With intention and grace, this child-centered text explores the history of belonging to places while also centering the story on the historical and contemporary Indigenous people. The narrative begins with a girl and her family (white) standing outside their house. “This is my house. I live here with my family. Before us, another family lived here. Before that, another family lived here, too.” An illustration shows family groupings from different time periods who lived in the girl’s house. The story then transitions to an illustration of the people who lived on the land originally, and what happened when people from Europe forced those Indigenous families to leave their homes. Back in contemporary times, the girl speaks about her friendship with TJ (Indigenous) and what she and her family have learned from his Noko (grandmother), particularly how every place can be viewed from the perspective of how the land was originally inhabited and held sacred by many Indigenous peoples. For example, while the Golden Gate Bridge is an icon of San Francisco, the Ohlone have been fishing in the bay for years. The book concludes with the girl riding in a car. Out one window is an image of present-day, out the other is an image of Indigenous people on the same land in long-ago times. While the artwork provides sufficient context, the text in this book conveys important concepts about the history of the land we’re on.

This engaging story about native lands invites kids to trace history and explore their communities.

"An adorable primer on the history of land."--PEOPLE.com

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 lived here, 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.