Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner whose Green Belt Movement has planted 30 million trees in Kenya, is the subject of Winter’s (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">The Librarian of Basra) eloquent picture biography. Much like Claire Nivola’s recent <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Planting the Trees of Kenya, this work, for a slightly younger audience, introduces Wangari as a child, “liv[ing] under an umbrella of green trees in the shadow of Mount Kenya.” The tightly focused text moves quickly without sacrificing impact. Wangari earns a scholarship to study in the U.S., and when she returns after six years, she’s stunned—setting down her luggage in a veritable wasteland, extending her palms as if imploring someone to answer her unspoken questions: “<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">What has happened?... <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Where are the trees?”She plants seedlings in her own backyard—a small start that eventually inspires thousands of others (and, perhaps, the reader) to emulate her. Winter’s images appear in framed, same-size squares on each page, creating a flat, frieze-like effect that pays off as Wangari’s movement grows and the activities within each frame multiply—a powerful demonstration of Wangari’s work. Ages 3–7. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Sept.)

K-Gr 4 This delightful picture-book biography of the environmentalist has engaging illustrations and accessible, succinct prose. When Wangari Maathai was growing up in Kenya, the land was covered with trees. But on returning to her homeland from America, where she was educated on scholarship, she discovered a hot, dry, barren land, stripped of the trees she loved as a child. Starting in her own backyard, Maathai planted trees and encouraged other women to do the same. More than 30 million trees have since been planted by the members of her Green Belt Movement. Maathai was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2004 in recognition of her work. The acrylic illustrations have a warm folk-art influence. The pictures are both literal and symbolic, and framed in complementary lines of color. An author's note and a quote from Maathai are included. This book would be a superb choice for read-alouds or assignments. Melissa Christy Buron, Epps Island Elementary, Houston, TX

Like Claire A. Nivola's Planting the Trees of Kenya (2008), this powerful picture-book biography introduces Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. As in Nivola's title, Winter follows her charismatic subject from her rural Kenyan childhood to her adult life as the founder of the Green Belt Movement, which has profoundly improved her country's health and economy. Winter distills Maathai's inspirational story into spare words and images. As in her other similarly formatted picture books, such as The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq (2005), Winter's acrylic paintings employ rich, opaque hues and elemental shapes that illustrate specific details while conveying a broader sense of her subject's remarkable influence. An author's note fills in biographical facts, but children may still have questions about specific events, such as the violent protest battles that leave Maathai bloodied. Paired with Nivola's slightly more comprehensive approach, this title offers a welcome introduction to Maathai's awe-inspiring work and to the subject of activism in general.

Eleven-year-old Violet's best friend is more interested in trying on makeup with new-girl Melissa than frying up fish with Violet. Violet's in a funk--and it will take nothing less than a lightning strike to bring her out. Readers will find Violet, with her down-home drawl, sympathetic and easy to like, and the 1970s Florida summer setting is evocatively drawn.

<p>Nobel Peace Prizea"winner Wangari Maathai's work to reverse the deforestation of Kenya garners Winter's signature treatment: a spare, reverential text and stylized, reductionist paintings. The present-tense narration posits Wangari's thoughts and inserts unattributed quotations: "Will all of Kenya become a desert? she wonders as her tears fall." "The government men laugh. 'Women can't do this,' they say." Wangari is imprisoned for her actions, but while she is textually and visually depicted in jail and then on the next spread free within the treed landscape, the text makes no mention of her release. Possibly most egregious in this day and age is the image of Wangari standing within an undifferentiated Africa while to the north, Europe is depicted with rudimentary national boundaries. While the effort of producing an intelligible picture-book biography for young children inevitably involves the selection of just a small number of details, this sere distillation is arguably more inspiring story than biography. For a contrast in depth and documentation, see Claire A. Nivola's recent Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai (2008). (author's note) (Picture book/biography. 4-7)</p>