Hailing from Alaska, illustrator Michaela Goade has become the first Native American to win one of the two top prizes in children’s literature – the prestigious Randolph Caldecott Medal. This was awarded for Best Children’s Picture Story – cited for ‘We Are Water Protectors’.

Goade is a member of the Tlingit and Haida Indian tribes in Southeast Alaska. And ‘We Are Water Protectors’, written by Carole Lindstrom, is a call for environmental protection that was conceived in response to the planned construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline through Standing Rock Sioux territory.

Also noteworthy is the fact that Tae Keller’s “When You Trap a Tiger” won the John Newbery Medal for the outstanding children’s book overall of 2020. The awards were announced last Monday by the American Library Association.

Keller, who was raised in Hawaii and now lives in New York drew upon Korean folklore for “When You Trap a Tiger,” in which a young girl explores her past. Keller’s work also was named the year’s best Asian/Pacific American literature.

The Newbery medal was established in 1922, and the Caldecott in 1937. Goade is the first Native American to win in either category.

(Article extracted from The Independent with revisions to the headline and text by Sakshi Selvanathan)