Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai by Claire A. Nivola

Nov 19, 2012 Irene Perez rated it 3 of 5 stars

Planting the Trees of Kenya
Grade:K-2nd grade
Reading level: E
Genre: Information Book
Award: Jane Addams

Main Characters: Wangari Maathai
Setting: U.S. to attend College and her return to Kenya
POV: Second person

This book tells the story of Wangari Maathai who left a verdant Kenya to attend college in the U.S. Upon her return home she found the Kenyan landscape changed. Large scale tea plantations had replaced small subsistence farms. There had been rapid desertification. People were malnourished, und...more

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Nov 19, 2012 Maria Salinas rated it 3 of 5 stars

Title: Planting the Trees of Kenya
Grade/interest level: (k-2nd grade)
Reading level: F&P E
Genre: Information Book
Award: Jane Addams
Main Characters: Wangari Maathai
Setting: U.S.,Kenya
POV: Second person

The story is about Wangari Maathi the main character of the story that leaves Kenya to attend college in the United States. Wangari remembers Kenya as the place where many trees could be found, fish were found in the streams, and the people always cared for their garden. When Wangari returned ho...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Bianca rated it 4 of 5 stars

Title: Planting the Trees of Kenya
Grade/interest level: Primary (k-2nd grade)
Reading level: Fountas and Pinnell, E
Genre: Information Book
Award: Jane Addams

Main Characters: Wangari Maathai
Setting: U.S. to attend College and her return to Kenya
POV: Second person

This book tells the story of Wangari Maathai who left a verdant Kenya to attend college in the U.S. Upon her return home she found the Kenyan landscape changed. Large scale tea plantations had replaced small subsistence farms. There had bee...more

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Oct 23, 2012 Natalie Sabbath rated it 3 of 5 stars

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai
Main Characters: Wangari Maathai
POV: Third Person

Summary: “Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai,” written by Claire A. Nivola, is the happy tale of the life of Wangari Maathai, the Nobel Peace Prize winner. Nivola begins the Maathai’s story by describing and illustrating the land of Kenya, Africa in the days of Maathai’s childhood, full of all kinds of trees and fresh streams. Maathai then travels to America to earn he...more

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Apr 29, 2012 Patricia Leon rated it 5 of 5 stars

~“When we see that we are part of the problem, we can become part of the solution”.—Wangari Maathai

Planting the Trees of Kenya is the remarkable story of Wangari Maathai, the first woman from Africa to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Wangari grew up on a farm in the hills of Kenya, and as a child remembers it was, “clothed in its dress of green”. The landscape was lush, streams were filled with fish, and people took care of the land. Wangari went on to attend college in America for five years. U...more

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Oct 18, 2011 Leslie Morrison added it

Wangari Maathai was born in the highlands of Kenya, an area that was covered with green plants, strong fig trees, and clear running streams. Wangari attends college in Kansas, and she returns to her homeland five years later to see a dramatic change. Streams are murky and low, people have become less healthy, and the trees have been cut down, leaving the land parched and brown. Wangari realizes that it’s within her power and the power of her community members to make a change. Wangari teachers t...more

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Sep 26, 2011 Shaeley Santiago rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: environmental science teachers

Shelves: africa, biography, children-s

While Wangari Maathai was away at college in the USA, Kenyan farmers were changing their farming methods and cutting down many trees. When Maathai saw how severely the environment, resources, and well being of the people were affected, she began showing women how to plant trees & the Green Belt Movement began. As a result of her work, Maathai was the first African woman to receive a Nobel prize.

Links to The Good Garden: How One Family Went from Hunger to Having Enough and One Hen: How One Sm ...more

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Mar 10, 2010 Kathryn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biographies, childrens-picture-books

This is the a beautiful and inspiring story of Kenyan Wangari Maathai, the first woman from Africa to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Green Belt Movement. But, first and foremost, Wangari loves trees, nature, and the harmony that sings when humans work in rhythm with their environment--and this love, which began in her childhood, is what inspired her in everything else. I think this story is so powerful not only because it shows us a truly outstanding woman--but it shows how we...more This is the a beautiful and inspiring story of Kenyan Wangari Maathai, the first woman from Africa to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Green Belt Movement. But, first and foremost, Wangari loves trees, nature, and the harmony that sings when humans work in rhythm with their environment--and this love, which began in her childhood, is what inspired her in everything else. I think this story is so powerful not only because it shows us a truly outstanding woman--but it shows how we can each be part of something outstanding--life is always giving us opportunities to shine. When Wangari saw that the people who had once loved the land had "forgotten to care for the land that fed them" she saw how the land could not longer take care of them and this lead to all sorts of poverty and illness. People wanted to blame others, especially the government, but Wangari said, "Think of what we ourselves are doing... when we see that we are part of the problem, we can become part of the solution." I love that the Green Belt Movement began as a grassroots movement with "everyday women" planting trees and making a difference, not waiting for Big Important Government (or Big Important Men) to take care of it for them. I think this book's message is as much about personal responsibility as it is about environmentalism. The illustrations by turns convey the beauty and the fragility of nature, the beautiful unspoilt landscape, the ugly ruination of overharvesting, and the eventual blossoming of hope and renewal.

I would have liked a bit more information on why Wangari chose to study abroad and return to Kenya. Had she left with the intention of building her knowledge base to do something progressive in Kenya? Had she always intended to return? It just seemed that she was so happy and content in her youth, then suddenly she was off in America. A little more information here could have really rounded out her character (if not in the story itself then at least in the author's note).

I was also really shocked and fascinated to learn that Kenya began to "fall apart" AFTER is gained its independence from Britain in 1963. In my ignorance, I would have guessed that the years following their long-awaited independence would have been a time of celebration and progress; not that there wouldn't be lots of adjustments and some difficult ones at that, but I was surprised that, rather than an unrestrained blossoming of the native culture there was, "more poverty than before, more malnutrition, more hunger, and more unemployment." The author's note indicates this was due to the population crisis, and I'm sure that had much to do with it, but I am just curious about the political changes, too.

Overall, this is a wonderful book and it inspired me learn more about Wangari.

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Oct 14, 2009 Amy Stipp rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-from-africa

The story of Wangari Maathai is inspiring. Maathai went to America to study in 1960's. When she came back to Kenya, she found her land had changed. She began to teach her community the importance of taking care of their land and how to do that, starting the Green Belt Movement. I personally connect to this and am inspired by her determination to involve her community in taking care of their community, which in turn takes care of their health, as I have been learning about my own need for simplic...more

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Nov 19, 2012 Viridiana rated it 3 of 5 stars

Title: "Planting the Trees of Kenya" by Claire A. Nivola
Grade/Interest Level: k-2nd grade
Guided Reading Level: E
Genre: Information Book

Award: Jane Addams

Main Characters: Wangari Maathai
Setting: U.S. to attend College and her return to Kenya
POV: Second person

Summary: This book talks about the story of Wangari Maathai who left a verdant Kenya to attend college in the United States. During her return home she found the Kenyan landscape changed. Large scale tea plantations had replaced small subsist...more

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Apr 17, 2012 Marissa Masterson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: eced-221

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai by Claire A. Nivola is a Teacher's Choice Award book from 2009. Main character, Wangari leaves her home of Kenya where the fig tree is sacred and everyone grows their own food to America where she goes to a college ran by Benedictine nuns. She finds inspiration there and when returning back to Kenya, she sees that everything has completely changed and their lives have become a struggle. To change it all around, Wangari taught the people o...more

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Mar 08, 2011 Q_Barb rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: rll520-info-bios

Beautifully illustrated, with simple text in picture book format that tells how Wangari, the first women from Africa to receive the Nobel Peace Prize came to found the Green Belt Movement in 1977 in her native Kenya. When she left for college in America, her country was lush with trees, clear streams and small family gardens and livestock. When she returned in 1966, three years after Kenya gained its independence from Britain, the landscape was considerably different. Trees had been cleared for...more

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Oct 26, 2011 528_Tracy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1-international

Claire Nivola's Planting the Trees of Kenya tells the story of Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai and her quest to bring back the trees of Kenya. This beautifully illustrated picture book follows Maathai's story from her childhood in Kenya, to her education in the United States, and the founding of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya in 1977. In 2004, Maathai was the first woman from Africa to win a Nobel Peace Prize for her work in teaching Kenyan women to plant trees and reclaim their land....more

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Apr 26, 2009 Jodysegal rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Grades K-4

Shelves: biography, picture-books-environmental

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai offers early elementary-aged children a powerful introduction to Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her work founding the Green Belt Movement of Kenya. Exquisitely illustrated with finely detailed and brightly-hued, full page watercolors, Nivola's biography introduces children to this remarkable woman's life's work, from her childhood on a farm in Kenya, her departure for a biology degree in the US, her return to a...more

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Nov 01, 2011 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mc-international

Planting the Trees of Kenya by Claire A Nivola
Planting The Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai by Claire A Nivola, is the picture book story of Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. Maathai recounts what life was like in Kenya when she was a young girl. There was respect for the land and traditions. Maathai came to the US to attend college, during which time Kenya gained its independence from Great Britain. During the years she was gone, land th...more Planting the Trees of Kenya by Claire A Nivola
Planting The Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai by Claire A Nivola, is the picture book story of Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. Maathai recounts what life was like in Kenya when she was a young girl. There was respect for the land and traditions. Maathai came to the US to attend college, during which time Kenya gained its independence from Great Britain. During the years she was gone, land that once supported families and villages had become commercial farms, destroying the land, water sources, and trees. The land was becoming worn out, the water sources dried up, and the rich topsoil was blowing away because the trees were not there to hold the soil. The commercial farms grew products that didn’t support the people, so goods needed to be imported at prices too high for families. The economy was falling apart. Wangari Maathai started the Green Belt Movement, which taught farmers how to go back to traditional methods, plant trees, raise livestock, and help communities support themselves.

I also enjoyed the illustrations in this book. While I don’t know if the artist authentically portrayed Kenyan dress and scenes, I liked them. I did notice that all the people tended to look the same, even though dressed differently.

While this story is a great stand-alone picture book for young students, it is an excellent source for older students. It can be used in science classes when discussing how plants grow, soil erosion, nutrients, etc. It can also be used when studying social studies and the change from family farms to commercial farms, from agrarian society to industrial society. It could even be used to discuss economic situations and the need for being self-sufficient, rather than dependent on imports. I think that the strength of this book is that, while the story touches on all these subjects, it doesn’t get preachy. After reading the author’s notes, I learned a lot more of Wangari Maathai’s story. It is too bad that a lot of Maathai’s story is only found on the back page. While I understand why the picture book does not chose to write about civil unrest, protests, and political issues, I think that older students would benefit from the information. I would certainly read the back pages if I used this with older students.

Winner of the Jane Addams Peace Award 2009
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Sep 27, 2011 Jo Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this short children's book 3 years ago when it came out, but it has not been added to my list until today. Wangari Maatha was a personal hero of mine...she died yesterday in Kenya after a long battle with ovarian cancer. I was a freshman when Wangari was a senior at the small Catholic college we attended in Atchison, Kansas. When she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, I was excited and proud! She was beautiful, inside and out, and this little book is a true gem...it is only a very simple...more

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Mar 08, 2010 Madonnasharma rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: awards-books, social-studies

I am surprised that this book did not win more awards. I thought the pictures were unique; whether you held them close or far away I felt I was there. I think it was all the lines and how the grass seemed to bend with the wind. The greens, blues, and the orange of the land along with the bright patterns of the clothing were gorgeous. The picture of the classroom with the royal blue uniforms and Wangari in orange is one of my favorites (of course the red of the soldiers and the lined up seedlings...more

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Dec 04, 2012 Samittra rated it 1 of 5 stars

Planting The Trees Of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai is about the amazing impact a woman named Wangari Maathai had in Kenya. She was inspired to bring back the tree’s and health of the land in Kenya because had grown up there and wanted to see the area beautiful once again. This book begins when Wangari was only a little girl; she loved how the earth was covered in a dress of green. She admired their beautiful area and enjoyed visited the sacred fig tree. When Wangari goes away for college...more

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Aug 15, 2012 Linda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: picture-books, read-2112, younger-readers, middle-ya

The book is an inspiration, especially for those who are working to make a difference in first steps. When Maathai returned to her Native Kenya after college in the U.S., she was troubled by the amount of land that had been stripped of trees in order that farmers plant crops to sell. The result was becoming and economic and personal disaster for no longer was there good land to grow small gardens to feed one’s family, or close trees from which to gather fallen wood for cooking fires. Starting wi...more

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Apr 15, 2010 Miriam rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, picture

Planting the Trees of Kenya is an account for young readers of the life and work of Wangari Maathai, Founder of the Green Belt Movement. Nivola explains the environmental issues in a simple, non-politicized manner, focusing on the relationship between people and local ecology and the virtues that enabled Maathai and other Kenyan women to restore the forests: hard work, independence, patience, determination. The story also encourages readers to think about ways they can make a difference on a loc...more

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Nov 06, 2011 528_Kristin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1-international

Summary: This is a story of Wangari Maathai who grew up on the hills of Kenya. As she got older, she left to visit the US, and came back to find Kenya dying. The trees of Kenya were being cut down causing the water to be ruined, the soil to wear away, etc. She decides to teach the people of Kenya to help themselves. She shows them how to grow trees, and help their environment.

Opinion: I enjoyed this book. It is a sweet story on helping the environment, and how you can make a difference. Although...more

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Mar 21, 2010 CH _Kenya Walker rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: realistic-fiction

Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Green Belt Movement, grew up in the highlands of Kenya, where fig trees cloaked the hills, fish filled the streams, and the people tended their bountiful gardens. But over many years, as more and more land was cleared, Kenya was transformed. When Wangari returned home from college in America, she found the village gardens dry, the people malnourished, and the trees gone. She set about bringing the trees back and restoring t...more

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Sep 05, 2009 Bruce rated it 3 of 5 stars

Wangari Maathai grew up on a farm in Kenya where the trees were green and the streams were clear. But when she came back from college in the United States, she found that most of the trees had been cut down. Instead of small farms there were large plantations growing tea to export. But without the trees and their roots the soil was blown away and washed into muddy streams. So she organized women to plant trees. Soon the rest of the family joined in the work and Wangari was giving away seedling t...more

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Jun 13, 2011 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, children-s, picture, nonfiction

Another children's picture book about Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. This book was also very well done. The text is well-written and clear; it will be a great read aloud for older elementary school students. Like the other books that I read about Wangari, there is a strong and obvious environmental theme and the problem/solution structure is very clear. This book is a little less flashy than some of the other picture books but I recommend it as a well-writ...more

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Jul 25, 2008 Julie Tompkins rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is a biography written as a picture book about Wangari Maathai’s life and work. Maathai is women who spent her life promoting conservation of natural resources in Kenya, Africa. The book starts out by describing Maathai’s childhood in a farming community in Kenya. It goes on to describe her formal education in the United States and her work when she returned to Kenya. Maathai worked hard to teach her people to conserve their resources, plant trees and crops, and once again become the s...more

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Feb 26, 2010 Lisa Vegan rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everybody who cares about sustainability, the earth, people

Recommended to Lisa by: Krista the Krazy Kataloguer

Shelves: childrens, biography, nature, non-fiction, picture-books, gr-groups-buddies, reviewed, history

This is a gem of a book. The illustrations made me so happy and this non-fiction book is truly inspirational.

I love this book’s illustrations. I have a special fondness for intricate drawings of tiny (on the page) plant life. The trees and crops shown here are so beautiful, as are the people, the dog, the whole classroom that’s shown, and I was enchanted on almost every page. I could be happy viewing over and over those miniature plants and trees. Just lovely!

The true story is just wonderful, an...more

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Apr 24, 2012 Ariel rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book would be a great addition to a classroom library. It could teach students so many things. Firstly, it would give insight into the culture of Kenya. It would also teach students how to take charge of a problem and become part of the solution. It could also introduce students to the potential problems of over farming and the effects it has on an environment. I think its message of keeping the land green and alive will make it a popular choice, especially with our society becoming so gree...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Robin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 3rd-grade-booktalks, africa, biography-memoirs, environment-conservation, international, nature, non-fiction

An inspirational story of making a difference. When you own the problem, you can do something about it Maathai encouraged the women in her village to do what they could, not wait for the government to act, to improve their lives. And recognizing the role of trees -- in protecting the soil, in providing food -- was the first step toward a dramatic change for the better. It was difficult and challenging, but together, they made a difference.

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Feb 16, 2011 Deborah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, juvenile-non-fiction

Wangari Maathai (winner of the Nobel Peace Prize) grew up in an area of Kenya that was once forested. Over time, the people depleted this lush resource. Wangari returned from college and found the land barren and worked to save the once beautiful landscape and return it to a healthy balance. A true testament of the impact one person can have to make the world a better place.

The text is complemented with beautiful watercolors.

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Jan 27, 2012 Jessy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: picture-book

I think this is a really great story about someone leaving their homeland to help improve their own life, only to come back one day to return the favor. I think children would response well to this story and it would also help them understand the significance of giving back. Her passion for wanting to change what happened to her homeland goes to show you that even one person can have an impact.

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