Reading Guide: Elatsoe

Elatsoe — nicknamed Ellie — is a young Lipan Apache woman who inherited her family’s ability to raise the ghosts of dead animals. When her much-loved cousin is murdered, Ellie is determined to find out the truth about his death. Elatsoe is on our middle grades reading list because it’s a compelling mystery with a supernatural element and a deep connection to Lipan Apache culture and traditions. (The author is a member of the Lipan Apache nation.) One of our priorities for middle school humanities is amplifying historically marginalized voices: One way to do this is by reading books like Elatsoe that reflect the deep roots and history of Native nations but that also clearly show them existing and thriving in the present day. We read this (along with The Birchbark House, Summer of the Mariposas, and Cemetery Boys) as part of a semester focused on Native nations, but it also works well as a stand-alone novel.

This 16-page reading guide breaks Elatsoe down into a 6-week literature unit, including a week of preliminary research and a final project that asks students to create an Indigenous Land Acknowledgment for their homeschool. This unit is designed for middle grades student at the Academy, but it could also work for a high school level unit.
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