Wangari's Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa Paperback – Picture Book, July 31, 2018

Beautiful, true story of a powerful woman who should be a role model for us all. It teaches a powerful lesson about the importance of protecting our environment, standing up for what you believe in the face of adversity, and creating a community that works together to make the world a better place. There are so few children's books set in African countries, and what's great about this one is that is tells the story of the brilliance and bravery of a Kenyan woman who helped her own country. It's a story of Kenyan resilience, strength, brilliance, and independence and presents a Kenya that seeks change from within rather than relying on the typical trope of stories set in Africa that represent Westerners as heroes and Africans as helpless. Every child should read this book.

I use this book during the both the Africa unit and Womens history unit in my classroom. The kids love the story, and it is a great resource for teaching about how to be an activist, and why Wangari was such an amazing woman.

Easy to read and a great story about determination and doing what’s right. Used with my troop for World Thinking Day 2024.

Great introduction to the work of Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai who was awarded the peace prize "for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace" (nobelprize.org). It is wekk written and illustrated and is just right for older pk - 2nd grade (or older). I have used this book to teach about taking care of the earth and right action. Students in my Human Values class brought up issues of gender inequality, non-violence (there is a page where it mentions how she was beaten and jailed), and injustice. There seems to be a great book about this amazing women for every age group, so if this one seems to young or lacking depth, try Planting the Trees of Kenya, Mama Miti, or Seeds of change,

What a great nonfiction biography of a wonderful woman who cares about the Earth, the people, and nature. I used this book in my classroom to teach about main idea and supporting details. We read it in April which is good because Earth day is on the 22nd! It was a good way to start talking about about planet so the students can have some schema on the topic.All in all, great book, great story, and the amazing Wangari saving Kenya by planting one tree at a time!

My daughter's daisy troop read and discussed this story as part of earning the World Thinking Day 2022 patch. The girls really responded to Wangari's bravery and kindness and connected to her simple, profound leadership in changing Kenya and the world. Beautifully written and illustrated. Highly recommend!

Wangari Maathai is an amazing woman - she won a scholarship to attend college in the U.S., became a professor of biology in Kenya, she enabled Kenyan woman to become environmentalists by enticing them with money, and she stood up to the government to elicit needed change to better the lives of her people. The story is powerful and still accessible, written in plain language appropriate for the 4-7 crowd.That said - word of caution. I wanted to take this to my daughter's school, but there are two pages that make it inappropriate. The book discusses how she was beaten with clubs by police and thrown in jail. Blood is shown coming from her cheekbone. This is a difficult message to give to a 4 year old, conflicts with other messages about police we give them, and will render this book unusable in most classroom environments.So, I am recommending the book for home use with discussion and sadly not recommending it for school use unless it has been shared beforehand with the parental types.

My first grade son has been reading this book all week. He is nw to reading and learning to improve his reading and comprehension skills. This has been a great book for him to gain such practice, while also gaining a respect for the trees of the world. Wangari’s story is inspiring, and because of her story, my children would like to plant their own seedlings and learning about how plants benefit people and their environment.