The History of We

About this book

Let us travel back to the start, so far back that all of our roots begin to tell the same story. The origin story of humankind. The history of We.  

Thousands of years ago, in a fertile African cradle, humans became artists, musicians, inventors, healers and explorers. We questioned and we created. We learned and we communicated. And one group became many - became a global population. Became We. 

This stunning picture book is a triumph of beautiful painting and poetic words. Nikkolas Smith is an award-winning author-illustrator who’s created this book to honour the very first cultivators of civilisation. 

Each page is a glorious celebration of humans’ ingenuity, with swirling colours and visible brushstrokes adding to the emotion and beauty of the scene. The text is short, and easy to read, yet so carefully written that it feels immensely rich and poetic.  

This is a book for a wide age range. Younger children will enjoy the pictures and the sense of community throughout, and older children will also appreciate the words, and thinking about how humans originated in Africa. 

Two pages at the back give an archaeological fact for each spread’s theme, which adds to the reader’s sense of awe that 233,000 years ago, people spoke, laughed, danced, as we do. A beautiful book, and not just for Black History Month.