We Are the Builders!

Told in warm, inviting rhyme, this gentle introduction to community organizing and finding your place in a movement is perfect for young readers of All Are Welcome and What Do You Do With an Idea?.

Welcome to our Community Day!
Ready to find your role to play?

It’s Community Day in a close-knit, diverse neighborhood, and everybody is pitching in to help one another. All the kids want to know where they fit in. Could they be builders, restoring old furniture for new neighbors? Caregivers, nurturing friends who are sad or lonely? Frontline responders, preparing for emergencies?

What they discover is that there’s a place for every person, no matter their skills or interests—and that collaboration is what makes their community strong.

Deepa Iyer is a strategist, lawyer, and racial justice advocate who created the social change ecosystem map—a way to identify the different roles needed to bring about change in the world. During the wave of social change movements in 2020, her map went viral, and since then, individuals and organizations all over the world have used it to help them organize for many different causes. We Are the Builders! is Iyer’s picture book debut.

Romina Galotta is an illustrator residing in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where her two dogs let her use a couple of rooms of their house for work and sleep. She prefers traditional mediums such as watercolors, pencils, and gouache. She has illustrated several books, including Dear Librarian by Lydia M. Sigwarth, Harriet’s Ruffled Feathers by Joy McCullough, and We Are the Builders! by Deepa Iyer. Her other talents include bird rescuing, apprentice tattooing, pizza making, and precision combat driving.