Fall 2025

Carrie Cavender Schommer

Dakota Language Teacher

From the Series Native American Lives

  • Interest Level: Grade 4 - Grade 8
  • Reading Level: Grade 4

Carrie Cavender Schommer grew up in a home where Dakota was spoken, but going to school where everyone spoke English kept her from sharing her love of her Indigenous language. As an adult, Schommer spent decades teaching Dakota language and culture at the University of Minnesota and in her home community. From her childhood to her achievements as an educator, explore the inspiring life of Schommer.

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979-8-7656-7181-8
$12.99
979-8-7656-8001-8
$17.99
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Interest Level Grade 4 - Grade 8
Reading Level Grade 4
Genre Social Studies
Category 5 Kinds of Nonfiction, 5KN: Narrative Nonfiction, Biography, Diverse Books: Race & Ethnicity, Diversity
Copyright 2026
Publisher Lerner Publishing Group
Imprint Lerner Publications ™
Language English
Number of Pages 56
Publication Date 2025-08-01
Text Type Narrative Nonfiction
BISACS JNF007050, JNF076050, JNF018040
Dewey 497/.5243092 [B]
Dimensions 6 x 9
Guided Reading Level V
Features Author/Illustrator biography, Bibliography/further reading, Glossary, Index, Introductory note, Photo captions, Source notes, Table of contents, and Timeline

Author: Diane Wilson

Diane Wilson is an award-winning writer, speaker, and editor. Her work includes Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past (2006), Beloved Child: A Dakota Way of Life (2011), and The Seed Keeper (2021) which won the Minnesota Book Award. Her essays have been featured in many publications, including We Are Meant to Rise; Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations; and A Good Time for the Truth. Wilson is a Mdewakanton descendent, enrolled on the Rosebud Reservation.

Illustrator: Cole Redhorse Taylor