We Will Be Jaguars (Reese's Book Club Pick): A Memoir of My People

Nemonte Nenquimo's memoir recounts her indigenous childhood in the Waorani tribe of Ecuador's Amazon rainforest, one of the last communities contacted by missionaries in the 1950s. She was raised learning plant medicines, foraging, oral storytelling, and shamanism from her elders. At fourteen, she left the forest to study with an evangelical missionary group in the city, but eventually returned after her ancestors appeared to her in dreams. Two decades later, Nenquimo has become a prominent voice in climate activism. She has led an alliance of indigenous nations across the Upper Amazon and secured a landmark victory against oil companies, protecting over half a million acres of primary rainforest. Her activism has been shaped by confrontations with loggers, miners, oil companies, and missionaries. Written with her husband, Mitch Anderson, founder of Amazon Frontlines, the memoir draws on generations of oral history to examine conquest, challenge racist depictions of indigenous peoples, and present her life story within the context of the Amazon rainforest.