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Today is Wangari Maathai’s birthday! Wangari Maathai was the first African woman, and the first environmentalist, to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Seeds Of Change: Planting a Path to Peace, which tells Wangari’s story, continues to be one of the most popular books that we publish!
In honor of Wangari Maathai’s birthday and upcoming Earth Day later this month, here’s a list of the many fantastic resources and ideas available to educators who are teaching about Wangari Maathai’s legacy and using Seeds Of Change: Planting a Path to Peace:
Seeds of Change
Elementary School:
In teaching standard 9 of the ELA Common Core, have students analyze two biographies about Wangari Maathai to build knowledge and compare the authors’ approaches. The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance Project created a lesson for students to compare a Wangari Maathai biography with Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax.
School Library Journal’s “Curriculum Connections” e-newsletter features a lesson plan using Seeds Of Change to explore what it means to be a global citizen.
Lee & Low Books’ classroom guide includes teaching tips, interdisciplinary activities, and a range of literal to inferential questions.
Middle School and High School:
Seeds Of Change won the American Library Association’s Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent in Illustration in 2011. The Committee Chair and Book Jury have prepared activities and discussion questions for Seeds Of Change in the 2011 Discussion Guide for Coretta Scott King Book Awards, P. 20-21.
Have students read and discuss author Jen Cullerton Johnson and illustrator Sonia Lynn Sadler’s joint interview with Lee & Low, which covers the environment, their travels, and Wangari Maathai’s achievements.
After introducing Wangari Maathai with Seeds Of Change, delve deeper with the Speak Truth To Power human rights education curriculum, a project of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. They present an in-depth exploration on Wangari Maathai, the Green Belt Movement, and sustainability issues.
In teaching standard 7 of the ELA Common Core, have students evaluate how Wangari Maathai is presented in a documentary compared to the Seeds Of Change biography. PBS’s documentary on Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement, Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, contains a classroom section full of video modules, handouts, and lesson plans.
What did we miss? Let us know how you are using Seeds Of Change in your classroom!
Jill Eisenberg, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching English as a Foreign Language to second through sixth graders in Yilan, Taiwan as a Fulbright Fellow. She went on to become a literacy teacher for third grade in San Jose, CA as a Teach for America corps member. She is certified in Project Glad instruction to promote English language acquisition and academic achievement. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
0 Comments on Resources for Teaching About Wangari Maathai and SEEDS OF CHANGE as of 1/1/1900
In honor of Women’s History Month, we’ve rounded up ten of our books that feature some amazing women of color! From a baseball player to an American politician, these women have helped pave the way for many others.
7. Patsy Mink, How We Are Smart – an American politician from the U.S. state of Hawaii
8. Hiromi Suzuki, Hiromi’s Hands – one of a handful of women in the male-dominated world of sushi chefs
9. Rosa Parks, Dear Mrs. Parks: A Dialogue with Today’s Youth – Mrs. Parks changed the course of history when she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Alabama bus, sparking the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement
I’d add to this list the real-life Lozen, the woman who inspired Joseph Bruchac’s character by the same name in KILLER OF ENEMIES. She was a warrior (beside Geronimo and her brother, Victorio) who defended the Apache people during a terrible time of war with the United States, as well as using her skill as a tracker (and some supernatural skills) to know where their enemies were coming from.
Eight Ways to Help Students Remember that Books ar said, on 3/22/2014 7:31:00 AM
[…] booktalks allow students to explore and develop their interests. Consider creating collections for Women’s History Month, Cesar Chavez Day, baseball season, National Poetry Month in April, and Earth […]
Today is Human Rights Day. It commemorates the day in 1948 when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights lists basic rights and freedoms that every person should get, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, or gender.
Books are a great way for readers to learn about history and culture, and develop empathy for other people.
Our Human Rights collection explores the issues of human rights around the world and in the United States, and the great leaders who have fought to protect those rights:
Twenty-two Cents: Growing up in Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus witnessed extreme poverty. He later founded Grameen Bank, a bank which uses microcredit, lending small amounts of money, to help lift people out of poverty. In 2006, Dr. Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Brothers in Hope: Thousands of boys from southern Sudan walk hundreds of miles to seek safety, from Ethiopia to Kenya. This inspiring story is based on the true events of the Lost Boys of Sudan.
When the Horses Ride By: These poems from the point of view of children during times of war let readers experience the resilience and optimism that children who go through these situations experience.
Irena’s Jars of Secrets: Irena Sendler, a social worker born to a Polish Catholic family, smuggled clothing and medicine into jewish ghettos during WWII and then started to smuggle Jewish children out of the ghettos. Hoping to reunite them with their families, Irena kept lists of children’s names in jars.
John Lewis in the Lead: After high school, John Lewis joined Dr. King and other civil rights leaders to peacefully protest and fight against segregation. In 1986, John Lewis was elected to represent Georgia in Congress, where he continues to serve today.
A Place Where Sunflowers Grow: This bilingual Japanese-English picture book depicts life in a Japanese interment camp inspired by author Amy Lee-Tai’s family’s experiences during WWII. Young Mari wonders if she’ll be able to come up with anything to draw in a place where nothing beautiful grows.
Seeds of Change: As a young girl, Wangari Maathai was taught to respect nature and people. She excelled in science and later studied abroad in the United States. When she returned home, she helped promote the rights of women and also began to plant trees to replace those that had been cut down. Wangari Maathai became the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace prize in 2004.
Etched in Clay: This biography in verse follows the life of Dave the Potter, an enslaved young man in South Carolina who engraved poems into the pots he sculpted despite the harsh anti-literacy laws of the time.
Yasmin’s Hammer: Yasmin and her family are refugees in Bangladesh. Young Yasmin works at a brick yard to help her family out, but she longs for the day when she can attend school.
A Song for Cambodia: This the inspirational true story of Arn Chorn-Pond, who was sent to a work camp by the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. His heartfelt music created beauty in a time of darkness and turned tragedy into healing.
The Mangrove Tree: Dr. Gordon Sato, himself a survivor of a Japanese Internment Camp, travels to an impoverished village in Eritrea and plants mangrove trees to help the village of Harigogo become a self-sufficient community.
Want to own this book list? Purchase the whole collection here.
Welcome to WEEK 5 of my Book-Jumper Summer Reading Series! This is my way of inspiring parents who are looking for creative ways to keep their kids reading this summer. All of our protagonists are girls or women and most of our showcased authors are women as well. I will be offering up a combination of themed weeks, great novels, booklist giveaways, and blog post recaps so be sure and stop by to discover more wonderful ways have A Book-jumper Summer while Exploring Our World and Beyond!
If you’re just tuning in, there are some great summer reading booklists here and here.
Wangari Maathai is one of my favorite people. The first time I discovered her was through this beautiful picture book called Mama Miti. Since then I’ve had the occasion to read about her several times, follow her Nobel Peace Prize award, and watch her green movement progress. Earlier this year I wrote a review of another book entitled Wangari Maathai by Franck Prevost for Women’s History month. To her people she is known as Mother of the Trees. However you come to know Wangari Maathai, I’m quite certain that you will be inspired by her story and determination to save her country.
Donna Jo Napoli tells the inspiring story of Wangari Maathai, the woman who planted trees.
On the highlands of Africa,
Near the forests and plains and a hue salt lick,
Wangari was born. The face of
Mount Kenya smiled down on her.
People told stories of how in the old days
Sometimes the sun shone too bright too long,
And droughts came. Creatures suffered.
Plants wilted. People fought.
So men held ceremonies under the mugumo
The spreading sacred fig tree
And the skies blessed them with shimmering rains
to slake their thirst and water their farms.
Village elders placed staffs from the
Thigi tree between angry men,
And enemies became friends
Wangari listened to these stories. That’s how she came to love and respect trees. Excerpt from the book Mama Miti.
She was the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace prize. In her own garden she planted trees to be able to have fruits, shade, and to refresh her spirit. She was also a very wise and educated, being the first woman with a doctorate in Africa. Other women would come to her with their problems. Each time she would tell them how strong they were and then give them a tree seedling which would be the answer to their problem.
Seed by seed, woman by woman the Kenyan countryside was filled with trees. Kenya had been changed one tree at a time.
Donna Jo Napoli is a brillant storyteller who invites us to admire Wangari Maathai but also to follow her example and take action as “Keepers of the Earth.”
Honoring the women who saved their country by planting trees, Kadir Nelson’s stunning and colorful artwork brings the story to life with his multi-textured collages.
Something To Do:
It’s very simple …..let’s plant some trees. Each person on this planet needs 15 trees per year to have enough oxygen to live. A few years ago we planted a fruit orchard. By doing so we now are getting lovely fruits to eat from spring through fall. This year we will add to the orchard but we will also take part in planting in our greenbelt area here.
A group that absolutely supports planting trees is the Arbor Day Foundation. If you don’t have room to plant the trees yourself, have a fund-raiser and let people like this restore forests. Let me know what you are planting. I would love to see them.
**Some of these links are affiliate links. The opinions expressed are purely my own.
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Looking for more ways to not only get your youngsters reading, but get them OUTSIDE as well? Enjoy more month-by-month activities based on the classic children’s tale, The Secret Garden! A Year in the Secret Garden is a delightful children’s book with over 120 pages, with 150 original color illustrations and 48 activities for your family and friends to enjoy, learn, discover and play with together. AND, it’s on sale for a limited time! Grab your copy ASAP and “meet me in the garden!” More details HERE! http://amzn.to/1DTVnuX
Welcome to the next installment of my Book-Jumper Summer Reading Series! This is my way of inspiring parents who are looking for creative ways to keep their kids reading this summer. All of our protagonists are girls or women and most of our showcased authors are women as well. I will be offering up a combination of themed weeks, great novels, booklist giveaways, and blog post recaps so be sure and stop by to discover more wonderful ways have A Book-jumper Summer while Exploring Our World and Beyond!
This week we’ve been celebrating the planet we live on, Earth. On Earth Day I created a very fun booklist which honors amazing people preserving and restoring areas on our planet as well as others reusing items to accomplish great feats.
Every library should have these inspiring stories from Wangari Mathai who planted an entire forest saving her country, to William Kamkwamba who created a windmill to end a drought in his town, to Isatou Ceesay who started with just one plastic bag. On this list you’ll also find entertaining chapter books with a environmentalist theme to them as well. Each person can contribute something.
One of the more amazing things about this booklist is that we’re giving it away. Have a look below and get inspired.
Wangari Maathai received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts to lead women in a nonviolent struggle to bring peace and democracy to Africa through its reforestation. Her organization planted over thirty million trees in thirty years. This beautiful picture book tells the story of an amazing woman and an inspiring idea.
A book for young readers. It involves new kids, bullies, alligators, eco-warriors, pancakes, and pint-sized owls. A hilarious Floridian adventure!
One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia
Plastic bags are cheap and easy to use. But what happens when a bag breaks or is no longer needed? In Njau, Gambia, people simply dropped the bags and went on their way. One plastic bag became two. Then ten. Then a hundred.
The bags accumulated in ugly heaps alongside roads. Water pooled in them, bringing mosquitoes and disease. Some bags were burned, leaving behind a terrible smell. Some were buried, but they strangled gardens. They killed livestock that tried to eat them. Something had to change.
Isatou Ceesay was that change. She found a way to recycle the bags and transform her community. This inspirational true story shows how one person’s actions really can make a difference in our world.
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba
When a terrible drought struck William Kamkwamba’s tiny village in Malawi, his family lost all of the season’s crops, leaving them with nothing to eat and nothing to sell. William began to explore science books in his village library, looking for a solution. There, he came up with the idea that would change his family’s life forever: he could build a windmill. Made out of scrap metal and old bicycle parts, William’s windmill brought electricity to his home and helped his family pump the water they needed to farm the land.
Retold for a younger audience, this exciting memoir shows how, even in a desperate situation, one boy’s brilliant idea can light up the world. Complete with photographs, illustrations, and an epilogue that will bring readers up to date on William’s story, this is the perfect edition to read and share with the whole family.
A vacant lot looks like no place for a garden. Until one day, a young girl clears a small space and digs into the hard-packed soil to plant her precious bean seeds. Suddenly, the soil holds promise.
This inspiring book presents the true stories of 12 people from across North America who have done great things for the environment. Heroes include a teenage girl who figured out how to remove an industrial pollutant from the Ohio River, a Mexican superstar wrestler who works to protect turtles and whales, and a teenage boy from Rhode Island who helped his community and his state develop effective e-waste recycling programs. Plenty of photographs and illustrations bring each compelling story vividly to life.
Written mostly in the words of Muir, it brims with his spirit and adventures. The text was selected and retold by naturalist Joseph Cornell, author of Sharing Nature with Children, who is well known for his inspiring nature games. The result is a book with an aliveness, a presence of goodness, adventure, enthusiasm, and sensitive love of each animal and plant that will give young adults an experience of a true champion of nature. It is a book that expands your sense of hope, adventure, and awareness. Adults will be just as fond of this book as young readers. Cornell includes numerous explore more activities that help the reader to understand and appreciate the many wonderful qualities of Muir.
This “vividly imagined and well-written novel” (Booklist, starred review) tells a gripping story about a boy from Scotland and a girl from West Africa who join together to save a migrating Osprey—and end up saving each other.
When Callum spots crazy Iona McNair on his family’s sprawling property, she’s catching a fish with her bare hands. She won’t share the fish, but does share something else: a secret. She’s discovered a rare endangered bird, an Osprey, and it’s clear to both her and Callum that if anyone finds out about the bird, it, and its species, is likely doomed. Poachers, egg thieves, and wild weather are just some of the threats, so Iona and Callum vow to keep track of the bird and check her migratory progress using the code a preservationist tagged on her ankle, no matter what.
But when one of them can no longer keep the promise, it’s up to the other to do it for them both. No matter what. Set against the dramatic landscapes of Scotland and West Africa, this is a story of unlikely friendships, the wonders of the wild—and the everyday leaps of faith that set our souls to flight.
GIVEAWAY DETAILS
ONE winner will receive one copy of each of the books above. Giveaway begins July 1,2015
Prizing & samples courtesy of Authors of the above books
Giveaway open to US addresses only
ONE lucky winner will win one copy of each of the above books.
Residents of USA only please.
Must be 18 years or older to enter
One entry per household.
Staff and family members of Audrey Press are not eligible.
Grand Prize winner has 48 hours to claim prize
Winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter on July 13th, 2015
Jill Eisenberg, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching English as a Foreign Language to second through sixth graders in Yilan, Taiwan as a Fulbright Fellow. She went on to become a literacy teacher for third grade in San Jose, CA as a Teach for America corps member. She is certified in Project Glad instruction to promote English language acquisition and academic achievement. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
Seeds Of Change
In honor of Wangari Maathai’s birthday on Tuesday, April 1 and upcoming Earth Day later this month, we at Lee & Low Books want to share all the fantastic resources and ideas that are available to educators who are teaching about Wangari Maathai’s legacy and using Seeds Of Change: Planting a Path to Peace.
Seeds Of Change
Elementary School:
Seeds Of Change made Reading Is Fundamental’s 2011-2012 Multicultural Booklist. The amazing staff at RIF has put together extensive guides for educators, families, and community coordinators to scaffold vocabulary, extend knowledge, and apply S.T.E.M. concepts.
In teaching standard 9 of the ELA Common Core, have students analyze two biographies about Wangari Maathai to build knowledge and compare the authors’ approaches. The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance Project created a lesson for students to compare a Wangari Maathai biography with Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax.
School Library Journal’s “Curriculum Connections” e-newsletter features a lesson plan using Seeds Of Change to explore what it means to be a global citizen.
Lee & Low Books’ classroom guide includes teaching tips, interdisciplinary activities, and a range of literal to inferential questions.
Middle School and High School:
Seeds Of Change won the American Library Association’s Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent in Illustration in 2011. The Committee Chair and Book Jury have prepared activities and discussion questions for Seeds Of Change in the 2011 Discussion Guide for Coretta Scott King Book Awards, P. 20-21.
Have students read and discuss author Jen Cullerton Johnson and illustrator Sonia Lynn Sadler’s joint interview with Lee & Low, which covers the environment, their travels, and Wangari Maathai’s achievements.
After introducing Wangari Maathai with Seeds Of Change, delve deeper with the Speak Truth To Power human rights education curriculum, a project of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. They present an in-depth exploration on Wangari Maathai, the Green Belt Movement, and sustainability issues.
In teaching standard 7 of the ELA Common Core, have students evaluate how Wangari Maathai is presented in a documentary compared to the Seeds Of Change biography. PBS’s documentary on Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement, Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, contains a classroom section full of video modules, handouts, and lesson plans.
What did we miss? Let us know how you are using Seeds Of Change in your classroom!
In honor of Women’s History Month, we’ve rounded up ten of our books that feature some amazing women of color! From a baseball player to an American politician, these women have helped pave the way for many others.
7. Patsy Mink, How We Are Smart - an American politician from the U.S. state of Hawaii
8. Hiromi Suzuki, Hiromi’s Hands - one of a handful of women in the male-dominated world of sushi chefs
9. Rosa Parks, Dear Mrs. Parks: A Dialogue with Today’s Youth - Mrs. Parks changed the course of history when she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Alabama bus, sparking the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement
I’d add to this list the real-life Lozen, the woman who inspired Joseph Bruchac’s character by the same name in KILLER OF ENEMIES. She was a warrior (beside Geronimo and her brother, Victorio) who defended the Apache people during a terrible time of war with the United States, as well as using her skill as a tracker (and some supernatural skills) to know where their enemies were coming from.
Jill Eisenberg, our Resident Literacy Expert, began her career teaching English as a Foreign Language to second through sixth graders in Yilan, Taiwan as a Fulbright Fellow. She went on to become a literacy teacher for third grade in San Jose, CA as a Teach for America corps member. She is certified in Project Glad instruction to promote English language acquisition and academic achievement. In her column she offers teaching and literacy tips for educators.
Irena’s Jars Of Secrets
I entered the education field to broaden the minds of a new generation and teach the truths that I felt I had missed or was denied in my own education. Indeed, I was not alone in those motivations. According to the PrimarySources project by Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, of the more than 20,000 public school classroom teachers polled, 85% of teachers say they chose the profession in order to make a difference in children’s lives.
Despite my righteous ambitions, once in the classroom, I was hesitant to broach the conversation about gender with a mixed class of boys and girls. So many of my own college classes that focused on social justice and equality issues were almost entirely women.
Acutely aware of my students’ fragile perception of themselves, I was intimated by the prospect of guiding the discussion. When I was leading a classroom of my own, it was often easier to concentrate on the benign world of synonyms, dictionary skills, main idea, and genre features than push my students to think about what role gender plays in achievement, history, and identity.
I wondered: How do we teach about women’s history and contributions without alienating boys? Will boys disengage if a girl or woman is on the cover or is the main character? In this day and age, do girls still need explicit attention drawn to high-achievers that share their gender?
Leading up to my first month of March as a teacher, I thought I would “just” read more books with women as the central figures during Women’s History Month, but not explicitly point out that these were all women so as not to freak out boys and hope the girls would pick up on my subliminal messages of empowerment….
Insert face palm here.
This thinking was a huge disservice to ALL of my students’ educations. As I introduced books with prominent women historic figures or girl characters, I realized if the books were about gender, we would discuss identity and tolerance. Other times if the story just happened to have a girl character, but gender wasn’t a central feature of the story, my scholars just wanted to focus on the great story and how the universal lessons applied to their lives.
Four lessons to think about when teaching women’s history so both boys AND girls grow and learn:
Two words: cool stories. Above all, if it’s a great story, it doesn’t matter who is on the cover. Everyone will want to sit up and participate.
Pick contemporary and diverse stories. To continue to show the relevancy of the women’s movements and contributions of women to society, we owe it to all of our students to find more contemporary examples of women figures and showcase more diverse participants in equality.Let’s keep exposing our kids to women of today and of different backgrounds.
Show explicit examples of men championing women. Boys need to see great role models of men advocating for women alongside or behind the scenes. There are plenty of men who have been in the trenches with women fighting for social justice and as invested in their wives, daughters, sisters, and mothers achieving great success in a field of study as the women themselves.If we want future generations of men to respect and support women, we need to offer boys examples of how to recognize and champion women’s contributions. Boys and girls need to see that the struggles for equality impacted everyone and were not about one group’s success at the other’s detriment.
Talk about the universal lesson and character traits. Everyone can learn from a story about overcoming obstacles, persistence, and courage. Women like Wangari Maathai and Pura Belpré fought for what they loved and believed was right first, andthen fought for who they were and who they represented. If we want to instill resiliency and develop children’s imaginations, we need to present children with stories about long odds, big dreams, and fantastic leadership that come in all shapes, sizes, and bodies.
Throughout the year and especially during Women’s History Month, we need to teach that gender shouldn’t be an excuse to bar someone from exploring or contributing to a field of study. Concurrently, we want to show all students that gender can offer a unique perspective or approach that should be recognized and celebrated.
Alongside our girls, boys need the language of equality and a broader view of history. Women’s contributions advanced our society and continue to impact all of us. We need to teach that gender totally does matter and, at the same time, totally doesn’t matter.
Shining Star: The Story Of Anna May Wong
Susan B. Anthony Is Great, But Who Else Do We Have? Here are books about high-achieving women from diverse backgrounds with diverse pursuits.
The world lost Wangari Maathai this past week. She was a woman who planted trees. That is not all she did. But the simple act of planting trees is a symbol of her crusade to protect the environment and champion women's rights in her homeland of Kenya and across the world.
In 2008, Jeanette Winter wrote Wangari's Treesof Peace, a picture book about Wangari's signature work. Earlier that year, Claire Nivoli wrotePlanting the Trees of Kenya. Both books target preschoolers and their parents.
As the leaves change in my hometown, a place lush with greenery, I will remember a woman who worked to better the lives of her neighbors - all her neighbors - throughout the world.
Wangari Maathai (April 1, 1940- September 25, 2011) receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004
The death of Profesora Wangari Maathai a week ago, a Kikuyu mujer, (Kenyan born), environmentalist, feminist, activist, Nobel Laureate is a great loss to all of us. For me, I grieve that my students will never meet her in person. She was supposed to arrive and give a lecture at my university last week (University of Nebraska-Lincoln). Two weeks ago, her agent called to cancel the trip. All they had said was she had taken ill. She died a week ago of ovarian cancer. I was never to meet her in person, but am lucky to say, I have been a devoted follower for years. Mi tio Pepe would have loved to meet Profesora Wangari Maathai. He was the first to tell me about her one day while he was busily unshelling peanuts. I was spending the summer at tio Pepe’s house in Guadalajara.
“Mijita,” me dijo, “esa mujer, la Wangari Maathai, es muy inteligente y es Africana. Acuerdate que los Mexicanos tienen raices de Africa.”
Mi tio Pepe often told me that our Mexican heritage included African raices.
“Si—por supuesto,” mi tia would also say.
Mi tio loved getting newspapers from all over the world and he would especially have me reading newspapers from primarily West Africa when he could get them. And there would be this fierce woman—Maathai—fighting with the government to allow women’s groups to plant trees. My aunt and uncle knew what Maathai was doing. Maathai, they taught me, was making connections among and between the well-being of the environment, climate, and poverty. She was working to provide jobs to women, encouraging them to plant trees in order to save the environment—years before anyone was talking about these connections, about land conservation. On one of those summers in Guadalajara, mi tio showed me a picture of Profesora Maathai eating peanuts during a break from planting trees. “Andale mijita, la nuez tambien compartimos con Africa.”
Years later, I realized how my tio’s penchant for peanuts helped me l
0 Comments on Our Afro-Meshica Heritage by Amelia M.L. Montes as of 10/2/2011 1:53:00 AM
Writer Wangari Maathai, the first African female to win the Nobel Peace Prize, has passed away. She was 71-years-old.
According to the AFP, Maathai (pictured, via) founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental-activist group, in 1977. Her work provided the inspiration for several books including The Green Belt Movement: sharing the approach and the experience (1985), The Canopy of Hope: My Life Campaigning for Africa, Women, and the Environment (2002) and Unbowed: A Memoir (2006).
In an interview with Time, she explained how her work helps to promote peace: “We are sharing our resources in a very inequitable way. We have parts of the world that are very deprived and parts of the world that are very rich. And that is partly the reason why we have conflict.”
Today we pay tribute to Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Wangari Maathai, scientist, activist and environmentalist, who died yesterday.
Wangari Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977 following her return to her native Kenya, after pursuing university studies in the US: she was concerned not only about the detrimental changes in the landscape caused by deforestation, but also about how these were affecting women’s lives especially. Through the Green Belt Movement, more than 47 million trees have been planted, and with them, many families have been able to take active control of their own food production and become involved in promoting sustainable development.
Two inspirational children’s books that relate this aspect of Wangari Maathai’s life are Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai by Claire A. Nivola (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008) and Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa by Jeanette Winter (Harcourt Books, 2008). Wangari’s story helps children to recognise that small actions can lead to big actions, and that through putting many people’s small actions together, they can be the instrument for momentous change.
You can read more about Wangari Maathai’s incredible life on the Green Belt Movement’s website, including her advocacy for freedom and peace; and her own words about some of the issues close to her heart. Our thoughts and prayers are with Wangari’s family: may the knowledge that Wangari’s name and influence will live on be of consolation to them in their time of grief. An online condolence book is available on Wangari’s Facebook page.
0 Comments on Thank you, Wangari Maathai as of 1/1/1900
Seeds of Change by Jen Cullerton Johnson is a wonderful picture book biography on Wangari Maathai. My review now enjoy the interview
Hi, Jen and welcome. Can you tell us a little about yourself? I live and teach Spanish in Chicago. I just started a new teaching job at Simpson Academy for Young Women.
I also teach composition at St. Augustine College. When I am not teaching, I love to hang out with my friends and family, especially my son Nico. We like to sail, ride our bikes, and go to used books stores.
Who is Wangari Maathai? Wangari Maathai is a woman, an African, a mother, a grandmother, a scientist, an environmentalist, a sister, a Kikuyu, a leader, a daughter, a Kenyan, a reader, a writer, and most importantly a human being who knows we are all connected no matter if we are plant, animal or human.
Wangari Maathai’s achievements have widened the road for women and Africans. Wangari’s life is an amazing life of “firsts”. She was the first East African woman ever to earn her PhD, an advance degree in science. She was the first African woman ever to win the Nobel Prize. She was the first woman to organize young poor women to 30 millions plant trees in her home country of Kenya.
Have you ever planted a tree? Yes! Yes! Yes! I love planting seeds and saplings. I hope all of your readers will plant a tree. There is a little trick to planting trees. When you buy a tree, there are always directions that come with how to plant the tree. I follow those directions. But I do two things differently.
First when you dig the whole, make sure it is wide enough and deep enough. I always try and put a little compost in the hole to give the tree some boost. Finally when the tree is planted and the dirt covers up the roots, I say a few words of thanks to the tree and to life for connecting me to the earth. I know it sounds sappy but I feel like the trees I have planted have heard me. All of them thrive! If you don’t believe try it yourself!
I've never planted a tree but I've said words of thanks to a few. So if that's sappy I am right there with you.
How many times have you read Dr. Maathai memoir, Unbowed? I read Unbowed four times. The first two times I read her memoir for pleasure. I love Wangari’s cadence. She has such a graceful yet powerful way of stringing together words. I read the book two more times for research and once before I wrote the book and then afterwards to double-check my facts.
Mama Miti by Donna Jo Napoli with illustrations by Caldecott Honor Winner, Kadir Nelson, is about the great Nobel Peace Prize winner, Wangari Muta Maathai, from Kenya. I have written about her on my blog before because this is one woman that I just REALLY admire, and I think her story is important to share with children. She helped Kenyan women and children by suggesting they plant trees and getting back in touch with nature. She educated herself and then went back to her country to show girls that they can too educate themselves and work for the common good. If anyone deserves a Nobel Peace Prize, it’s certainly Wangari.
This book is a little different than Seeds of Change by Jen Cullerton Johnson
in that Mama Miti focuses mostly on how women came from all over Kenya to ask Wangari for help. Her advice was to plant certain types of trees to take care of the problems the women were having. If the woman complained of a lack of food, Wangari told her to plant a tree and gave her seeds. If the woman complained of the cattle being sick, Wangari told her to plant a certain type of tree with leaves that cure disease. Mama Miti shows how nature can really provide and make a difference, and how strong women can also take care of themselves–especially with a little guidance from someone as knowledgeable and loving as Wangari Maathai.
This book also has wonderful illustrations by Kadir Nelson and resources and author’s notes in the back as well as a glossary of Kikuyu terms, which are used throughout the book.
Why share Mama Miti with your students or children? Use this book to start a discussion about how people can take care of themselves and maybe with a little help–it reminds me of the organization, Heifer International. You can also talk about the importance of planting trees and taking care of nature as well as going green tips. This book can also bring up a history lesson about how much people used to rely on nature, crops, and so on in the past when there weren’t grocery stores to visit or farmers growing food for all of us. You can also use this book to teach about a strong and wonderful woman who can be a role model for young girls all around the world.
Middle School and High School:
What did we miss? Let us know how you are using Seeds Of Change in your classroom!
Writer Wangari Maathai, the first African female to win the Nobel Peace Prize, has passed away. She was 71-years-old.
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I’d add to this list the real-life Lozen, the woman who inspired Joseph Bruchac’s character by the same name in KILLER OF ENEMIES. She was a warrior (beside Geronimo and her brother, Victorio) who defended the Apache people during a terrible time of war with the United States, as well as using her skill as a tracker (and some supernatural skills) to know where their enemies were coming from.
[…] booktalks allow students to explore and develop their interests. Consider creating collections for Women’s History Month, Cesar Chavez Day, baseball season, National Poetry Month in April, and Earth […]