PICTURE BOOK - Wangari Maathai: The Woman Who Planted Millions of Trees by Franck Prevot

Illustrated by Aurelia Fronty

2015 Charlesbridge Publishing

HC $17.99

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.28 - 414 ratings

My rating:  5

Endpapers"  Deep, sleek plum

1^st line/s:  "The immense forest around Wangari's childhood home is populated by bongo antelopes, monkeys, and butterflies."

My comments:  Woah, I've read five picture books about Wangari Maathai, but this is the one that's jam-packed with information for older readers, instead of just mentioning things, fleshing them out a little more.  We learn HOW she got to the US for college, HOW she protested, and WHY she ended up in prison.  Wonderful book, perfect to use with 4th, 5th, 6th graders studying the environment, making a difference in the world, activism, trees, Tu'Bshvat,......

Read the Text

Goodreads:  Wangari Maathai received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts to lead women in a nonviolent struggle to bring peace and democracy to Africa through its reforestation. Her organization planted over thirty million trees in thirty years. This beautiful picture book tells the story of an amazing woman and an inspiring idea.

33. Same Sun Here - Silas House & Neela Vaswani

Candlewick Press, 2011
298 pgs.
for:  Middle Grades
Rating:  Very Good/4

1st Line/s:  "Dear River,  I cannot tell from your name if you are a boy or a girl so I will just write to you like you are a human being."
Setting:  Late 2008 through 2009 NYC and the mountains of Kentucky
OSS:  Meena, an Indian immigrant girl and River, a Kentucky coal miner's son, become penpals and best friends as they share their lives, their problems, and the love of their families with each other.

Compost Stew - Mary McKenna Siddals

an A to Z Recipe for the Earth
Illustrated by Ashley Wolff
Triangle Press, Berkeley, 2010
32 pgs
$15.99
Rating:  4
Endpapers:  Collaged, dark brown earth, other brown pieces, hand cut worms
Illustrations are cut paper with drawing added (the faces - all kids - are really nice. A + !!
http://www.ashleywolff.com/

A "rhyming recipe" on what to add into a stew of goodies to make rich compost

"Environmental chefs,
here's a recipe for you
to fix from scratch
to mix a batch
of Compost Stew."

From A (apple cores) to Z (zinnia heads) it's an unforced alphabet of all sorts of things you can put into compost.

AUTHOR'S NOTE at the beginning and CHEF'S NOTE at the end are full of info - and some is very cleverly funny.

Olivia's Birds: Saving the Gulf - Olivia Bouler

illustrated by the author
Sterling Children's Books, 2011
HC $14.95
32 pgs.
endpapers - vertical lime green stripes zentangled

Olivia Bouler is 11 years. old.  She loves birds and draws them simply and beautifully.  An aspiring ornithologist, she was devastated by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and offered her help to the Audubon Society -- sending bird paintings to contributors.

So far, this young lady has earned $150,000 for the Save the Gulf campaign!

For the first 23 pages, Olivia describes, discusses, and shows different birds, including some weird birds, birds in their habitats, fierce birds, beautiful birds, and endangered and extinct birds.  Though the information is certainly not complete, it is simply stated, written in a font that is fun to read, and is a great start for kids who are interested in helping the plight of our world.

Bravo, Olivia!  You're an inspiration.

We Planted a Tree - Diane Muldrow

Illustrated by Bob Staake
A Golden Book (Random House) 2010
$17.99
32 pages
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: white with stick ad circle trees of different colors

Quote on the copyright page: "When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and seeds of hope." -- Dr. Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate

Two families plant trees - one in a city (very close to a major bridge) and one in a desert habitat in a very different part of the world. These two families reappear throughout the book as we see trees growing all over the world - Japan, Paris, New England, Central Park, Africa - and watch the families change and grow as the trees do.

The illustrations are cool, somewhat cartoonish and filled with hints of the setting...great to examine closely.

Excellent book.

The Earth Book - Todd Parr

Little Brown & Co., 2010
32 pages - one is a folded poster that can be detached
$9.99
ages 2-5
Thick cardboard cover with cut-out circle in the center
"Printed on recycled paper with nontoxic soy inks"

I really enjoy Todd Parr's simple messages and trademark drawings that somewhat remind me of Keith Haring's art. This book tells of the many ways each and every one of us can do our part ot help protect the earth. It's the perfect way to share this now-common knowledge with little ones. And it's a great reminder for us "bigger"ones that we really can do our part. Shut off the water, bring our own bags to the store, ride bikes, turn off the lights, recycle...and even write on both sides of the paper.

His dedication:
"To my mom and dad, for putting me on earth.
To Liz and Gerry for going to Las Vegas and to Megan for asking me if I had ever though about writing children's books." (Wouldn't you love to know what the Las Vegas refers to?)

Nest, Nook & Cranny - Susan Blackaby

Illustrated by Jamie Hogan
Charlesbridge, 2010
$15.95
54 pages
For: Kids
Rating: 5 !
Endpapers: White pine cones/crabs/snakes.jelly fish on black

All I had to do was open this book and take a peek at the endpapers and I was SOLD. This book is the size of a chapter book though a bit more slender, and it isn't what you expect.

It's full of poetry. Poetry from five different habitats. Desert. Grassland. Shoreline. Wetland. Woodland. They're beautiful, descriptive, and use incredible words. But there's more -- she ends with telling the reader how she wrote each poem. Whether it be cinquain or sonnet, she discusses her use of onomatopoeia, alliteration, similes, metaphors - and also gives information about some of the subject matter. I love this book.

Check out the wordplay, metaphors, similes, snazzy verbs and interesting rhyming:

Otters loll like whiskered boats,
bobbing gently in the swells.
Kelp beds help the otters float
While prying shellfish out of shells.
Thoughtful otters dot the ocean,
Head awash with crabby notions.
Whay prey, tell, do otters dwell on?
Anything that has a shell on.

or

A household tucked inside a hole
Or stuck inside a sticky bowl
Of twisted twigs and mud and stuff
Holds eggs or cheepy heaps of fluff
And various pairs of prickly feet,
Tiny feathers, pointy beaks.

Although it has a bird's-eye view,
With central air and skylights, too,
There's not a lot of room to grow.
Flighty families come and go.
As soon as one clan flies away,
Another mother comes to stay.

The author's from Portland Oregon, the illustrator's from an "island off the coast of Maine." WHICH ONE????

Cool Cat - Nonny Hogrogian

A Neal Porter Book/Roaring Book Press, 2009
$17.99
36 pages
Rating: 3.5
Endpapers: (They actually begin this wordless story, 2 different illustrations framed in white)

This wordless picture book begins with a black and white cat (just like the "Mittens" we had when I grew up) in a rocky, brown, desolate place. The only vegetation is dead and broken, and the ground is littered with empty tin cans and a broken bottle. But the cat has a paint set in a wooden box, and slowly begins to paint the scene. Starting in the corner leaves appear, then a blue sky begins. A mouse comes to help...then a bunny, then a cardinal. The colors are now spreading from left and write as the animals are joined by a turtle, a squirrel, a goldfinch, a frog. A mallard duck appears to swim in the water that's been included. Butterflies flitter across the page, flowers appear, becoming more and more sluh. The animal friends celebrate.

Most of the two page spreads are made created as one long, horizonatal painting, with about an inch of white around the edges as a frame. More and more story comes into your head every time you take a trip through the pages. It really is a environmental/ecological story as well - to take your world from a dead, barren place to a live, green one...

One Red Apple - Harriet Ziefert

Illustrated by Karla Gudeon
Blue Apple Books, 2009
$16.99
32 pages (one flips up)
Rating: 5
Endpapers: small apples, bees, bluebirds, cores, leaves on a pale brown background

Oh-oh-oh. This is beautiful!

Simple. Thoughtful. G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S illustrations. A five through and through.

The story shows an apple being picked from a tree, trucked to market, bought at a farm stand, and eaten. It shows birds eating the apple core, leftover seeds being scattered and planted randomly. The seed germinates and sprouts - grows to a big tree (here we flip up the page to see it all) and sprouts beautiful pink blossoms. And then it's time to pick the fruit and watch the cycle begin again.

On the back jacket flap it shows another book by this writer and illustrator - Hanukkah Haiku!
It also states that Karla Gudeon's art is displayed in galleries around the U. S. I wonder where?

NOTE: A Great book to read to young kids each October before going apple picking!

Rachel - Amy Ehrlich

The Story of Rachel Carson
Illustrated by: Wendell Minor
Silver Whistle/Harcourt 2003
32 pgs. ages 5-8 930L
Endpapers: Palest blue with white seashells

What a lovely short biography - a perfect read-aloud-in-one-sitting length. And there's lots of wonderful writing to model, even starting at the very beginning What a nice way to set up a story:
"Rachel's house was far from the ocean, hundreds of miles inland at a bend on the Allegheny River in Pennsylvania. There were no seagulls there, no sharks or whales. But one day she found a fossil, a single dark spiral lodged in a rock at her feet. She brought it to show her mother, and they looked it up in a book. The fossil was a sea creture, her mother said. Millions of years ago the ocean had covered their land and left it behind."

Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring in 1962. It's an expose of all the toxics that are being put into our environment. Most environmentlists feel this book is what started the green/environmental movement. She died of cancer in 1964. She seems like an odd, thoughtful, creative person...and she loved and lived in Maine. I'd like to learn more about her.

Wendell Minor's artwork is stupendous, taking up either a full page or, in two cases, full two-page wordless spreads. They get me homesick for the coast of Maine. Delicious.

Regards to the Man in the Moon - Ezra Jack Keats

Originally published 1981, new edition 2009
$15.99
Rating: 3.5
Endpapers: Dark sky with faint stars - cool

Louis creates a spacecraft from junk in his family's junkyard and off he goes! Friends try to follow him (in a bathtub, no less), get scared, and their imaginations turn off, so they get stuck. Moral: you must have a great imagination.

The book shows the vallue of creativity and imagination, as well as a love of the skies, the very faraway skies, with a little recycling thrown in. And Keat's illustrations are timeless.

Official Ezra Jack Keats website with infomation about his foundations, his books, the awards that are given in his name (first time authors and illustrators) and his life. Quite interesting.

The Curious Garden - Peter Brown

For: Kids
Copyright: 2009
$16.99
Rating: 4
Endpapers: FRONT: Gray scattered with small rocks, BACK: Bright freen scattererd with grass, flowers, and tiny mushrooms growing

Liam lives in a city of concrete, with nothing growing. One day he cllimbs up to some abandoned overhead railroad tracks and discoveres some weeds and a tiny tree trying to grow. So he becomes a gardener, watering and pruning and caring for the weeds. The weeds and mosses, because of this care, begin to spread. Eventually it travels the lenght and breadth of the abandoned tracks, down the sides of the bridge, and onto roofs of nearby building. All it took was the gentle caring of one boy.

In the Author's Note in the back of the book, Brown describes an old elevated railway on the west side of Manhattan that was abandoned in the 80's , then "redecorated" by nataure. I'd sure love to discover it. I wonder if it still exists?

Winston of Churchill - Jean Davies Okimoto

One Bear's Battle Against Global Warming
Illustrator: Jeremiah Trammell
Copyright: 2007
Rating: 4.5
For: Older kids
Endpapers: Lots of happy polar bears carrying signs: Wind Power, Walk, Ride Bikes, Make Less Garbage, Save Our Home, Recycle, Ice is Nice, Pass Up Gas, Solar Power, Turn off Stuff, Turn Down the Furnace, Brrrr is Best, Save Trees....
Green Earth Book Award

Winston, a great white polar bear of Churchill, Manitoba, Canada is concerned about global warming and the loss of ice in his home territory. He calls the bears together (even the teenager bears with spiked green fur, leather spike bracelets and tattoos) to give them all a copy of his book Why It's Getting Hotter. It gives a good explanation for older kids. They then decide to protest - with signs - when the tourist tundra buggy comes by the next day. So we meet a number of tourists and see what they see when they approach the polar bears.

At the end of the book, as a prologue, is an extra explanation about the plight of the polar bears and a bit about Winston Churchill, prime minister of England from 1940 to 1945, our Winston's namesake.

I like the illustrations a lot. The bears are bursting with personality.