"We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own --
indeed, to embrace the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder." taken from Wangari Maathai's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech
indeed, to embrace the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder." taken from Wangari Maathai's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech
Author/Illustrator: Jeanette Winter
Plot Summary: The true story of Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement Kenya, is told through a simple story with colorful, engaging pictures. Wangari is a young girl who loves her lush, forested homeland. When she leaves Kenya for college and returns several years later, she notices the depletion of forest lands and the hardships it has created for her people. She begins to plants tree seedlings and gets many other women to do the same. The Kenyan government doesn't like this but she persists. She eventually prevails and ultimately helped plant thirty million trees.
Comments:
This is a book that can be used to teach a variety of different things most of which are not in any standards and especially not at the elementary school level. These include deforestation, subsistence economies, the role of women in developing countries, grassroots environmental movements, and the Nobel Peace Prize.
Extensions:
1. Students will use other sources to research Wangari Maathai.
2. Students will pick their own environmental issue and develop a solution. Students will think of the issue themselves or the teacher will provide a list of suggestions.
3. Students will initiate a project in their school that is small, but important such as starting a recycling program for batteries, creating signs reminding everyone in the school to turn off lights when they are not being used, etc.
Themes/keywords: Maathai, Wangari, Tree planters, Biography, Kenya, Green Belt Movement Kenya, Women Conservationists, Women Politicians, Nobel Peace Prize
Age/Reading Level: Interest Level - K-3; ATOS 3.7
Standards:
SS3E1 The student will describe the four types of productive resources:
a. Natural (land)
b. Human (labor)
c. Capital (capital goods)
d. Entrepreneurship (used to create goods and services)
INFORMATION PROCESSING SKILLS GOAL: The student will be able to locate, analyze, and synthesize information related to social studies topics and apply this information to solve problems/make decisions.
Publisher's Info: Harcourt, Inc. New York. 2008
ISBN-13: 978-0-15-206545-4
ISBN-10: 0-15-206545-8
Awards/Review Sources:
Wilson's Children 07/01/09 | School Library Journal starred 11/01/08 |
| Publishers Weekly starred 08/11/08 | Booklist 12/15/08 |
| New York Times 09/14/08 | Horn Book 04/01/09 |
| Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 10/01/08 | Library Media Connection 01/01/09 |
Genre/Dewey: Non-fiction; Biography; 333.72
Websites:
The GreenBelt Movement - http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/ A Live Speech - http://fora.tv/2009/04/21/Wangari_Maathai_The_Challenge_for_Africa
From the Nobel Prize website - http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2004/maathai-bio.html
Notes for Booktalk: Nobel Prize, her other books including "The Librarian of Basra"
Vocabulary:
Comments