As a child in the highlands of Kenya, Wangari Maathai did not know that she would grow up to be the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She only knew that she cared for the emerald-covered earth where fig trees, olive trees, crotons, and flame trees grew as far as the eye could see. Wangari left Kenya as a young woman to study biology in the United States. When she returned home, only five years later, she barely recognized the landscape she loved. Small farms that had once dotted the hillsides had expanded; large plantations had been established. As far as Wangari could see, dusty brown earth and tree stumps littered the land. The economy and landscape had changed drastically, and not for the better—Kenya was suffering. Wangari decided to plant trees. She urged women and children to plant trees as well, and taught them how. With delicate, detailed paintings and thoughtful prose, Claire A. Nivola conveys the challenges Wangari Maathai faced in the development of the Kenyan Green Belt Movement. Since Wangari began her work thirty years ago, more than thirty million trees have been planted in her country. (Ages 8–12)

Planting the Trees of Kenya is more than a biography of the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. It is an inspiration for anyone who sees a problem but thinks that one person cannot make a difference. It is an insight into another culture and an account of Kenya’s conservationist Green Belt Movement. It is an affirmation that women can and must take control of their lives. The impressionistic watercolor illustrations invite readers into Wangari Maathai’s world with cheerful, intimate details of clothes, housing, landscapes, birds, and animals. The focus remains, in the end, on the transformative effect of Maathai’s determination to heal her homeland. lmp