Traci Sorell Picture books in order

Reading order

Traci Sorell’s picture books bring Cherokee culture and Native American history to young readers through stories grounded in real communities and real people. Her debut, We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga (2018), follows a Cherokee community through the four seasons, incorporating Cherokee vocabulary and syllabary as families express gratitude for the world around them. At the Mountain’s Base (2019) honors Native American women in the military, inspired by WWII pilot Ola Mildred “Millie” Rexroat, and tells the story of a Cherokee family waiting for their loved one to return from service.

Classified (2021) is about Mary Golda Ross, a Cherokee woman who became Lockheed Aircraft Corporation’s first female engineer and worked in the top-secret Skunk Works division. We Are Still Here! (2021) traces Native American presence from pre-contact through the present day. Powwow Day (2022) and its board book adaptation On Powwow Day (2024) follow a young girl preparing for her first powwow dance, while Clack, Clack! Smack! (2024) introduces Cherokee stickball to early readers.

Sorell began writing children’s books after noticing how few picture books told contemporary Native stories when her son was in preschool. A Cherokee Nation citizen and former federal Indigenous law attorney, she brings both personal connection and careful research to every title. Her work has earned eight American Indian Library Association awards along with honors from the American Library Association and the International Literacy Association.