Member Reviews
This is a great book for students to learn more about Native Americans and their past, present and future. It is a book that I will continue using in my 2nd grade classroom.
An informative book carefully crafted to lure children into its pages. The author captured the importance of this gem and topic without it seeming like a homework assignment.
Traci Sorrell is doing amazing work for children's nonfiction. The audiobook of We Are Still Here! is an excellent companion to read along with the book, or listen to by itself. Sorrell's attention to detail, her way around history and current events, make complex Indigenous history very accessible to a younger audience. Highly recommend for educators, schools, and libraries.
As the companion book to We are Grateful: Otsalihelgia, Traci Sorrell’s We Are Still Here! addresses the history, contemporary laws, policies and struggles, and victories of Indigenous peoples. Presented by members of the Cherokee, Navajo, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations, We are Still Here! offers bright images and wonderful writing to help engage our younger readers regarding history and current events surrounding accurate (read not white-washed) information. Indigenous people are not just the people who used to live in the Americas. They are still very much here and deserve to be acknowledged.
Disclaimer: A copy of this book was provided by the publisher.
This necessary children’s picture book features an introduction and 12 Native student presentations that share the history of Native Nations in the US. It’s a complicated and unjust history that is well told with simple, but uncompromising text by Traci Sorell, a member of the Cherokee Nation, and extensively researched illustrations by Frané Lessac.
🎧 The audiobook is read by Garrett Abel, Jacob Cummings, Mary Kay Henderson, Lauren Hummingbird, Don McClellan, Ella Mounce, Kaitlyn Pinkerton, Isobel Shults, Oliver Shults, Carlos Sorell, Traci Sorell, and Tonia Hogner-Weavel. It’s a full cast! In addition to the many voices bringing the text to life, audio sounds and effects further enhance the message.
📚 Review: This is a great introduction to Native American history for readers at any age. This includes adults! The resounding theme of the book is that despite the injustices forced upon US Indigenous populations, they persevere and are still here. The print book and audio each have merits. If you can listen to the audiobook while reading along and enjoying the illustrations, I highly recommend this approach. I simply can’t recommend the book or the audio over the other.
This is a great and important book! Thank you for writing this. It is important for our young readers to see Native populations in the present day in literature!
This is my favorite type of book to use at my middle school classes: Twelve students present science-fair style presentation on a variety of topics that affect Native Nations. This book serves as a springboard for anyone who wants to learn more about these topics:
Assimilation
Allotment
Indian New Deal
Termination
Relocation
Tribal Activism
Self-Determination
Indian Child Welfare & Education
Religious Freedom
Economic Development
Language Revival
Sovereign Resurgence
A collection of short presentations narrated by a variety of individuals from Native Nations that recounts the history of the United States' relationship with Native Nations. An eye-opening tour of how tribal citizens refuse to be forgotten or overlooked and continue to thrive in the harsh conditions imposed upon them.
A book for young readers, with the appropriate glossar so as children to understand and at the same time to be informed. I really liked it and I think that teaches an important lesson.
This wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be when I downloaded it but I really like the idea. I think I would enjoy the physical p=copy better, assuming it has pictures by the students. While I did enjoy that the audio included traditional music, as well as the fact that students seemed to read their own words, I found it a little annoying and hard to follow when the music overlapped the student voices.
We Are Still Here! is a powerful book reminding readers that Native American history isn't a finished chapter, it is ongoing and relevant right now. The story follows a group of children giving different reports on Native American people's past, present, and future. Readers will learn about topics that are often not taught in school including forced assimilation, land allotment and Native tribal reorganization, termination, Native urban relocation, self-determination, Native civil rights, the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and more! This is a great book for all ages. The audiobook is done well with multiple narrators which enhances the presentation aspect of the story.
Special thanks to Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.
𝘞𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦! by Traci Sorrell is full of vivid art and vibrant writing, a strikingly delivered, crucially needed, and highly engaging introduction for children (and adults) to accurate (not whitewashed) Native history. It’s an important read and should absolutely be in every classroom and public/personal library. This was a great read and I highly recommend it, along with the fantastic audio.
I really enjoyed this audiobook, and I think that the experience would have been a trillion times better if I had the physical book in front of me to read along and see the images. I love that it is set up like young people giving class presentations. It’s very accessible and explains complex things like sovereignty and assimilation in a way children can read and understand. I’m a children’s lit professor currently teaching a course over Indigenous stories, and am definitely going to find a way to incorporate this book in my class’
This was such a wonderful introduction to topics important in learning about Native American history and present day issues. The audio production was rich and full and made it feel like you are actually at a school presentation
I was already a huge fan of this book, but the audiobook pleasantly surprised me with its unique presentation of the physical book's contents! I really loved the different voices, and the music and background chatter added to the richness of the story, where in some audiobooks I find that sort of thing distracting. It really added to the feeling of togetherness, the "We are still here" ness of this book.
This review is for the audiobook; it is difficult to review a picture book one hasn’t seen and the format detracted from the impact of the book. The focus in this review is therefore the content presented.
The information is creatively organized as twelve student presentations for Indigenous People's Day, and the subjects are Assimilation, Allotment, Indian New Deal, Termination, Relocation, Tribal Activism, Self-Determination, Indian Child Welfare & Education, Religious Freedom, Economic Development, Language Revival, and Sovereign Resurgence. That covers a lot of ground and is clearly not appropriate vocabulary for typical picture book audiences.
I strongly support the use of picture books in classrooms for older children, but I feel this would best be used as a teacher resource and outline of topics supplemented by additional materials. It does present Native American Truths Everyone Should Know in an informative history, but is awkward in its construction.
I received an Audio Advance Reader Copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is such a great book to read with your kids, especially if you're looking to decolonize your bookshelves. Twelve Native American kids share stories, facts, history and experiences from their cultural context with the purpose of reinforcing the theme of survival and strength.
This would be a great addition to school libraries and supplementing our younger grades' history lessons.
Title: We Are Still Here! Native American Truths Everyone Should Know
Author: Traci Sorell
Format: Audio
Narrators: Garrett Abel, Jacob Cummings, Mary Kay Henderson, Lauren Hummingbird, Don McClellan, Ella Mounce, Kaitlyn Pinkerton, Isobel Shults, Oliver Shults, Carlos Sorell, Traci Sorell, & tonia Hogner-Weavel
Genre: Children's Nonfiction, short stories
5/5
We Are Still Here is children's nonfiction book about Native American history. i enjoyed how it was told, each section as a school report. I also enjoyed the timeline at the end showcasing just how recent some of these events occurred.
I received this audiobook for free from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
Twelve Native American kids present historical and contemporary laws, policies, struggles, and victories in Native life, each with a powerful refrain: We are still here!
Too often, Native American history is treated as a finished chapter instead of relevant and ongoing. This companion book to the award-winning We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga offers readers everything they never learned in school about Native American people's past, present, and future. Precise, lyrical writing presents topics including: forced assimilation (such as boarding schools), land allotment and Native tribal reorganization, termination (the US government not recognizing tribes as nations), Native urban relocation (from reservations), self-determination (tribal self-empowerment), Native civil rights, the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), religious freedom, economic development (including casino development), Native language revival efforts, cultural persistence, and nationhood.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this title in return for an honest review.
Though this title is technically aimed at children aged 6-10, I listened along with my 8 year old who was as enthralled as I was. A vital learning tool, delivered in a lovely way familiar to children giving class talks. We both learned a lot, and took away how vital it is to respect the critical civil rights of people indigenous to whichever land you live on. If used as a learning tool, I would suggest that having access to the recommended websites available to further continue the research and keep the conversation going. We have spent much of the day doing exactly this. Fantastic work.
Firstly i want to say to NetGalley and Traci Sorrell because they've provided me that copy to read it before for free.
Once upon a time a history about Native american people who are fighting to his rights through the years since Britain conquered American lands and discovered America as the new continent. Native american people are sub estimated for a long time, a lot of people did not consider yet that they are humans as all of us, Aryan race.
I think it is a good book to know what american native are suffering now and through the centuries in our country, America. Because it was not only in north america when native american people were in thrall. we have to learn more about their history and consider its rights in this society. I REALLY, REALLY ENJOYED HAVE LISTENED THIS AUDIOBOOK, REALLY THANKS.
5.0/5.0
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