The book's reception
We Are Water Protectors has been praised for its poetic prose, its breathtaking watercolour illustrations, and its inspiring call to action. The book won the Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picturebook for children in 2021. It was also a finalist for the Kirkus Prize, and it is a New York Times bestseller.
Kirkus Reviews describes We Are Water Protectors as a “tribute to Native resilience” that “invites readers to stand up for environmental justice” (n.p.). They note that its “Stunning illustrations [are] rich in symbolism from the creators’ respective Ojibwe and Tlingit/Haida lineages” (n.p.).
However, We Are Water Protectors has also faced controversy. In 2022, it was one of several books donated to the Northampton Pennsylvania School District by The Conscious Kid, an education, research and policy organization that supports action to disrupt racism, inequality and bias. After receiving complaints from parents, the school board unanimously voted to table the donations. According to Marshall Libraries, the donated books were characterized as “divisive,” “racist,” and “socialist,” and The Conscious Kid was accused of having a Marxist agenda.
The book was also challenged for its political themes by librarians in the private Facebook group Future Reader Librarians. Jamie Gregory, writing for the Office for Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association, states that “some librarians expressed concern that children will not understand the metaphor of the black snake to a pipeline,” while one librarian “directly share[d] that this story is ‘too political’ for young learners” (n.p.).
- To read more about the reception of We Are Water Protectors, see these reviews from The New York Times and Medium.
- To learn more about Indigenous picturebooks that have been banned or challenged, visit American Indians in Children Literature's Banning of Native Voices/Books list.
Sources
"Banned Books 2021: We Are Water Protectors." Marshall Libraries, https://www.marshall.edu/library/bannedbooks/we-are-water-protectors/. Accessed 4 Aug. 2024.
"Banning of Native Voices/Books." American Indians in Children's Literature, https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/p/banning-of-native-voicesbooks.html. Accessed 4 Aug. 2024.
"The Conscious Kid." The Conscious Kid, https://www.theconsciouskid.org/. Accessed 4 Aug. 2024.
Egan, Elizabeth. "This Indigenous Author and Artist Team Have an Important Message." The New York Times, 25 Feb. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/25/books/review/we-are-water-protectors-carole-lindstrom-michaela-goade.html. Accessed 4 Aug. 2024.
Gregory, Jamie. "Librarians Hesitate on We Are Water Protectors." Intellectual Freedom Blog: The Office for Intellectual Freedom for the American Library Association, 2 March 2021, https://www.oif.ala.org/librarians-hesitate-on-we-are-water-protectors/. Accessed 4 Aug. 2024.
St. John, Sofia. "We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom." Medium, 30 Aug. 2020, https://medium.com/the-riveting-review/we-are-water-protectors-by-carole-lindstrom-592b0b99c23e. Accessed 4 Aug. 2024.
"We Are Water Protectors: An Inspiring Call to Action for All Who Care about Our Interconnected Planet." Kirkus Reviews, 7 Dec. 2019, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/carole-lindstrom/we-are-water-protectors/. Accessed 4 Aug. 2024.