Description: Tells the story of a twelve-year-old Chumash boy and his family who become captives in a California Spanish mission more than 200 years ago, revealing the devastating impact the missions had on California Native peoples.
Brief description: Gary Robinson is an author, filmmaker and digital artist of Choctaw and Cherokee descent. During his professional career he has published fourteen books and produced dozens of award-winning educational and documentary films.
Review Quotes: My students described Lands of our Ancestors as adventurous and exciting and hope the author will consider a sequel or series. Mr. Robinson succeeded in hooking them, and they are dying to know whether Kilik, Tuhuy, and the children made it to Sacred Mountain and if their parents survived. Students said they appreciated a story from a Native perspective and now they understand why Native people attacked the missions. One student described it as the best "mission story" he'd heard and another as the best "Native" book he'd read. --Dessa Drake, 4th Grade Teacher, Templeton, CA Lands of Our Ancestors is an accessible, first-hand account of what life among the Chumash at the time of the Spanish invasion may have been like. Through the eyes of a native boy, Kilik, this book provides an inside look at colonialism and the drastic changes imposed upon the native peoples of California. Rather than building a mission in fourth grade, students should read this book to gain a better understanding of the violence and upheaval caused by the Spaniard's "civilizing" mission. Highly recommended. --Paul H. Gelles, Ph.D.; Former Professor of Anthropology, University of California. Lands of Our Ancestors addresses a difficult and extremely important subject in an engaging and readable children's historical novel, perfect for inclusion into 4th grade California history curriculum. The story of how native peoples experienced enslavement by the Spanish Catholic founders of the Mission system in California is told from the perspective of a young Chumash boy, Kilik. There is much to appreciate as Gary Robinson's light but sure touch involves us in Kilik's world, grounded in a sense of place and knit together with close family ties and cultural traditions. When his world changes in ways he could never have foreseen, he struggles to understand, and to decide how to act. The book ends as Kilik makes a decision--leaving readers to imagine what might have happened, and to ponder this too often ignored portion of history. I loved reading this-- was drawn in by the immediacy of the boy, his playfulness, need for recognition from his father and other male figures, his relationships with his smart and pesky sister and his patient mother. (The characters speak with some modern idiosyncrasies, but not enough to take us out of the world of the book). Kilik's journey from child to young person of responsibility, through/during great shifting of his world, is what drives our interest throughout the book and what makes it work. --Carey McKinnon, Branch Supervisor, Santa Barbara Library System