We Are Water Protectors

Follow a young Indigenous girl as she continues the long-held legacy of joining forces to protect and save the water. 

Themes: Respecting nature, collective action, activism, pollution, traditional knowledge

The cover of We Are Water Protectors has a girl holding a feather in a wave

About the Author

Ms. Lindstrom Carole is Anishinabe/Metis and is tribally enrolled with the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe. She was born and raised in Nebraska and currently makes her home in Maryland. 

Carole has been a voracious reader and library geek ever since she was growing up in Nebraska. On weekends you could usually find her at the library lost in the book stacks or holed up in her bedroom with a good book. It wasn’t until she had her son, that she discovered her love of writing for children and began to work seriously on her writing.

Bio from the author’s website.

Headshot portrait of Ms. Lindstrom Carole
Photo by the author

About the Illustrator

Ms. Goade is a Caldecott Medalist and #1 New York Times Bestselling illustrator of “We Are Water Protectors,” also a 2020 Kirkus Prize Finalist. Other books include the New York Times Bestselling “I Sang You Down from the Stars,” “Encounter” and “Shanyaak’utlaax: Salmon Boy,” winner of the 2018 American Indian Youth Literature Award for Best Picture Book.

Over the last few years, Michaela’s work has focused on Indigenous KidLit. She is honored to work with Indigenous authors and tribal organizations in the creation of beautiful and much-needed books. An enrolled member of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Michaela’s Tlingit name is Sheit.een and she is of the Kiks.ádi Clan (Raven/Frog) from Sheet’ká.

Michaela was raised in the rainforest and on the beaches of Southeast Alaska, traditional Lingít Aaní (Tlingit land). Today she lives in Sheet’ká (Sitka), Alaska, a magical island on the edge of a wide, wild sea.

Bio from the illustrator’s website.

Headshot portrait of Michaela Goade
Photo by Sydney Akagi.

Our Honored Guest

Our honored guest is Ms. Kathleen Smith, Gaa ganawendang Manoomin (She who takes care of the wild rice in Ojibwemowin) with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC).

Photo Todd Marsee, Michigan Sea Grant

Discussion Questions

  1. How is water important to you and your daily life? Brainstorm all the ways we use water every day. Talk about where your water comes from. Come up with ideas to protect and save your water.
  2. Look at the last two pages of the book, featuring many indigenous people. Learn about the indigenous people who live near you today and the people who lived in your place long ago.
  3. What is the black snake that is poisoning the water, plants, animals, and land? Discuss environmental concerns in your community and what you can do to be better stewards for the Earth.
  4. In the book, a young girl talks about fighting for those who cannot fight for themselves—the animals, plants, trees, rivers, and lakes. How can you fight for them? What resources exist in your community to help those that cannot fight for themselves?
  5. “The four-legged, the two-legged, the plants, trees, rivers, lakes, the Earth. We are all related.” Discuss the ways in which the Earth and all its creatures are related.
  6. From Roaring Brook Press, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers: link to download Activity Kit.

Learning Activities & Explore More

  1. Brainstorm ideas for protecting the water. Then use the same technique (watercolor) that the illustrator Michaela Goade uses in this book to create a poster advocating for all to take steps to protect the water.
  2. Learn more about the origins of protests at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Tell your grown-ups and your friends what you learned.