We ARE the Water Protectors

This week I am reading the book titled We are Water Protectors, written by Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by Michaela Goade. This book is about the harm, pollution, and extortion of the environment in our world. It is centered around indigenous people and communities, and how these communities were affected by the drastic modifications that have been made to their land and environment.

The most capturing aspect of this book is the illustrations. The vivid colors and intricate detail make clear connections to our environment and its beauty. The book visualizes several parts of our environment- creeks, rivers, mountains, animals, people, and all of these things interacting with one another. This gives the reader the opportunity to actually see the land, people, and resources that are endangered. The beautiful drawings of the rivers and mountains allow us to relate our experiences to this book- what mountains do we love and want to preserve? What experiences do I have with lakes and rivers, and don't I love these experiences? The illustrations only further support the important message of this children's book: the environment and world we live in is shared by all of us. We must preserve and take care of this world if we want to further our experiences here. One of my favorite illustrations was on the last page of the book. The page shows a large group of different people together, all standing up for and representing one cause. The protection of our water.

This page brings people from all different backgrounds together. This gives everyone the opportunity to relate to this story, after all, we do all need water in order to survive.

After reading this book I decided to further my knowledge of indigenous communities and the experience that Carole Lindstrom has within these communities. It turns out that she is actually a part of The Anishinaabe tribe, which is the name of an indigenous tribe that now resides in western America and in Canada. She has Euro-American and indigenous ancestry which gives her the opportunity to relate more to this cause. She has also been "tribally enrolled in the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe" (Lindstrom, 2013). Knowing this information brings more truth to the story and illustrations since Carole is from the community that is being highlighted throughout the story. Especially since this community is marginalized, the experiences you read about in this book are much more believable and realistic knowing that the author is a part of this community. Here is a link to her personal blog.

In our world today, there are plenty of separate and different marginalized communities. It is our job as teachers, educators, and mentors to teach our students about all kinds of people, history, and backgrounds. It is important to be inclusive and celebrate differences. Different cultures, ethnicities, and races are the reason that our world is so beautiful and unique. Unfortunately, there is still so much oppression in our world, and in order to make a change for future generations, we are required to teach them while they are young about the similarities we share rather than our few differences. This is why I fully support this text and cannot wait to incorporate this into my future classroom. We need to create activists and voices that go against oppression.

I found an activity created by Macmillian's Children's Publishing Group that highlights and teaches the importance of preserving our environment. This activity ties directly along with the story, and would be an awesome resource to use in the classroom to show our students all of the reasons why our environment is important, and different ways that we can conserve our resources. There is also an entire webpage created for this book and it has links to different activities, extra graphics, and pledges for students to use in the classroom while reading or working with this book. This page also goes more in depth about the author and illustrator which I think is always an important aspect to highlight when reading and teaching children's books. The students always love getting to know the author and illustrator, and it also shows students that they are capable of being authors and illustrators themselves. I hope you decide to click on those links and look through these activities, and hopefully incorporate them into your instruction as well!

I was really excited to read and share about this book this week because I am an avid Earth-activist and am seeking new techniques and ways I can teach my students to love the Earth as much as I do. This book is the perfect transition into teaching my students about the oppression of the Earth.

Lindstrom, C. (2013). Carole Linstrom. Retrieved August 24, 2020, from http://www.carolelindstrom.com/about.html

Lindstrom, C., & Goade, M. (2020). We are Water Protectors. New York, NY: Roaring Brook Press.

We Are Water Protectors. (2020, May 26). Retrieved August 24, 2020, from https://read.macmillan.com/mcpg/wearewaterprotectors/