Apple in the Middle by Dawn Quigley, enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa, is published by North Dakota State University Press. This story is set in Minnesota and the Turtle Mountain Chippewa reservation in North Dakota. Apple Starkington’s mother, a member of Turtle Mountain Chippewa, died after giving birth to her. Growing up with her father and stepmother, and living in upper middle-class suburbia, Apple feels like she doesn’t fit in. She has experienced racism at school when she was called a racial slur for someone of white and Native American descent. No-one seems to want her in their space. Her father’s reluctance to tell her about her mother’s Chippewa family adds to her questioning about who she is and her sense of belonging. Apple feels like she is running between two lives and is stuck in the middle. When she visits her Turtle Mountain relatives she begins to understand who she is and what it means to be Indigenous. She meets her relatives who teach her Chippewa customs. She learns more about her mother’s life and loves. There are 33 chapters, a prologue, epilogue, appendix with recipes, glossary and notes about the author and press. Apple in the Middle won national recognition from the American Indian Library Association (AILA), which honours the best writing and illustrations by and about American Indians. Winner of the 2018 Moonbeam Children's Book Award for Young Adult Fiction--General and the 2020 American Indian Youth Literature Honors Award.
