Planting the Trees of Kenya

Title: Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai   

Author: Claire A. Nivola

Biography #1

I have read other stories about Wangari Maathai before but this book has got to be by far one of the clearest portrayals of her life that I have read. The story begins be detailing what life was like for Wangari when she was a child growing up in Kenya. As she remembers it, the hills were lush and green and the trees thick and ground full of water. The fig tree was sacred and protected. When Wangari grew up she decided she wanted to go to college to study Biology. In the five years she spent in America, Kenya changed drastically. No longer were the hills lush and full of life, the trees were diminishing, and the water dried up. Instead of growing food for themselves, farmers were now selling their crops and buying lower quality food from the local store. Wangari did not like what she saw so she began to educate the women in her community on how to grow and replant trees. Men began to admire what they women were doing and joined their efforts. Wangari taught local schools all she knew about making plants grow. Many years later, Kenya is once again lush and full of life.

I would recommend this story for children in 3-5 grade. Though I loved the content of the story, the pictures were particularly magnificent. They were so incredibly detailed and colorful I found myself looking at them longer than the time I spent reading the words. As with many books, the pictures added to the story greatly and helped tell the story. Throughout reading the book, I found out a lot about Wangari Maathai and think children would learn a lot too. I especially liked the author’s note in the back that gave more information about who Wangari is and how her efforts have made a difference in the world.  In my opinion, this was an excellent book I would love to see be shared with more students. There is plenty of room for more research to be done about Wangari for students who are particularly interested by her story.