Overview

Michael L. Printz Award Winner American Indian Youth Literature Award Winner Odyssey Award Honoree Featuring the voices of both new and acclaimed Indigenous writers and edited by bestselling Muscogee author Cynthia Leitich Smith, this collection of interconnected stories serves up laughter, love, Native pride, and the world's best frybread. The road to Sandy June's Legendary Frybread Drive-In slips through every rez and alongside every urban Native hangout. The menu offers a rotating feast, including traditional eats and tasty snacks. But Sandy June's serves up more than food: it hosts live music, movie nights, unexpected family reunions, love long lost, and love found again. That big green-and-gold neon sign beckons to teens of every tribal Nation, often when they need it most. Featuring stories and poems by: Kaua Mahoe Adams, Marcella Bell, Angeline Boulley, K. A. Cobell, A. J. Eversole, Jen Ferguson, Eric Gansworth, Byron Graves, Kate Hart, Christine Hartman Derr, Karina Iceberg, Cheryl Isaacs, Darcie Little Badger, David A. Robertson, Andrea L. Rogers, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Brian Young. In partnership with We Need Diverse Books.

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9798228473935

Table of Contents

Reviews

""Superlative."" -- ""Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "" ""Welcome to the best-kept secret on Turtle Island! A mixture of award-winning authors and new voices use this liminal space in surprising and inventive ways, creating a microcosm of the interconnectedness of modern Indigenous life, one in which community and family, past and present, encourage its young visitors to inhabit their truest selves as they look toward the future. It is also simply a terrific collection of entertaining stories--full of laughter, music, delicious food, friendship, and romance--that will appeal to teen readers across age ranges, identities, and interests."" -- ""Booklist (starred review)""

Author Information

Cynthia Leitich Smith is a bestselling, acclaimed author of books for all ages, including Here Come the Aunties!, Firefly Season, Jingle Dancer, Indian Shoes, On a Wing and a Tear, Sisters of the Neversea, Blue Stars: Mission One: The Vice Principal Problem (with Kekla Magoon), Rain Is Not My Indian Name, Harvest House, and Hearts Unbroken, which won the American Indian Youth Literature Award. Cynthia is also the anthologist of Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids, and Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories, which won the Michael L. Printz Award and the American Indian Youth Literature Award. She has been honored with the American Library Association's Children's Literature Lecture Award and has been named the NSK Neustadt Laureate. She is the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint at HarperCollins Children's Books, and served as the Katherine Paterson Endowed Chair on the faculty of the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Cynthia is a citizen of the Muscogee Nation and lives in Denton, Texas. Cynthia Leitich Smith is a bestselling, acclaimed author of books for all ages, including Here Come the Aunties!, Firefly Season, Jingle Dancer, Indian Shoes, On a Wing and a Tear, Sisters of the Neversea, Blue Stars: Mission One: The Vice Principal Problem (with Kekla Magoon), Rain Is Not My Indian Name, Harvest House, and Hearts Unbroken, which won the American Indian Youth Literature Award. Cynthia is also the anthologist of Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids, and Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories, which won the Michael L. Printz Award and the American Indian Youth Literature Award. She has been honored with the American Library Association's Children's Literature Lecture Award and has been named the NSK Neustadt Laureate. She is the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint at HarperCollins Children's Books, and served as the Katherine Paterson Endowed Chair on the faculty of the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Cynthia is a citizen of the Muscogee Nation and lives in Denton, Texas. Eric Gansworth is a professor of English and Lowery Writer-in-Residence at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. An enrolled member of the Onondaga Nation, he was born and raised at the Tuscarora Reservation in Niagara County in upstate New York. His short stories, poetry, and nonfiction have been printed and reprinted in many literary magazines and anthologies, and his dramatic work has appeared at the Public Theater in New York City. Marcella Bell, the author of the Closed Circuit series and three novels in the Queen's Guard series, writes romance that showcases love's incredible power to transform. Darcie Little Badger is an award-winning Lipan Apache author with a PhD in oceanography. Her critically acclaimed debut novel, Elatsoe, was featured in Time Magazine as one of the best 100 fantasy novels of all time. Elatsoe also won the Locus award for Best First Novel and is a Nebula, Ignyte, and Lodestar finalist. Her second fantasy novel, A Snake Falls to Earth, received a Nebula and Ignyte Award, as well as a Newbery Honor, and is on the National Book Awards longlist. Darcie lives with her husband in Texas. You can visit her online at darcielittlebadger.com. Andrea L. Rogers is from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. She graduated from the Institute of American Indian Arts with an MFA in creative writing. Andrea lives and writes in the Boston Mountains in Arkansas. Cheryl Isaacs can often be found running through the Carolinian forest of southwestern Ontario, where she has fearlessly enjoyed the trails for years. Her Kanyen'kéha culture often appears in her writing. Her first novel was The Unfinished. Author and filmmaker Brian Young is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. He grew up on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. Brian earned his BA in film studies at Yale University and his MFA in creative writing at Columbia University. Brian currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. K. A. Cobell, Staa'tssipisstaakii, is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation. She currently lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she spends her time writing books, chasing her kids through the never-ending rain, and scouring the inlet beaches for sand dollars and hermit crabs. Looking for Smoke is her debut novel. Jen Ferguson is Michif/Métis and white, an activist, a feminist, an auntie, and an accomplice armed with a PhD. She believes writing, teaching and beading are political acts. She also has strong opinions about pastries and could essentially live off of pain au chocolat. Jen is a citizen of the Manitoba Métis Federation. Byron Graves is Ojibwe and Lakota and was born and raised on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota, where they played high school basketball. When they aren't writing, they can be found playing retro video games, spending time with their family, or cheering on their beloved Minnesota Timberwolves. Rez Ball was their debut novel; Medicine Wheels is their second book. Angeline Boulley, an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is a storyteller who writes about her Ojibwe community in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. She is a former Director of the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education. Her debut novel Firekeeper's Daughter was an instant #1New York Times bestseller and recipient of many internatioanl accolades including the ALA Printz and Morris Awards; the YA Goodreads Choice Award; the Walter Award for Outstanding Children's Literature; and is Carnegie Mellon nominated. Angeline lives in southwest Michigan, but her home will always be on Sugar Island. DAVID A. ROBERTSON is an author, editor, and speaker on Indigenous issues, mental health and freedom of expression. His books include the novel The Theory of Crows, the memoir Black Water, the picture books When We Were Alone and On the Trapline, and the middle-grade series the Misewa Saga. He has won awards such as the TD Canadian Children's Literary Award, the Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction, the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award and the Governor General's Literary Award and has been shortlisted for many others. He was the writer and host of the podcast Kiwew, which won the 2021 RTDNA Prairie Region Award for Best Podcast. In 2023, the University of Manitoba honoured him with a doctor of letters for his contributions to the arts. David A. Robertson is a member of Norway House Cree Nation. He lives in Winnipeg. Karina Iceberg holds an MFA in writing for children and young adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her debut picture book, A Good Hide, publishes with Heartdrum in January 2026. Her work has appeared in two anthologies: Legendary Frybread Drive-In, edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Onward: Climate Fiction to Inspire Hope, edited by Nora Shalaway Carpenter. Karina is a member of the Aleut (Unangax^) and Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) Nations of Alaska. Christine Hartman Derr is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. She's a graduate from VCFA's Writing for Children MFA program, where she was selected as a DEI Fellow and a Center for Arts and Social Justice Fellow. Her work includes themes on identity, belonging, and sharing the Cherokee language. Originally from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Christine lives in Tennessee with her spouse, children, and a rambunctious crew of lovable pets. Nightfire is the new horror imprint from Tor. For more information visit www.tornightfire.com. Katie Anvil Rich is an experienced audiobook narrator who grew up in the Bay Area. She earned an MFA in acting from Harvard University while also training concurrently at the Moscow Art Theatre School. Since graduating, she has moved to L.A., where she works on television and stage projects as well as writing and directing. Delanna Studi is an actress whose roles have included DreamKeeper, Edge of America, and Shameless. she is Native American, born in Oklahoma, and is the niece of the multiaward-winning actor Wes Studi. She was elected chairwoman of the President's National Task Force for American Indians of the Screen Actors Guild. In 2007, she performed her one-woman show entitled ""What's an Indian Woman to Do?"" in Los Angeles to rave reviews from LA Weekly and the Los Angeles Times. Shaun Taylor-Corbett is an actor, singer, and writer. A graduate of the University of Delaware, he has television and Broadway credits, including the role of Sonny on Broadway in In the Heights. He also has off-Broadway credits including In the Heights and Altar Boyz. Darrell Dennis is a native Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter and radio personality from the Secwepemc Nation in the interior of British Columbia. In addition to acting and comedy, Darrell is a writer whose works have been published by Playwrights Canada Press and Douglas & McIntyre Publishing. His short stories have been published in periodicals across Canada and the U.S. His first play, Trickster of Third Avenue East, was produced by Native Earth Performing Arts, which twice named Darrell their ""Writer-in- Residence."" His semi-autobiographical one-man play, Tales of an Urban Indian, in which he explored themes of growing up as an indigenous First Nations Native American, was nominated for two Dora Awards and has been produced for multiple tours across Canada and the United States Tanis Parenteau was born and raised in Peace River, Alberta. She is a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta from Region VI and is of Plains Cree descent. A talented actor and voiceover artist, she has lent her talents to multiple projects including roles in House of Cards, Billions, and Designated Survivor. Rainy Fields is a registered member of the Muskogee Creek Nation and is of Cherokee descent. After a back injury during her first year of college, Rainy took an acting class in an effort to boost her GPA and fell in love with the craft, eventually earning her BA in theater. Rainy now lives in Los Angeles, where she is a member of an all-Native improv troupe. Rainy is also an ensemble member of Native Voices at the Autry, and she co-hosts the podcast Hollywood Ndnz, which explores what it's like to be Native and in the entertainment industry.

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