I thought the premise was a bit forced, but the information presented was very good, and the back matter is excellent.

This is a wonderful book with fantastic illustrations and writing and I ended up buying a copy to use with my students! They have really enjoyed it as well.

This is a fabulous addition to any classroom/library! I teach third and fourth graders and have adopted this book in my classroom. There's so much information that it could be used for an entire unit or it could have numerous stand-alone units. Fantastic timelines and resources in the book that it's very versatile for any classroom/library!

This is a book every person needs to immediately seek out! Through the course of the story, the reader learns important aspects of history, law, policies, and challenges faced by Indigenous people. While the history is horrific, the message is not downtrodden but part affirming and part rallying cry in the repetition of the phrase "We Are Still Here!" Too often Indigenous culture and history is either ignored or glossed over and categorized as a misleading folk-version that aligns with white culture. This book is a prerequisite for further exploration and discovery into what history classes too often ignore.

This is a really important book for children. A lot of information in this book is not included in history textbooks. I do feel like there was a better way to present it, though. The concept of presentations for a class was interesting, but it felt like it was just listing information. I still really enjoyed learning from this book and look forward to buying it for the littles in my life.

**Thank you to NetGalley, author Traci Sorell, and Charlesbridge for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.**

This is a powerfully moving collection of words that brings the stories of American Indigenous voices together. The story commences in a classroom with background information about how the land and rights of Native Nations were stripped away by unfair and broken treaties, and the story ends with a powerful illustration of the children in the classroom each presenting a poster on one of the twelve topics.

The structure of each presentation is consistent and powerful. Beginning with the child's name, followed by the term and an explanation of how that term impacted Native Nations. Beautiful illustrations complement the story and make the voices of each presenter come to life.

The repetitious use of "We are still here." can shake the ground, and I hope that it does. This book is powerful, and I hope that I, and other librarians, will be able to use this book in the future to educate and change our society.

We tend to be taught about Native Americans not as a part of living culture but as history. We learn about treaties, "sales" of land, and a few key battles, but little else. This book takes the form of a few key terms, what they mean in history, and how they are still affecting people now. This is by no means a comprehensive exploration of Native American cultures. It could easily serve as a starting point for a more in depth conversation or study of history and modern culture.

We Are Still Here is a great children's book about the experiences between the Native Americans and the US government/White America. The pattern of the story starts with the first adverse interactions through to more recent times. It is nice to show the more recent changes to the native experience including some positive ones. This book while designed for children does not sugar coat the past but does give hope for a better future.

What an incredible book! I love the timeline in the back that lays out the events of the US occupation of indigenous peoples' lands. I have tried to learn about this before, but this book puts it all together in one book for kids in an empowering way. The art is great too!

Traci Sorell has written another wonderful picture book that celebrates the strength of the Native history and cultures of this country.

We Are Still Here! is a valuable text in any library and classroom because it encompasses the points of view of the many Native groups which still reside in the U.S. Written as though students are presenting information to their classmates, the book delves into 12 topics of Native history. Each topic is a mix of paragraph and bulleted formats, and speaks of the on again/off again relationship the Native people have with the government. At times supportive, but most times destructive, the government seems to have wavered in its commitment to the Native people over the past 200 years. Sorell is honest about both the gains and the setbacks. The theme is clear: despite the hardships and injustices incurred since Europeans landed on this continent, Native people are still here, fighting for their land, rights and culture.

In addition to the 12 sections, there is a three page timeline in the back matter. It does a wonderful job supplementing the information in the book (I was left wondering about the chronological order of some of the events and the timeline answered those questions). Teachers will want to use that in their lessons. The author's note is also something not to overlook as it highlights Sorell's journey as a dual citizen of both the Cherokee and U.S. nations. Her point of view is critical, especially when explaining and teaching this topic to students. This is the story of her people.

Thank you to the author, illustrator, Charlesbridge publishing and Netgalley for an early copy to review. I will certainly be purchasing for my classroom.

First of all, the concept and content of this book are of vital importance in understanding how the United States got to where it is today. I hope this book is used as a resource to support school curriculums in conveying these truths. The book strives to accomplish this by formatting each subheading of history as if children were presenting them as class projects. The only reason my rating is low is because, as much as I found the reiteration of "We Are Still Here" powerful, I found that that mantra took precedent over making sure the content of history was fully understood. The main part of the book is the presentations-- which do include highlights of history, yes. But I feel like a bit more content would have been useful throughout the book to explain the context and keep readers engaged. Instead, a lot of the really important content is shoved into the back of the book in big chunks using a small font. While I am pleased with the volume of information available in this book, I just wish it was spread more evenly throughout the book to reach the reader. There are a lot of facts that I found at the end that I think would grab readers and incite them to learn more-- but the current format seems off-putting, and they might miss that important information.

We Are Still Here! Native American Truths Everyone Should Know highlights themes and events in Native American history, with an emphasis on the period from 1871 through the present. I recommend this book for teaching 4th through 7th graders about Native American history, either as a read aloud or as a source of information for research projects.

It would be easy to miss the set-up for We Are Still Here!. This book begins with families arriving at a Native Nations Community School to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day. The information in the book is conveyed as a series of student presentations. Intended as a way to engage readers, I am not sure this entirely works. We do not know anything about our student presenters beyond their names, and this extra layer feels like too much on top of a book jam-packed with information.

Nevertheless, I enthusiastically recommend We Are Still Here! because it succeeds on two fronts. First, it provides important information about U.S. history not found in other children’s books. Second, it highlights that Native Americans and Native American history are alive and matter today.

Author Traci Sorell (a Cherokee Nation and U.S. dual citizen) notes — correctly — that most Americans do not know what happened to Native Americans after treaty making stopped in 1871. In We Are Still Here!, Sorell does a fantastic job of highlighting the key themes we should know about Native American history from 1871 through today.

Sorell focuses on federal government policies that have impacted Native Americans both positively and negatively. For example, Sorell explains TERMINATION (the federal government refusing to honor treaty agreements) and RELOCATION (the federal government passing laws encouraging Native Americans to leave tribal lands and move to cities). On the flip side, Sorell explains TRIBAL ACTIVISM (Native citizens speaking up to strengthen tribal sovereignty and protect their culture) and SELF-DETERMINATION (the federal government passing laws reversing course and recognizing Native Nations). A detailed timeline at the end of this book provides further information about Native American history.

Sorell emphasizes that Native Americans exist today and that the historical themes she explains still impact us today. Each two-page spread ends with the refrain “We Are Still Here!” Frané Lessac’s illustrations of contemporary Native Americans at the beginning and end of the book further help convey this message.

We Are Still Here! is a credible source of information about Native American history. It includes a bibliography of authoritative sources. Sorell herself was a legal advocate for Native American tribes prior to writing children’s books. Furthermore, Sorell consulted law professor Kirsten Matoy Carlson of Wayne State University Law School when writing this book.

Nonfiction books fall along a continuum from those that predominantly entertain to those that predominantly educate. We Are Still Here! falls squarely on the educational end of this continuum. It is a valuable text for teaching 4th through 7th graders about Native American history.

This book is a fantastic introduction to Indigenous peoples' history and contemporary work in the U.S. Just as I appreciated "We Are Grateful" for its educational and artistic value, I am excited to add this book to our collection!

What an important book! The information it provides is so integral to any understanding of the history of Native Americans. The set-up of the book, where students engage in the presentation of their classroom project, will especially resonate with my students.
The repetition of the "We Are Still Here" mantra is certain to be remembered. The history of the harsh and undeserved treatment of Native Americans is not glossed over and allows readers to understand what occurred.
What's especially important is the self-determination and pursuance of their rights which are masterfully explained. The follow-up material provided a thorough examination of what can further be studied.
This will be an important addition to my Media Center.

This was a very informative book about indigenous people! It was put in a way that kids can understand it, and the pictures were great!

This was such a great book to learn about Indigenous history. Although I am Canadian, many of the things talked about in the book are similar between the two countries. I really like how it was display through student projects and presentations and thought the information was portrayed in a very good way

Another wonderful book by Traci Sorell! (If you haven't read her other book, "We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga", you should!)

An excerpt from her Author's Note, which I think is perfect to give a glimpse of this book:
"All the information on these pages is true--this book is nonfiction. The students giving the presentations in the book are not real, but there are Native-operated schools like the one depicted in this book where young people learn these facts. Everything in this book is a fundamental part of the United States history, as well as its present, and should be known by everyone living in this country."

So much of the stories of the Native Nations have been erased and reduced over the centuries, and students don't learn a lot (if any!) about the Native Nations in the US. This book is wonderful because not only it provides info about the different events, laws, activism, histories of the Native Nations, but it also captures everything in a way that's so full of hope. The people are saying that they are still here, and their stories matter.

Charming, folksy paintings illustrate digestible sections on different events and movements in Native American culture from the “We Are Grateful” team. With the narrative alternating between past and present tense, this rich picture book dispels the myth that Indigenous people only existed in the past. Fills a gap in nonfiction histories of Indigenous Americans for children. Must-have for elementary/middle school libraries.

This is a very informative and much needed picture book. I will be ordering for 5th graders who study Native American tribes and history. The use of children presentations to break up the topic is creative and effective. The terms and ideas are broken down in ways for students to understand. This will create powerful conversations in homes and classrooms and should be purchased by elementary, middle school, and public libraries.

This highly anticipated follow-up to We Are Grateful is presented in the format of school presentations of aspects of Native history in North America. This presentation is kind of cook because it adds a curricular suggestion for educators reading (different areas they can highlight, breaking a big topic down into manageable part) and gives a specific list of topics they can learn more about. I also like that this book works for several age levels. It's not so simple I'd use it with preschoolers, but it's a nice springboard for being able to skim the surface for some elementary groups but being able to delve into topics more for an older or more advanced age group.

What I didn't like is it's really just a brief summary of things that have happened. It's not wrong, and we don't hear it often, so it definitely fills an information need in children's fiction. Still, with the rise of picture book nonfiction (which I do really love), there becomes this weird line where a lot of books are more poetic and vaguely informational or informative rather than they are as true informational texts or objective nonfiction. I think this is one of those books where you really need to have some background for the artistry of this book to work.