the ones who came before by kevin maillard
Every year, Aabanya leaves the city to visit her grandfather in the county. During the day, they gather corn, beans, and squash to make stew. At night, she listens to his tales of the mountain and of Turtle Island.
But she feels out of place when they venture into town, where she gets stares from people that feel like they’re asking:
Who are you?
Where do you come from?
Why are you here?
Through her grandfather’s gentle guidance and a surprise visit from an unexpected neighbor, Aabanya begins to understand what it means to truly belong to a place…and what it means to be the ones who came before.
Indigenous concepts of land and the natural world interweave with themes about heritage, ancestry, and sharing space in this thought-provoking and enduring story by Fry Bread author Kevin Maillard.