The book's creators

Carole Lindstrom (Source: "About Carole")

Carole Lindstrom (author)

Carole Lindstrom is a New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of literature for young people. She is Anishinaabe/Métis and an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe.

Lindstrom began writing children’s literature after the birth of her son. In an interview, she stated that she wanted to write books that would provide children with positive representations of Indigeneity:

“As a Native American child, I never saw myself in books. Just shameful and embarrassing portrayals of me. I couldn’t find the kids that looked like me. So, I decided I would write children’s books that more accurately show the world that I wanted to see as a child. It’s important for Indigenous children to see themselves in books. And just as important for non-Indigenous children to see us in the world through books” (Lindstrom qtd. in Rogers, n.p.).

Lindstrom was inspired to write We Are Water Protectors by the bravery of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and their allies during the 2016 Dakota Access Pipeline Protests, and by Indigenous activists everywhere.

Michaela Goade is a Caldecott Medal-winning illustrator of Indigenous children’s literature. She got her start in children’s literature illustrating “traditional adaptations and contemporary tales based in the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures, all taking place in Southeast Alaska,” which she calls “stories by Native people for Native people” (Goade qtd. in Rogers, n.p.). Goade is an enrolled member of the Tlingit and Haida Tribes of Alaska. She is the first Indigenous person to receive the Caldecott Medal, for her illustrations in We Are Water Protectors.

As an artist, Goade draws inspiration from the coastal landscapes and culture of her home in Southeast Alaska. She works primarily with watercolour. On her role in illustrating We Are Water Protectors, Goade writes:

“It was important to me to convey unity, solidarity and kinship through the illustrations, and as the historic events at Standing Rock brought together over 500 Indigenous Nations and allies, I felt a lot of pressure to include as much as I could and do it as accurately as I could . . . Indigenous people have egregiously been misrepresented or erased from the narrative entirely, and that’s something I try to be really sensitive to when illustrating Indigenous stories, especially when those stories fall outside my experience” (Goade qtd. in Rogers, n.p.).

• To learn more about how Lindstrom and Goade collaborated on We Are Water Protectors, see their interview with Publisher's Weekly.