Jen Cullerton JohnsonCritiques

This debut picture biography, idealized and inspiring, draws on Wangari Maathai’s autobiographical writing to present an overview of the activist’s life from childhood to the present. Johnson sows her narrative with botanical metaphors: “Her mind was like a seed rooted in rich soil, ready to grow.” The mugumo tree symbolizes Kenya’s transition from agrarian bounty to environmental precipice: It yields figs for humans and animals yet bows to destruction as multinational corporations raze forests to profit from coffee plantations. Richer than other treatments of Maathai for children and more grounded in her work’s implicit feminism, this details her education in Nairobi and the United States, her imprisonment for activism and her scientific and environmental work, resulting in the planting of 30,000,000 trees and economic empowerment for Kenyan women. Sadler’s beautiful scratchboard illustrations incise white contoured line into saturated landscapes of lush green leaf patterns, brilliant-hued textiles and undulating, stylized hills. Maathai always wears a colorful headscarf or fabric bow, and the community spirit she resuscitates is joyfully celebrated on every spread. Vibrant and accomplished. (author’s note, sources, quotation sources) (Picture book biography. 6-11)

-Kirkus Review

This is a good book to help little girls, and little boys too, to help them be able to do anything that they put their minds to. It also helps them to know that they can work hard and maybe even get a prize for what they did.

In my opinion, I thought this was a delightful book for numerous reasons. First, I absolutely loved the illustrations in it. From cover to cover they jump out at you with exuberant colors and magnificent flow of lines and shapes. It really captures not only the readers’ attention but the culture of Africa as well because she wears her cultural pieces throughout. Another reason I liked this book was because of all of the life-lessons it addressed. For example, it stressed the importance of working for the rights of women where they do not have many. The main character, a woman named Wangari, went to America to get an education and realized she could lead the way for other women and girls by accepting a teaching job at the University of Nairobi teaching science where not many women professors taught. She worked for equal rights so that female scientists would be treated with the same respect as male scientists. Her drive to make a difference is an admirable and inspiring one. Not only did she work for the equality of women but for the land around all of them as well. She went from village to village planting rows of trees that looked like green belts across the land to stop the greedy businessmen from cutting it down for their own economical purposes. People, mainly men, sneered and snickered at her but she was unfazed by their negativity. She was even jailed and not even that could stop her from spreading her message to the rest of the world. I really appreciated the teachings of this book and would definitely include it in my classroom for children to read.

Seeds of change is an inspiring story about Wangari, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. This story is about how Wangari's family helped her to understand the importance of tress in the world. She went on to go to school in African then move to the United States to get her PhD. She moved back to Africa and wanted to make a change, she saw that the trees were being torn down and started a movement to plant tress and tried to stop the trees from getting torn down. She was put in jail where she taught the other inmates the importance of trees, when she got our she helped the other inmates and also continued planting trees and teaching science and biology to young women in Africa.

I think this story is really inspirational. I always like to read about women who do great things and go back to help other young women succeed in life. I think talking a stance for what you believe in is very inspiring and I will read this story to my daughter when she is older.

In this classroom I would talk to the children about what they would do to make the world better, or even the community. We would think of ways to help the community and plant some seeds or even a tree if we could get that.

This book would be good for an independent read for first graders. This book would be good for an independent read because students who like school and science can relate to the main character. Also, students who like nature can relate to the main character as well.

I enjoyed this story in its many forms, but the illustrations are unappealing to me.

Seeds of Change tells a powerful story about Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize. As a young girl growing up in a Kenyan village, she learned the importance of respecting one’s environment. After becoming educated as a biologist, she returned to her village and started a movement to plan trees to combat land destruction that had been occurring at the hands of large companies. This story offers a view of a more diverse protagonist that would be a great example for elementary students of any age. I could see myself using this in a classroom for older students as a way to start a unit where students could research other influential people. Additionally, the imagery in this book is stunning and makes it a very enjoyable read. It is filled with vibrant colors that make the story come to life. I would highly recommend this book.

Seeds of Change by Jen Cullerton Johnson, adapted from the transcript of Wangari Maathai's 2004 Nobel lecture outlines the life and career of the Green Belt Movement's founder. It earned the John Steptoe new talent award in 2011.

The book begins with Maathai's childhood and goes through her education, a rare thing for girls living in rural Kenya. Having found a love of science and specifically botany, she earns a scholarship to attend college in Kansas. When she hears of the changes at home that are stropping the Kenyan forests bare, she returns to begin a grassroots movement to re-green Kenya.

Sonia Lynn Sadler's colorful illustrations while similar to the Dillons' work on Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears, her style draws inspiration from quilting and that is reiterated in the way she renders textiles throughout the book.

I read this book for the materials for children ages 5 to 8 class I took in spring 2011.

Prominent female African environmentalist, political activist, and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Wangari Maathai’s story is told in this picture book biography. A comprehensive narration of Wangari’s life beginning with her childhood in Kenya, to pursuing her education, and through the obstacles she overcame in her efforts to promote women’s rights as well as preserving the land by planting trees. Written almost poetically, with beautiful metaphors throughout, Johnson manages to balance the telling of facts in a captivating way. The colorful and radiant illustrations mimic Wangari’s optimistic and bright outlook of hope and change. Seeds of Change covers themes of persistence, commitment, and how small ideas can grow and make big differences. Suitable for upper elementary grades and allows for a range of application – Earth Day and caring for our planet, female scientists, biographies, women’s rights, and life in Africa.

Wangari Maathai is a environmentalist from Kenya who won the Nobel Prize. Wangari grew in Kenya and appreciated nature. She likes animals, plants, and nature. She was allowed to go to school in Kenya. She finished He higher education in the United States. Then, she returned to Kenya to help preserve nature and plant trees. in addition for the love of nature, the book discusses Wangari's education and gives students a message that a woman can become whatever she wants to become.

The second Mama Miti picture book biography I've read, this one is more of a traditional informational narrative than the book Mama Miti was, and it shows a much more revealing portrait of the woman that shared trees with the women of Kenya as a means of peace and ecological change in the country. A very well told story, this would pair nicely with the other biographies of Wangari Maathai. This might pair well also with a comparison to John Chapman, since he is such a prominent figure in so many American curriculums.

From the time she was a young girl, and her mother explained the importance of the mugumo trees to the Kikuyu people, Wangari Maathai had felt a deep connection to the natural world around her, and to its trees. A bright, curious child, she received the atypical benefit of an education - something denied most girls in Kenya - and won a scholarship to a college in the USA. It was upon her return to Kenya after school, and her discovery of the widespread deforestation of the country, that she began her historic effort to educate her people - and specifically, the women - about the benefit of planting and maintaining healthy trees. It was the beginning of what would come to be called the Green Belt Movement, and the start of life as an activist who would one day be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.

One of four picture-book biographies devoted to Wangari Maathai's story - others include Claire A. Nivola's Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai and Jeanette Winter's Wangari's Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa, which I have read, and Donna Jo Napoli's Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya, which I have not - Seeds of Change is a wonderful book, both informative and beautiful. Well written and engaging, with gorgeous artwork, it is by far my favorite, of the children's books on this topic that I have read. Highly recommended, to all young tree-lovers, environmentalists, and would-be activists.

There are several excellent books available about Wangari Maathai, also known as Mama Miti, and this is another. Well-told and beautifully illustrated.

This book won the John Steptoe new talent in illustrating award. I did really enjoy the illustrations. The story wasn't new to me, as there have been many picture books coming out about Wangari Maathai in the past few years. If you don't already have one, or if she is a popular figure at your library, then this would be a good addition.

Seeds of Change would be a great book to read before watching the film Taking Root, a documentary about Wangari's vision. The story briefly describes why she started the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, but also discusses the empowerment that comes with education. This book would provoke many thoughtful questions for students like "why are women not receiving as much education as men in her country?" "do we see this trend in our country with math and science?" "how are we able to make changes at an individual level that will effect the greater good?" This book is inspiring for any age! It would be a strong mentor text for students learning how to write biographies.

Genre: The biography is about real events that happened in Wangari's life. This book does not exaggerate her accomplishments. It gives an accurate look into her life and all that she created for her country.

Character: Wangari is the main character of this book. She is a round static character. The reader gets to know her as she grows up loving the land, plants, and animals. This love does not change through the book and she uses it to save her fellow country women and promote rights for them.

Media: Scratch-board and oil paint

The "enchanted world" sound is fun, and the whole concept of pressing a button and getting a musical reward when a character comes in is a good one, but this is the maximum possible score I can give a book featuring Barbie.½

Wangari, a young girl living in Kenya, is smart and hard working. Even though other girls in her village do not go to school, she tells her brother she must. Wangari's parents knew that she would be a good student, so they gathered the fees and supplies and sent her to school. Wangari moved away from her family to continue her education in the capital city of Nairobi. It was there that she discovered her love for science. Her studies took her to the United States where she "discovered a spirit of possibility and freedom." She wanted to share that spirit with Kenyan women, so she moved back to Africa to teach at the University of Nairobi. There she worked for equal rights for women, paved the way for future female scientists, started the Green Belt Movement and was the first African American woman/environmentalist to win a Nobel Peace Prize. This is an amazing story about how passion and courage can change lives.

I loved that the story was about a woman environmentalist in Africa. I was saddened to be telling my sons of a story where women struggle with being considered second-class. Even if she overcomes the oppression in the end, I don't want my sons to ever consider this an option. I felt the text was inefficient, and I lost patience reading it: too much text. I also felt that some of the concepts (politics, women's rights, etc.) were too abstract and high-level for kindergarteners.

To read our full review (complete with the kids' opinions!) go to The Reading Tub®.

Seeds of Change is an important story. Whether you are studying women leaders, African cultures, or interdependence of the creatures of the natural world, this is a relevant narrative for your library. I am using it in an inquiry unit where questions about trees have led to a study of preserving our environment which ultimately led to a study of sustainable cultures and challenges. The story of Wangari Maathai provides insight into the importance of environmental sustainability, as well as a profound model of dedication and perseverance. The white-bordered figures and flowing lines of the illustrations carry the energy through the life story and the profound message of hope. I would recommend this story of a contemporary real life 'hero' for teaching grades 3-7, but engaging for adults as well.

As a young girl in Kenya, Wangari was taught to respect nature. She grew up loving the land, plants, and animals that surrounded her―from the giant mugumo trees her people, the Kikuyu, revered to the tiny tadpoles that swam in the river. Although most Kenyan girls were not educated, Wangari, curious and hardworking, was allowed to go to school. There, her mind sprouted like a seed. She excelled at science and went on to study in the United States. After returning home, Wangari blazed a trail across Kenya, using her knowledge and compassion to promote the rights of her countrywomen and to help save the land, one tree at a time.(amazon),