We are Water Protectors- Native American Children's Literature

We are Water Protectors

Written by Carole Windstorm

Illustrated by Michaela Goade

Winner of the 2021 Caldecott Medal and #1 New York Times Best Seller

Water is the first medicine.
It affects and connects us all . . .

        This beautifully illustrated children's book is an urgent cry and rally to protect the Earth's most precious resource ...water.  We come from water; it nourishes us provides for us. The young girl says her people warn of a black snake that threatens to destroy the Earth and poison the water.  The black snack comes and begins destroying all the water and makes it unfit to drink.  The young girl is determined to be courageous and save her people by keeping the black snake away from her village.  She and her people stand together as one to defend their land and people from the black snake.  They fight for the ones who cannot fight for themselves: the winged ones, the crawling ones, the four legged ones, the plants, the lakes, and the Earth. Nokomis tells the young girl that the water is alive.  It remembers their ancestors and those that came before them.  

We stand 

With our songs

And our drums

We are still here https://youtu.be/jqWTouyaQ-8We are stewards of the Earth.

    This beautiful lyrical children's book is about a young Obijwe girl and her people who are fighting "the black snake" that threatens to destroy their land.  The "black snake" represents the oil pipelines threatening their way of life.  

In the classroom, I would use. Venn diagram to compare and contrast this novel to Disney's Moana.  The stories are both about young female heroins who are ready to help and protect their people and land prosper.  

Click this link for a read aloud of this novel.  https://youtu.be/jqWTouyaQ-8