This biography of Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan scientist and environmentalist and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, is informative but overwritten: "Like a sturdy tree against a mighty wind, her faith kept her strong." The oil and scratchboard illustrations call to mind stained glass, with panes of color separated by white lines. Bib.

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)

This pictorial narrative follows the life of Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan woman who won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. Her family taught her the importance of conservation. She was the first woman from Kenya to earn a PhD, and started work as a college professor in veterinary science, but she turned to political activism to fight the deforestation in her country. She founded the Green Belt Movement and persuaded people, mostly rural women, to plant seedling trees to improve water, soil, and air quality. Eventually, she inspired the planting of more than 30 million trees in Kenya. Possibly the best of several picture biographies about Maathai, this brief account quotes from her memoir, Unbowed (Anchor Books, 2007), describes her schooling, and her struggle with government and business, while sparing young readers her most painful experiences. The colorful illustrations, in oil and scratchboard, are consistently upbeat. Good as a read-aloud or for independent reading, this would be useful for units on Africa, women, self-reliance, or ecology. Highly Recommended. Joan Kimball, Librarian and Writer, Concord, Massachusetts

With at least three other picture books out about Nobel Prize-winner Wangari Maathai-Planting the Trees of Kenya (2008), Wangari's Trees of Peace (2008), and Mama Miti (2010)-another volume about the Kenyan activist might seem to crowd a full shelf. This one, though, provides older children with a more thorough investigation of Maathai's life. Debut author Johnson includes an account of Maathai's training for a doctorate in biology and the obstacles she faced, sets her tree-planting initiative in the context of her political career, and identifies her adversaries as "Foreign business people, greedy for more land for their coffee plantations and trees for timber." The highly stylized figures in Sadler's (Ma Dear's Old Green House) scratchboard spreads are outlined in white, lending them a stained-glass feel. Trees, leaves, and water are simplified into elemental shapes, giving the whole the appearance of a tropically colored quilt. Throughout the book runs the image of the Kikuyu people's sacred mugumo tree as the source of Maathai's tree-planting project, an idea "as small as a seed but as tall as a tree that reaches for the sky." Ages 6-11. (May) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.

Gr 2-4-This entry on Wangari Maathai takes a slightly more comprehensive look at her life than several other recent books. Her deep love of nature and her determination, first to get an education and later to save the environment and ultimately the people of Kenya, are discussed. Foreign business interests and the duplicity of "corrupt police" forced her first into prison, then politics, and ultimately into spreading her message to the wider world. The book closes as she received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. An afterword adds more detail on the Green Belt Movement. Vivid colors sparkle from within the thick white outlines in the batik-style illustrations that fill the pages.-Carol S. Surges, McKinley Elementary School, Wauwatosa, WI Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.