Have you ever wondered what the music of the Iroquois nations sounds like? Get a brief introduction to three of the six languages of the Iroquois tribes and learn about the social songs and dances of the Iroquois confederacy.
http://www.tolatsga.org/iro.html Iroquois History. Although a work-in-progress, this site provides a great overview of Iroquois history (and other American Indian histories). The site is all text but offers information such as language, population, names, and location.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award98/ienhtml/curthome.html American Memory: Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian. The Library of Congress provides an online exhibition of photographs of American Indians. The representation includes tons of images from 80 tribes across the U.S.
