Origin: An Illuminating Look at Indigenous Peoples and Their Connection to the Natural World. - Hardcover

by Nat Cardozo (Author), María José Ferrada (With), Layla Benitez-James (Translator)

​● California Reading Association Gold Award Winner
● A 2026 Notable Social Studies Trade Books Award Winner
Portraits of Indigenous children and their communities from around the world in a stunning presentation emphasizing community and a connection to the land and the environment
We are all one. We all inhabit the same planet, and we all have a common human origin.
This is the core theme of this important book. Each double-page spread presents a contemporary and fascinating look at more than 20 Indigenous peoples from across the globe. These first nations were the first humans to inhabit their territories, which are under threat today from "civilization" that seeks to profit from them and their lands.
In these societies, a sense of community life prevails, based on reciprocity, solidarity, mutual aid, avoiding excess, and honoring what nature provides. Indigenous peoples are also the guardians of 80 percent of terrestrial biodiversity--they are the first conservationists of the natural environment.
Franco-Uruguayan author Nat Cardozo has created a unique book with beautiful illustrations that blur the lines between humans and their environment and present a wide variety of ways of life from little-known cultures. In addition to collecting 22 first-person stories, this informative book is about the past and present of Indigenous peoples, recounting a long history of struggle and resistance and of defense--not only of their territories but also of their languages and traditional ways of life.
This book provides a unique opportunity to acknowledge our common origin and reflect on how we might create a new unity for humanity to reconnect us to living things and bind us together again as one.

Native tribes featured in the book are from all five continents and include: !Kung, Orang Rimba, Inuit, Tuareg, Moken, Anangu, Bijago, Evenki, Bribri, Cherokee, Mosuo, Uru Chipaya, Tz'utujil, Ngati Hau, Wayuu, Q'ero, Sami, Mbuti, Juchiteca, Gitxsan, Dongria Kondh, Yanomami

Author Biography

Nat Cardozo is an Illustrator and workshop facilitator specializing in editorial illustration. She is a graduate of the School of Design and Illustration in Barcelona, Spain. She has had her work featured in exhibitions in Uruguay, Mexico, Spain, and Argentina. She has won several major awards for children's book illustration. Born in France to Uruguayan refugees, Cardozo now lives and works as a freelance illustrator along the coast from Montevideo, Uruguay.