Installation of the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 An animated adaptation, narrated by Lindstrom and with Goade's artwork animated by the American filmmaker Galen Fott, was released by Weston Woods Studios in June 2021. The final page contains a pledge that the reader can sign to become an 'Earth Steward and Water Protector'. In addition to the story, the book includes notes about the protests at Standing Rock and a glossary. The 40-page book was published by Roaring Brook Press on March 17, 2020. The young protagonist was based on similarly young activists at Standing Rock, and her representation as a young girl was derived from the connection between women and water in Lindstrom's and Goade's cultures.

The illustrations were painted in watercolor over a period of three to four months. She wrote the manuscript in 2018 and Goade agreed to illustrate it that year after she received a copy from her agent. She was unable to join the protests in person due to family commitments and wrote the book to raise awareness of the protests. Lindstrom decided to write the book after learning about the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at the Standing Rock Reservation in 2016. We Are Water Protectors was written by Carole Lindstrom, who is Ojibwe, and illustrated by Michaela Goade, who is a member of the Tlingit and Haida tribes. Reflecting on her grandmother's words, the girl declares that 'we are water protectors' who will give the black snake the fight of its life. She resolves to rally her people against it and protect their water supply for the sake of animals, plants, the environment, and the Earth. The girl says that the black snake has already arrived in the form of an oil pipeline. Their people foretell a black snake that will one day destroy their land and poison their water.

The narrator, an Ojibwe girl, recalls her grandmother teaching her about the sanctity of water. The book also received the 2021 Jane Addams Children's Book Award winner in the Books for Younger Children category. Critics praised its message of environmental justice, its depiction of diversity, and the watercolor illustrations, for which Goade won the 2021 Caldecott Medal, becoming the first Indigenous recipient of the award. It was published by Roaring Brook Press on March 17, 2020. Written in response to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, the book tells the story of an Ojibwe girl who fights against an oil pipeline in an effort to protect the water supply of her people. We Are Water Protectors is a 2020 picture book written by Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by Michaela Goade.

We are water protectors author