This Land

Ages 4 to 8, Grades P to 3

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 whothat 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.

About the Author

Ashley Fairbanks is an Anishinaabe artist, writer, organizer, and digital strategist. She has her own design practice, trains people on anti-racist work, does strategic communications and design, and runs social media and narrative work for campaigns and nonprofits.

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.

Author Residence: Carrizo Comecrudo Homelands, South Texas

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.

Illustrator Residence:Canada