This Land (Race to the Truth)
by Ashley Fairbanks (Author) Bridget George (Illustrator)
This land is your land now, but who did it belong to before?
This engaging primer about native lands invites kids to trace history and explore their communities. Before my family lived in this house, a different family did, and before them, another family, and another before them. And before that, the family who lived here lived not in a house, but a wigwam. Who lived where you are before you got there?
This Land teaches readers that American land, from our backyards to our schools to Disney World, are the traditional homelands of many Indigenous nations. This Land will spark curiosity and encourage readers to explore the history of the places they live and the people who have lived there throughout time and today.
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Kirkus
A stirring tale that fosters respect for Native peoples.
Publishers Weekly
With a title that echoes a song long protested as erasing Indigenous history, this work--part of the Race to the Truth series--aptly communicates the issue of land acknowledgments. As the book opens, a child narrator notes how "this is my house.... Before us, another family lived here"--a concept that introduces "a whole village full of families, laughing, cooking, and playing," whom European settlers would forcibly remove to reservations. A question the child asks during travels ("Who lived here before the people who live here now?") leads to several spreads that acknowledge Indigenous homelands ("At the Golden Gate Bridge, I learned that the Ohlone have been fishing here for thousands of years"). Shape-based art by Anishinaabe illustrator George (Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior) foreground landscapes and portraiture in this work about how Indigenous people "have always been here, and they're still here, wherever we go." And Anishinaabe author Fairbanks, making a picture book debut, renders a memorable message: "This land is sacred./ This land is living./ From the Black Hills/ to Pueblo Canyon,// From the swampy bayous/ to the salmon swimming,/ this land all has a history." More about land acknowledgment concludes. Ages 4-8. Author's agents: Jess Regel, Helm Literary. Illustrator's agent: Nicole Geiger, Full Circle Literary.(Aug.)
Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.
Review quotes
She started her career designing museum exhibitions, and she's worked on everything from municipal to presidential campaigns. She started an Indigenous farmer's market, and a political wing of a hip-hop label. Nowadays she works most on policy that impacts Indigenous people and climate issues that impact everyone. Bridget George is an Anishinaabe author and illustrator. She was raised on Kettle and Stony Point First Nation, a community along the shore of Lake Huron: the traditional territory of her people.
She's passionate about positive self-image, lifelong learning, visual storytelling and positive Indigenous representation for children and youth. Her debut picture book It's a Mitig! is a dual-language rhyming introduction to the Ojibwe language, and she is the illustrator of the upcoming Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior by Carole Lindstrom.
JUV016110 - Juvenile Fiction | Historical | United States - General
JUV039290 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Activism & Social Justice
