Self-Determined Stories:
The Indigenous Reinvention of Young Adult Literature
Reviews of Self-Determined Stories
"This study covers important ground, with balanced consideration of work ranging from Jeannette Armstrong's Slash, the historical American Indian movement novel that has not received nearly enough attention in the United States, to work that is wildly popular among Native and non-Native readers. Suhr-Sytsma also considers fiction that gives special attention to issues of gender and genres like speculative fiction that have become increasingly important in Native literature. This book will help facilitate a much-needed discussion regarding how YA literature is defined and what it does for young people and others."
--Craig S. Womack, Associate Professor, Department of English, Emory College of Arts and Sciences, author of Red on Red: Native American Literary Separatism and Drowning in Fire, and co-director of Hearing the Call: The Spiritual and Cultural Journey of Rosemary McCombs Maxey. Womack reviewed the book for MSU Press. This text appears on the back cover jacket of Self-Determined Stories.
Self-Determined Stories is “vital to support any academic program in Indigenous studies and literature (predominantly in North America). Its accessible language also makes this book ideal for school and public libraries and is an essential read for anyone in search of a better understanding of Indigenous young adult literature.”
--Treasa Bane, academic librarian for the University of Wisconsin. Bane reviewed Self-Determined Stories for
The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion 3. 1 (2019). The full text of Bane's detailed review
can be found on the journal's open access website.
“Engaging with a rapidly growing field of study and establishing the history, trends, and trajectory of Native YA literature for future scholars, Self-Determined Stories is an important addition to scholarship on YA literature and Native studies that fills gaps in both fields. With Self-Determined Stories as a foundational text for analyzing this important subset of Native literature, we can hope to see a proliferation of scholarship on Indigenous YA literature in the future.”
--Kaylee Jangula Mootz, PhD Candidate in English and Supervisor of Native American Cultural Programs at the
University of Connecticut. Mootz reviewed Self-Determined Stories for MELUS (Multi-ethnic Literatures of the
United States) 45.3 (2020).
"This study covers important ground, with balanced consideration of work ranging from Jeannette Armstrong's Slash, the historical American Indian movement novel that has not received nearly enough attention in the United States, to work that is wildly popular among Native and non-Native readers. Suhr-Sytsma also considers fiction that gives special attention to issues of gender and genres like speculative fiction that have become increasingly important in Native literature. This book will help facilitate a much-needed discussion regarding how YA literature is defined and what it does for young people and others."
--Craig S. Womack, Associate Professor, Department of English, Emory College of Arts and Sciences, author of Red on Red: Native American Literary Separatism and Drowning in Fire, and co-director of Hearing the Call: The Spiritual and Cultural Journey of Rosemary McCombs Maxey. Womack reviewed the book for MSU Press. This text appears on the back cover jacket of Self-Determined Stories.
Self-Determined Stories is “vital to support any academic program in Indigenous studies and literature (predominantly in North America). Its accessible language also makes this book ideal for school and public libraries and is an essential read for anyone in search of a better understanding of Indigenous young adult literature.”
--Treasa Bane, academic librarian for the University of Wisconsin. Bane reviewed Self-Determined Stories for
The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion 3. 1 (2019). The full text of Bane's detailed review
can be found on the journal's open access website.
“Engaging with a rapidly growing field of study and establishing the history, trends, and trajectory of Native YA literature for future scholars, Self-Determined Stories is an important addition to scholarship on YA literature and Native studies that fills gaps in both fields. With Self-Determined Stories as a foundational text for analyzing this important subset of Native literature, we can hope to see a proliferation of scholarship on Indigenous YA literature in the future.”
--Kaylee Jangula Mootz, PhD Candidate in English and Supervisor of Native American Cultural Programs at the
University of Connecticut. Mootz reviewed Self-Determined Stories for MELUS (Multi-ethnic Literatures of the
United States) 45.3 (2020).
