Gr 1-4 The simple format of this picture book belies the strength of its content, a story lovingly supported by charming collage illustrations. As a girl, Ceesay realized that the goats on which her village relied were dying because they were eating plastic bags. She also saw that people were tossing the used bags on the ground just as they had always thrown away their baskets when no longer useful—except the plastic bags, unlike the baskets, weren't biodegradable. So Ceesay figured out how to use crochet, a skill with which the villagers were already familiar, to make purses out of the plastic bags. Simple but lyrical text conveys this beautiful, thought-provoking tale of ecological awareness and recycling ("The basket tips. One fruit tumbles. Then two. Then ten."). An inspiring account.— Dorcas Hand, Annunciation Orthodox School, Houston, TX

As Isatou Ceesay, a young woman in Njau, Gambia, drops and breaks the basket of fruit she is carrying, she discovers an abandoned bag made of a strange fabric astic. At first these brightly colored bags seem convenient throughout the village, but as they break, they are discarded. As 1 becomes 2, then 10, then 100, their beauty turns into a growing pile of filth that attracts dirty water, mosquitos, and a stench. When the problem worsens as goats begin to eat the bags and die, Isatou and her friends devise a clever plan that's initially met with ridicule. They wash the bags, cut and roll them into plastic thread, and crochet them into purses, all in secret. But when 1, then 2, then 10 women buy them, proud entrepreneur Isatou soon has enough money to buy a new goat and relishes the returned beauty of her village. Colorful textured and patterned collage artwork illustrates this inspiring true story, which concludes with more information about Isatou's grassroots initiative.

In 1980s the Gambia, ever-growing piles of discarded plastic bags were attracting disease-bearing insects and killing domestic animals. Paul has written a clear and sensitive account of Isatou Ceesay and her fellow activists' ingenious solution to the problem. Zunon's collages, with vivid colors, elegant patterns, and varied textures--especially those from plastic bags--provide a beautiful entry into the story. Reading list, timeline. Glos.