The Big Green

“This lovely picture book is sure to be enjoyed by all patrons.” –School Library Journal (starred review)In an upbeat story with bright, welcoming illustrations, Ken Wilson-Max conveys the excitement and hope created by a vast, community-powered project to bring more trees to sub-Saharan Africa. It’s another hot day in Mali, at the edge of the desert, and Mariam and Issa know something special is about to happen. As they play in the shade and make clapping rhythms with their hands, Mum and Dad make their own kind of music with shovels, poking holes in the dry earth. When Uncle Cedric arrives, the children ask him what all the plants and baby trees in the back of his car will be for. “The future,” he says, with a smile. Taking part in creating this future is a whole community of people: neighbors balancing buckets of water on their heads, children carrying unplanted seedlings into the cool shade, grown-ups planting and watering over and over again. It’s all part of the Great Green Wall, a project intended to stretch across the African continent at the edge of the Sahara, affecting millions of people in eleven countries. As readers learn in a final informational spread, planting more trees not only helps reduce carbon in the air, it also helps prevent desertification, preserving the rainforest and all the living creatures who rely on it to survive.