Carole Lindstrom Books In Order

Publication Order of Picture Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Carole Lindstrom is an award-winning New York Times, bestselling author best known for the children’s fiction author “We Are Water protectors.”

The author made her debut when she penned and illustrated “Girls Dance, Boys Fiddle” in 2013. The work found inspiration in the fiddle which happens to be very important to the culture of the Metis.

As it turns out Carole’s grandfather is Anishinabe/Metis and could play a mean jig as a fiddler. Carole Lindstrom herself is also a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe.

While “Girls Dance. Boys Fiddle” was huge, Carole’s biggest work has to be the 2020 Roaring Brook Press published “We Are Water Protectors.” It is a picture book that finds inspiration in the fight for clean water by indigenous peoples.
Carole was born and brought up in Nebraska, even though she currently lives in Maryland.

Lindstrom’s inspiration for writing children’s fiction has to come from her days as a child. She used to live down the street from the library growing up and practically lived at the library.

She was a voracious reader at the time which was very unlike the other kids in her neighborhood. It was during this time that she began thinking of becoming a fiction author.

Another thing that made Carole Lindstrom want to become an author was the fact that she never saw any positive portrayal of Native American children in the many novels she read.

All she ever saw were embarrassing and shameful portrayals of Native American adults. With a dearth of children’s fiction that catered to Native American experiences, she made the decision to write such fiction herself.
She needed to show the world the real experiences of Native American children. Carole also felt that it was critical for indigenous children to see themselves in a positive light in books.

Carole Lindstrom began writing children’s fiction when she had her son. In 2008, she went to the Institute of Children’s Literature where she took some creative writing courses.

She was also a regular attendee at several SCBWI conferences, where she would submit her manuscripts for critique. It was a very long road as she began sending her manuscripts to agents but never got anywhere.

She would then pivot and start submitting to publishers as she believed it would be better to have a book published before he started looking for agents. It was a small publisher in Canada that published her first picture book.
It was an encouraging thing as she believed it would be easier from then on but nothing could be further from the truth. Still, Carole continued attending conferences where she honed her skills and became a strong writer.

Four years after publishing her first work, she finally landed the agent that would help her sell “We Are the Water Protectors” which is her biggest work yet.

What is interesting is that she landed her agent from social media. Lindstrom’s search for an agent is a fascinating case study of how much work can go into the process.

Carole always kept track of the many things most agents seemed to require of authors. If at any time she learned that some agent was looking for some aspect that was in her manuscript, she would always submit her piece.

She would ultimately get her agent purely by serendipity. She never knew that her agent had been looking for stories similar to what she had been writing six months before she signed up with her.

It happened that Lindstrom had sent her a friend request on social media several months earlier but she had never responded to it.

One day she saw that the agent had accepted her friend request and she thought why not send her the “Water Protector manuscript?” Within minutes the agent DMed her saying she wanted to talk and in no time at all, she had signed her.

“We are Water Protectors” by Carole Lindstrom is a story of an indigenous girl, her village, and the importance of animals, land, and water.

The indigenous people are the stewards of the land which harks back to the religious tradition of humans being instructed to be stewards of the land in Genesis.

Carole pens the artwork with beautiful blue tones and swirls of water making for a dreamlike setting that is reminiscent of some of the most beautiful places in the United States.

The work is set in South Dakota where the Earth comes under the threat of a black snake that would destroy it. It would poison much of the water in the land but one young protector will not stand by and let it happen.
The work is inspired by the numerous movements to protect the land that have been led by indigenous Americans over the years.

This novel is an urgent rallying cry by indigenous tribes that tell us that our world is out of balance and we need to do something about it.

Carole Lindstrom’s novel “Girl’s Dance, Boys Fiddle” is a fascinating work that seeks to challenge gender stereotypes.

According to tradition, boys usually fiddle while girls dance but Metisse refuses to accept these stereotypes. She personally acknowledges that she is not a very good dancer but desperately wants to lay the fiddle.

The book follows her as she insists on playing the fiddle on the upcoming birthday that her father is organizing for her grandmother. She is insistent on playing the fiddle, even though playing has always been a preserve of boys.

It is an emotional and funny story of a very lovable character who challenges tradition because she wants to fiddle with the best. It is a work that shows young people that they need to do what they want to do even if this often goes against set tradition.

“Cuthbert Grant” by Carole Lindstrom is the story of a man named Cuthbert Grant who is the son of an indigenous mother and a Scottish trader.

He has recently been elected the leader of a distinct group of mixed Indigenous and European people known as the Metis.

The group had come to be from the many communities that sprung up during the 1800s when fur trading routes were at their peak.

Cuthbert sees his people through change and conflict and helps the transition to a new way of life in the new North America that consists of the United States and Canada.